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ABORTIONS AT RECORD HIGH, BUT LATE ABORTIONS DROP
The 2005 abortion statistics, released today by the Department of Health (DH), have shown that the total number of abortions on England and Wales residents increased from 185,713 in 2004 to 186,416 in 2005. According to the DH, this represents a rise of 0.4%. The 2005 statistics come amidst calls from a cross-party collection of MPs for a rethink on the abortion time limit.
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here for our press contact details Patrick Leahy, spokesman for Student LifeNet commented: 'This record high number of abortions is undoubtedly due to a dramatic increase in the number of early abortions. For 2005, abortions under 10 weeks accounted for 66.5% of the total number compared to 60.2% in 2004. This is surely due to dubious government policies aimed at making access to early abortion even easier. 'At the same time, the percentage of late abortions is rapidly declining. The number of abortions occurring over 20 weeks dropped by almost 10% on last year. This reduction in late abortions surely reflects the public's increased concern about the abortion time limit [1]. Even women having abortions are now increasingly opposed to late abortions. The government's refusal to allow parliamentary time on this issue is leaving them increasingly isolated and out-of-touch. 'Given the small number of women having late abortions, one wonders whose interests the government is trying to protect. 'Finally, as a student organisation, we also have concerns about the number of under-15 abortions which is continuing to rise. This year showed an increase of 4.7% on last year. This is extremely worrying given that this is a particularly vulnerable age group.' ENDS NOTES FOR EDITORS: [1] Two-thirds of the public, and nearly three-quarters of women, support a reduction in the abortion time limit (YouGov/Daily Telegraph poll of 2432 GB adults, August 2005). Also see: http://www.aliveandkickingcampaign.org/uploads/Opinion_Poll_05.pdf [2] The 2005 Abortion Statistics are published here: http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/PublicationsStatisticsArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4136852&chk=Ei3Teu [3] Editors should note that the 2004 overall numbers have been revised in the 2005 document. |
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