§ Lord Braine of Wheatleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will publish in the Official Report a table showing:
- (a) the total number of abortions performed under the Abortion Act 1967 as amended by section 34 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, from April 1968 to the latest available date;
- (b) how many were performed:
and what percentage these categories represent of total abortions performed; and
- (i) in cases of emergency to save the life of the mother; and
- (ii) in cases of rape;
- (c) the total number of abortions listed according to the grounds of termination for 26 weeks and for each week thereafter in each year since 1990.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary Of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)Up to 31 December 1991, a total of 3,728,799 abortions had been performed in Great Britain under the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended by Section 34 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990) since its implementation. Of these, the number performed in emergency and certified by the operating practitioner as immediately necessary to "save the life of the pregnant woman" (Ground '/' prior to April 1991, Ground 'F' subsequently) was 153 (0.004 per cent.).
Annual statistics on abortions are published (a) for England and Wales in "Abortion Statistics" (Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) Series AB), and (b) for Scotland in "Scottish Health Statistics"; copies of which are available in the Library.
The information requested about cases of rape is not available in the precise form specified. As rape is not in itself a statutory ground for performing an abortion under the 1967 Act., and is not required to be specified on the notification form by the certifying doctor, the exact number of notifications of abortions associated with rape is not known. However, in some cases the information is volunteered, and arrangements have been made to code separately and analyse all notification forms which mention rape from 1987 in Great Britain. Of the 959,538 notifications received for the period 1987 to 31 December 1991 for abortions performed in Great Britain, 191 (0.02 per cent.) mentioned rape. Earlier but non-comparable data relating to abortions performed in England and Wales were collected clerically and published for the years 1968–l73, in Table 38WA 12 of the Registrar General's Statistical Review, Supplement on Abortion, a copy of which is in the Library. The reliability of these earlier data is uncertain.
A total of 63 abortions were notified in Great Britain in 1991 at 25 weeks or more, 44 of which were at 26 weeks or more; of the 63, eight were in the first quarter before the law on abortion changed on 1 April 1991. A more detailed analysis of these is as follows:
Number of weeks gestation Number of abortions 25 19 26 18 27 9 28 6 29 6 30 2 31 1 33 1 36 1 Since 1 April 1991, for all terminations performed after the pregnancy had exceeded 24 weeks, the operating surgeon has been required to provide a full statement of the medical condition of the pregnant woman/foetus.
Of the 55 abortions performed at over 24 weeks between 1 April and 31 December 1991, one was under Ground 'A' (that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman greater than if the pregnancy were terminated) and the remaining 54 were under Ground 'E' (that there was a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped).