§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a breakdown of the number of abortions performed in England and Wales on resident women according to the statutory grounds on which those abortions were performed in each of the following years: 1969, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983; and what was the total number of abortions performed on such women in each of those years.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 1 February 1985, c. 367–68]: I regret my previous answer contained several errors in the captions from year 1974 onward. The revised reply is:
218W
Abortions performed in England and Wales on resident women, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1980 to 1983 by statutory grounds Year Statutory grounds 1969 1970 All 49,829 75,962 1. 1,842 2,163
Year Statutory grounds 1969 1970 2. 35,969 57,021 3. 2,281 3,486 4. 1,107 1,225 5. 14 10 6. 31 35 2 with 4 742 823 3 with others 7,843 11,199
Statutory grounds 1974 1978 All 109,445 111,851 1 with/without any other(s) 1,061 679 1 alone 88,130 92,949 3 alone or with others—except 1 18,559 15,855 4 with/without 2 1,686 2,356 5 and/or 6 9 12
Statutory grounds 1980 1981 1982 1983 All 128,927 128,581 128,553 127,375 1. With/without any other(s) 680 752 655 538 2. Alone 110,294 108,100 110,216 108,806 3. With/without 2 16,046 17,897 15,665 16,007 4. Alone or with any other(s) except 1 1,900 1,818 2,006 2,019 5. and/or 6 7 14 11 5 Footnotes to table:
Statutory grounds as listed in Schedule 2 of the Abortion Regulations 1968
- 1. Risk to life of woman.
- 2. Risk of injury to physical or mental health of woman.
- 3. Risk of injury to physical or mental health of existing child(ren).
- 4. Substantial risk of child being born abnormal.
- 5. In emergency—to save life of woman.
- 6In emergency—to prevent grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of woman.