Abortion rate hits record high as figures suggest large numbers of older women terminating pregnancies is behind the rise
- Record high of 210,860 abortions carried out in England and Wales last year
- Women aged over 35 accounted for an ‘unprecedented’ 40,000 of those figures
- Rise in abortions among older women has been linked to pressures to maintain careers and lifestyles at a time when many are in unstable relationships
- Leading charity figures described the record total as ‘incredibly distressing’
Abortions hit a record high last year as large numbers of older women terminated pregnancies.
A total of 210,860 abortions were carried out in England and Wales, with women over 35 accounting for an unprecedented 40,000 – up by 13,000 in a decade.
Nearly one in four of all pregnancies now ends in abortion. The 2020 total compares to 205,519 in 2019 and 190,406 in 2016.
Department of Health figures showed 40,006 abortions among women over 35 – up from 27,046 in 2010. There were also large rises among women aged 25 to 35.
However, the 20,743 abortions among women under 20 was nearly half the 38,269 in 2010.
A total of 210,860 abortions were carried out in England and Wales, with women over 35 accounting for an unprecedented 40,000 – up by 13,000 in a decade
Department of Health figures showed 40,006 abortions among women over 35 – up from 27,046 in 2010 and there were also large rises among women aged 25 to 35. (File [icture)
The rise in abortions among older women has been linked to pressures to maintain careers and lifestyles at a time when many are in unstable relationships.
Nola Leach, of Christian charity CARE, called the record total ‘incredibly distressing’, adding: ‘Every abortion is a tragedy.’
Clare Murphy, of BPAS, the UK’s biggest abortion provider, said: ‘The pandemic has clearly impacted upon women’s pregnancy choices and this is reflected in the figures.’
Fewer than a quarter of all abortions last year were carried out for single, unpartnered, women, but more than half of those who underwent abortion were in unmarried cohabiting relationships.
The onset of lockdown last year saw the liberalisation of abortion law to allow ‘telemedical’ abortion, in which women have only an online consultation before being supplied with abortion drugs.
The new legal regime may have contributed to increased numbers of terminations.
However the ‘Facebook effect’ among younger women – said to account for lower levels of teenage sex, drinking, drug use and violence since the rise of social media in the late 2000s, appears also to have transformed attitudes to abortion.
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