Editing Abortion in the United Kingdom (section)

===Trends since 1967===
{{Update|section|date=November 2022}}
[[File:UK abortion by gestational age 2004 histogram.svg|thumb|right|Percentage of abortions in Great Britain by [[Gestational age (obstetrics)|gestational age]], 2004]]
[[File:UK abortion by gestational age 2019 histogram.svg|thumb|right|Percentage of abortions in Great Britain by gestational age, 2019]]

Post 1967 there was a rapid increase in the annual number of legal abortions, and a decline in sepsis and death due to illegal abortions.<ref name="Rowlands">{{cite journal |author=Rowlands S |date=October 2007 |title=Contraception and abortion |url=http://www.jrsm.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=17911129 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121209114641/http://www.jrsm.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=17911129 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 December 2012 |journal=J R Soc Med |volume=100 |issue=10 |pages=465–8 |doi=10.1177/014107680710001015 |pmc=1997258 |pmid=17911129 }}</ref> In 1978 121,754 abortions were performed on women resident in the UK, and 28,015 on non-resident women.<ref>{{cite book|title=Royal Commission on the National Health Service (Chapter 18: The NHS and Private Practice) | date = 17 July 1979 | publisher = [[Office of Public Sector Information|HMSO]] |url=http://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-health-service/royal-commission-on-the-national-health-service-contents/royal-commission-on-the-nhs-chapter-18/|isbn=9780101761505|access-date=12 June 2015}}</ref> The rate of increase fell from the early 1970s and actually dipped from 1991 to 1995 before rising again. The age group with the highest number of abortions per 1000 is amongst those aged 20–24. 2006 statistics for England and Wales revealed that 48% of abortions occurred to women over the age of 25, 29% were aged 20–24; 21% aged under 20 and 2% under 16.<ref>{{cite book | title = Abortion statistics, England and Wales: 2006 | url = http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_075697 | publisher = [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Government Statistical Service for the Department of Health]] | date = 19 June 2007 | access-date = 1 November 2007 | archive-date = 6 December 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101206002417/http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_075697 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Conceptions leading to an abortion from 1969 to 2020<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conceptions in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/conceptionandfertilityrates/bulletins/conceptionstatistics/2020 |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=www.ons.gov.uk}}</ref>
!Year
!1969
!1971
!1976
!1981
!1986
!1991
!1996
!2001
!2006
!2011
!2016
!2020
|-
|Percentage of conceptions leading to an abortion
|5.98%
|11.32%
|15.17%
|17.09%
|18.02%
|19.6%
|20.55%
|23%
|22.26%
|20.88%
|21.5%
|25.29%
|}
In 2004, there were 185,415 abortions in England and Wales. 87% of abortions were performed at 12 weeks or less and 1.6% (or 2,914 abortions) occurred after 20 weeks. Abortion is free to residents;<ref name=Rowlands /> 82% of abortions were carried out by the public tax-funded National Health Service.<ref name="dh.gov.uk">{{cite book | title = Abortion statistics, England and Wales: 2004 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080708204212/http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/11/75/74/04117574.pdf | archive-date = 8 July 2008 | url = http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/11/75/74/04117574.pdf | publisher = [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Government Statistical Service for the Department of Health]] | date = 27 July 2005}}</ref>

The overwhelming majority of abortions (95% in 2004 for England and Wales) were certified under the statutory ground of risk of injury to the mental or physical health of the pregnant woman.<ref name="dh.gov.uk"/>

By 2009, the number of abortions had risen to 189,100. Of this number, 2,085 are as a result of doctors deciding that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would have such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously disabled.<ref>{{cite book | title = Abortion statistics, England and Wales: 2009 | url = http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_116039 | publisher = [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Government Statistical Service for the Department of Health]] | date = 25 May 2010 | access-date = 19 January 2012 }}</ref>

In a written answer to [[Jim Allister]], the Northern Ireland health minister [[Edwin Poots]] disclosed that 394 abortions were carried out in Northern hospitals for the period 2005/06 to 2009/10 with the footnote that reasons for abortions were not gathered centrally.<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=Northern Ireland |house=[[Northern Ireland Executive]] | title = AQW 203/11-15 | url = http://aims.niassembly.gov.uk/questions/printquestionsummary.aspx?docid=103773 | speaker = Edwin Poots | position = [[Department of Health (Northern Ireland)|Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety]] |date= 6 June 2011 }} [http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/answer-book/2011/110708.pdf#page=81&zoom=auto,-65,241 Pdf pp. WA 351.]</ref>

190,800 abortions were notified as taking place in England and Wales in 2013. 0.2% fewer than in 2012; 185,331 were to residents of England and Wales. The age-standardised rate was 15.9 abortions per 1,000 resident women aged 15–44 years; this rate increased from 11.0 in 1973, peaked at 17.9 in 2007, and fell to 15.9 in 2013.<ref>{{cite book | last = Nakatudde | first = Nambassa | title = Statistics on Abortion (Commons Briefing papers SN04418) | url = http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN04418 | publisher = [[House of Commons Library]] | date = 6 October 2014 | access-date = 11 May 2017 | archive-date = 23 April 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170423165728/http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN04418 | url-status = dead }} [http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04418.pdf Pdf.]{{Dead link|date=January 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> For comparison, the EU average is only 4.4aabortions per 1,000 women in child-bearing age.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-02-04/local-news/300-to-400-Maltese-women-go-abroad-for-an-abortion-each-year-AD-chairperson-6736184440|title=300 to 400 Maltese women go abroad for an abortion each year |work=The Malta Independent}}</ref>

Since approval of abortion in the UK in 1967 to 2014, 8,745,508 abortions have been performed.

In 2018, the total abortions in England and Wales was 205,295. In this year, the abortion rate was highest for those of the age of 21, and 81% were for those who were single.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/808556/Abortion_Statistics__England_and_Wales_2018__1_.pdf|title=Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2018}}</ref>