Latest Abortion Facts & Statistics

You may be interested to know just how many abortions are carried out in the UK each year and at how many weeks gestation (into their pregnancy) the women were.  Here are some confirmed statistics on abortions carried out in the UK.  The latest statistics and facts are taken from the Department of Health on abortions carried out during 2008 in England and Wales.  The data was published in May 2009.

• During 2008 nearly 200,000 women in England and Wales had an abortion, which is almost 550 abortions each day
• Just over 90% of abortions were funded by the NHS and 58% were paid for by the NHS but carried out at a private clinic
• 90% of all abortions were carried out on women who were under 13 weeks into their pregnancy and 73% of those were under 10 weeks into their pregnancy
• Around 1% of all the abortions carried out were because the baby would have been born disabled

Below is the statistics from the Scottish Government on abortions carried out in Scotland during 2008.  The data was published in May 2009.

• During 2008 there were nearly 14,000 abortions carried out in Scotland, which is around 40 each day
• Just under 57% of all abortions carried out in Scotland were when the woman was under 9 weeks pregnant
• 1.1% of abortions were carried out because the baby would have born disabled
• 99.6% of all abortions carried out were funded by the NHS and carried out on NHS premises

So these are the overall figures of numbers of abortions carried out in England, Wales and Scotland but what are the statistics for complications that can occur in abortion?

• The risks of haemorrhaging during an abortion is about 0.01% of abortions
• Damage to the cervix and womb occurs in less than 1% of abortions and 0.04% of abortions respectively
• Less than 0.01% of medical abortions carried out between 12 and 24 weeks causes damage to the womb

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