Repeat abortions rise to record levels
Pastor Dale Morgan
Repeat abortions rise to record levels*
By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:36AM BST 10/05/2008
Increasing numbers of women are having two or more abortions.
UK - Repeat abortions are now at record levels – in 2006, almost 60,000
were carried out on women who had previously had a termination, a rise
of five per cent over two years. Some were having their fifth and even
sixth abortions.
Almost a third of all abortions are now carried out on women who have
previously terminated a pregnancy. The figures were revealed by Anne
Keen, the health minister, in a parliamentary answer. They come as MPs
prepare to table amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Bill designed to reduce the time limit for an abortion from 24 weeks to 20.
Philip Hollobone, the Conservative MP for Kettering, said the number of
repeat abortions was "truly appalling".
The MP, who supports the call for a 20-week upper limit, said: "There
has never been more help available to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but
clearly increasing numbers of women are not getting the message.
"I think most people would be surprised to know that one third of all
abortions are repeat abortions and shocked to know that the number of
repeat abortions is actually going up."
He added that he believed lowering the time limit would reduce the
number of repeat abortions as well as the overall number of terminations.
But Ann Furedi, from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said that
there were often complex reasons why women had more than one abortion.
She said most women took motherhood extremely seriously, "which most
people would agree is a positive thing".
"For some women faced with an unintended pregnancy, that will mean
having an abortion," she said.
However, she pointed out that 68 per cent of women having an abortion in
2006, the latest year for which official figures are available, did so
for the first time.
There were 59,687 repeat abortions in 2006, up from 58,068 in 2005 and
56,645 in 2004.
In 1996, 28 per cent of those undergoing the procedure had previously
had one or more abortion. By 2006 that had risen to 32 per cent.
Almost a quarter of young women having an abortion were doing so for at
least the second time. Among under-25s, 24 per cent had already had at
least one abortion. Rates varied across the country. In some parts of
London, 35 per cent of under-25s had a repeat abortion.
MPs are expected to vote on the Bill, which could also pave the way for
the creation of "hybrid" embryos, part-human and part-animal, for
scientific use, later this month.
Campaigners believe that at 200,000 abortions a year, or 600 a day,
Britain is performing too many terminations.
They warn that the procedure is now being used by many as a casual form
of contraceptive.