Editor’s note. This appeared on the blog of Family and Life.
A third of pregnancies among British women in their early 20s end in abortion for the first time. The Office for National Statistics [ONS] published figures showing that the rate of conceptions leading to abortion among women aged 20 to 24 hit 33.2 per cent in 2017, marking an increase from 31.6 per cent in 2016.
British Government figures show there were 7,929 legal abortions for under 18s in 2017, and 59,956 among women aged 30 to 39.
The data comes amid a record rise since 1990 in the number of abortions for women aged between 16 and 34. The abortion rate was at its highest last year among 16-18, 18-20, 20-24, 25-29 and 30-34 year old women, with the rate standing at 51.7, 47. 33.2, 20 and 15 per cent, respectively.
For women aged 16 and under, the ONS data showed that 60.7 per cent of conceptions led to abortion in 2017. This makes it the only age group where the percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion fell compared with 2016.