There was a total of 205,295 abortions in 2018, including non-residents. For women resident in England and Wales there were 200,608 abortions. This is an increase of 7,762 (4%) total abortions since 2017 and the highest number recorded.
39% of women undergoing abortions had had one or more previous abortions.
47% of repeat abortions were to Black or Black British women.
There were 1,267 abortions to girls aged under 16.
Of these, 363 were to girls aged under 15.
There were also 746 to women aged 45 or over.
There were 3,269 disability-selective abortions in 2018.
618 of these were for Down’s syndrome
15 of these were for cleft/lip palate
There were a total of 289 late term abortions (24-week gestation and over).
111 ‘selective termination’ procedures were performed, where a twin, triplet or more were aborted in the womb.
98% of abortions are funded by The Department of Health. The number of abortions funded by the NHS performed by private abortion providers, such as bpas and Marie Stopes, reached a record high of 144,618, this represents 72% of abortions.
71% of abortions were medical abortions.
29% of abortions were surgical abortions.
Complications were reported in 336 cases in 2018, a rate of one in every 597 abortions
A good number of repeat abortions. Feotuses have a heartbeat at 2 weeks.