Abortion Statistics (Hansard, 28 January 1998)

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter to Lord Braine of Wheatley from the Director of the Office for National Statistics, Dr. Tim Holt, elated 28 January 1998.

I have been asked to reply to your recent question on those who are statistically the most likely to undergo an abortion in terms of marital status, age, pregnancy gestation, previous abortions and legal grounds.

The statistically most likely candidate to have an abortion in each of the variables listed is defined as the category with the highest recorded frequency of abortions performed. The percentages are based on all legal terminations performed in each of the last three years for which data are available in England and Wales, and Scotland as residents and non-residents.

53WA

The categories with the highest frequencies found in each of the variables, for each year between 1994 to 1996, are as follows:

		1994	1995	1996
(a) Marital status:
single women	No.	118,235	117,110	129,959
	%	66	67	69
(b) Age:
20–24 years	No.	52,008	50,040	53,176
	%	29	29	28
(c) Gestation of the pregnancy:
9–12 weeks	No.	83,746	80,430	90,064
	%	47	46	48
(d) The number of previous abortions undergone:
women who have had no	No.	132,065	127,537	138,063
previous legal terminations	%	74	73	73
(e) The legal grounds under which the abortion was performed:
Statutory Ground C alone¹	No.	157,554	156,314	172,479
	%	88	89	91
¹ Statutory ground C: "the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman."

The information for England and Wales residents is available in the OPCS/ONS Abortion Statistics publication, Series AB Nos. 20–23, which is available in the House of Lords Library.