The proportion of pregnancies resulting in legal abortions in England and Wales reached its highest level on record in 2018, official data shows.
Just under a quarter (24%) of estimated pregnancies to women resident in England and Wales resulted in a legal abortion, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This was up from 22.7% in 2017 and the highest percentage since records began three decades ago.
It comes as the number of conceptions to women of all ages fell for a third year running.
In 2018, there were an estimated 839,043 conceptions to women of all ages in England and Wales, compared with 847,204 in 2017.
This suggests that birth rates, on which data will be available later this year, are likely to have continued to decline in 2019, the ONS said.
The conception rate fell almost 1% from 2017, and has not been so low since 2004.
The rate for girls up to the age of 17 decreased for the 11th year in a row, the longest continued fall since records began.
For this age group, the conception rate was higher in the 50% most deprived areas in England, while the proportion of pregnancies leading to an abortion was lower in these areas.
For a third year running, women aged 40 and over were the only group where conception rates increased.
David Corps, from the ONS’s vital statistics outputs branch, said: “In 2018, the conception rate in England and Wales fell to its lowest level since 2004, while the proportion that led to a legal abortion increased to its highest point since records began in 1990.
“Although conception rates for women under 18 years have more than halved in the last decade, they remain twice as high in more deprived areas of England than less deprived areas.
“However, analysis shows that a smaller proportion of these conceptions lead to abortions for under-18s living in more deprived areas.”
Clare Murphy, director of external affairs at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas), said: “What these figures show is a drop in the overall number of conceptions – and within that, a small increase in the proportion of those that end in abortion.
“This has resulted in a more than 3% drop in the number of live births since last year and a more than 7% fall over the decade.”
She continued: “The reasons for this are likely to be complex. In recent years we’ve seen an increasingly cautious approach to family size, which is likely to be driven by a host of factors ranging from the two-child limit (which limits the child element in Universal Credit and tax credits, worth around £2,780 per year, to the first two children in a family) to uncertainty about Brexit.
“We also know that there has been a huge fall in teenage pregnancy rates, and that many women are choosing to start their families later.
“The under-18 conception rates have decreased for the 11th year running, and these conceptions are more likely to end in abortion than any other age group.
“Regardless of their age, we know that women take the prospect of becoming a parent extremely seriously and want to achieve financial security and ideally a home of their own before doing so.
“Today’s figures may reflect that reaching those goals is more difficult than ever.”
Dr Helen Munro, vice president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), said: “The figures released today by the ONS show that women are increasingly conceiving at a later age, and although for many this is a conscious decision, the figures do seem to reflect that for many this is not the case.
“The increase in percentage of conceptions leading to an abortion may indicate a growth in unplanned pregnancies, and, therefore, an unmet need for contraceptive care and services.”
REUTERS