BPAS responds to ONS release of 2007’s teenage conception and abortion statistics
The charity BPAS (the British Pregnancy Advisory Service), provides abortions to around 60,000 women and the full range of contraceptive options to them and thousands more women and men each year. New figures released today by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that in 2007, for the first time ever, 50% of all English and Welsh under 18’s who became pregnant had an abortion. This was a rise of 2% on the previous years’ figures.
The statistics for under 18’s abortions do not reflect the overall trend in the decisions of women of all ages on abortion. The new dataset shows that in 2006-7, there was no change in the percentage of conceptions to women of all ages in England and Wales which were ended in abortion. This proportion has remained static for around a decade at around 22%.
The increasing likelihood of under 18 year olds to end an unintended pregnancy in abortion is also set against a backdrop of a small increase in the total numbers of under 18’s experiencing a pregnancy from 2006 to 2007. 2007 saw a rise of 2.4% in conceptions to this age group, compared to 2006, reversing a decade-long decline in the rates of conceptions experienced by under 18’s (down 10.6% since 1998) .
Overall, conception rates rose by 2.8% across all English and Welsh age groups from 2006 to 2007 and have been increasing consistently year-on-year since 2000.
· In 2007, the under-16 conception rate rose from 7.8 conceptions per 1,000 girls aged 13-15 in 2006, to 8.3 (a rise of 6.4%). There were an estimated 8,196 conceptions to girls aged under 16 in 2007, representing under 1 per cent of all conceptions.
· In 2007, the under-18 conception rate rose from 40.9 per 1000 in this age group in 2006, to 41.9, (a rise of 2.4%). There were an estimated 42,918 conceptions to women aged under 18 in 2007, representing 4.8 per cent of all conceptions.
· In 2007, the conception rate remained highest for women aged 25-29, at 133.4 per 1000 women in this age group. 25-29 year olds also had the highest number of conceptions in 2007 (234,200) representing 26.2% of all conceptions.
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of BPAS said of the new data:
‘We can all agree that the high proportion of teenagers experiencing an unintended pregnancy is a significant health problem which society must tackle head on. However, the fact that half of the teenagers in this position felt able to end their pregnancy in abortion is actually a positive sign. This means that more young women now know how to get the care they need and that if they have other plans for their teenage years aside from motherhood, they felt more able to make that choice.
‘There is less social stigma about abortion amongst young people these days. If that means young women now have more choice about whether to keep their baby, or to end a pregnancy if their contraception has let them down, then that is an entirely good thing.
‘The reasons why unintended pregnancies happen in all age groups are very complex and difficult to understand. If it was simple, it would be easy to come up with a quick-fix solution, but that’s not the way it is. Government initiatives to promote contraception to young people are great, but we really have to look at why youngsters aren’t motivated to use it consistently- or if they are, what’s going wrong.’
Notes
BPAS is the UK’s leading not-for-profit sexual healthcare provider, 92% of which care is provided on behalf of the NHS. Typical non-NHS funded clients seeking abortion have travelled to BPAS from Northern Ireland or the Irish Republic, where access to safe, legal abortion remains restricted by law, usually arriving at later gestations as a consequence.
As well as contraceptive advice and treatment, BPAS carried out around 60,000 terminations of pregnancy in 2007. BPAS has centres across England, Wales and Scotland and is a specialist provider of early and late abortions.
See the Office of National Statistics website for more information on the new data: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=15055
Please contact the BPAS press office on 020 7612 0206 or 07788 725 185 for more information or to request an interview with Ann Furedi.
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