New data show record high of almost three in 10 conceptions ending in abortion
Almost three in 10 conceptions ended in legal abortions in the two nations in 2022, up from around two in 10 a decade earlier.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the percentage of conceptions leading to legal abortion was 29.7% in 2022, up from 26.5% a year earlier and 20.8% in 2012.
The percentage has generally been increasing for all age groups since 2015, the statistics body said.
There were 247,703 conceptions leading to a legal abortion in 2022, a 13.1% rise on the 218,923 recorded in 2021.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) said lengthy waiting times for some forms of contraception as well as financial struggles faced by many could explain the rise.
Girls aged under 16 remained the age group with the highest percentage of conceptions leading to abortion, at 61.0%.
Women aged between 30 and 34 years old had the lowest percentage of conceptions leading to abortion in 2022, at around a fifth or 20.5%.
Women in their early 30s were the age group with the highest number of conceptions at 249,991.
Women aged over 40 years had a conception rate of 17.2 per 1,000 women in 2022, slightly below the record high of 17.3 per 1,000 women in 2021, the ONS said.
Katherine O'Brien, from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), said women are facing 'significant barriers' in access to contraception, including long waiting times and difficulties securing appointments.
She added: 'At Bpas, we regularly hear from women who are seeking an abortion after falling pregnant while waiting for repeat Pill prescriptions or coil insertions.
'Emergency contraception, while not a silver bullet to unplanned pregnancy rates, remains an underutilised resource in this country, with the majority of women not accessing this vital back-up method after an episode of unprotected sex.
'The Government has committed to improving access via pharmacies, but we need to see this medication reclassified so that it can be sold in a wider range of outlets, including supermarkets, so that women can access it as swiftly as possible when needed.'
She also noted interest rate hikes and increases in cost of living in 2022, which she said might have led to women and their partners having to make 'sometimes tough decisions around continuing or ending a pregnancy'.
She added: 'No woman should have to end a pregnancy she would otherwise have continued purely for financial reasons, and no woman should become pregnant because our healthcare system is failing to provide women with the contraception they want, when they need it.'
Government statistics published last year covering 2022 showed the number of abortions for women living in England and Wales was at a record level, having risen by almost a fifth in a year.
There were 251,377 abortions for women resident in the two nations in 2022, official figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) showed.
This was the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced almost 60 years ago and was a rise of 17% on the 2021 figure, the department said.
Taking medications at home, known as telemedicine, was the most common procedure, accounting for 61% of all abortions in 2022.
This was up nine percentage points since 2021, the DHSC said.
Temporary measures put in place during the pandemic approving the use of both pills for early medical abortion at home, without the need to first attend a hospital or clinic, were made permanent in England and Wales in 2022.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Country park issues warning over toxic levels of algae in lake
Warning signs have been erected at a popular beauty spot after algae levels in a lake became toxic. Testing of the water at Cotgrave Country Park revealed that potentially harmful concentrations of cyanobacteria – known to the general public as blue-green algae – had bloomed earlier this month. Dogs are recommended to be kept on leads and swimming is strictly prohibited at the current time. Regular repeat testing of the site will now be undertaken, but it is unclear how long the algae levels will take to return to normal, or at least drop under the toxic threshold. Signs erected at the sight say: 'Recent sampling of the water in the Dog Pond has indicated that levels of BGA are currently above warning sign levels. Excess BGA can produce toxins which may cause problems if animals drink the water of if accidentally cosnumed by humans. READ MORE: Police cordon set up after street fight in Nottingham city centre READ MORE: Amazon fraudster used refund scam to steal £128,000 then bragged about it online 'Avoid contact and wash your hands if you do come into contact with the water. Do not allow your pets into the siteuntil the current bloom subsides.' Toxic levels of the bacteria are rare and often when algae bloooms it is harmless to pets and humans. However the most recent tests – on July 27 and August 6 – suggested otherwise. The lake has been closed since August 8. It comes in the wake of another country park lake being closed in Nottinghamshire in June, at Colwick. Hot weather can contribute to algae growth. The UK's recent heatwaves have led to blooms all over the country. A Nottinghamshire County Council spokesperson said: 'We routinely test water quality at Cotgrave Country Park during the summer. Samples are taken on a fortnightly basis and sent to a lab for analysis. The most recent sample from Heron Lake within the country park showed elevated levels of blue-green algae, with the advice that there was a risk to public health and that warning signage should be erected at the lake. 'Signage has been installed, and water quality will continue to be monitored. Signage will be maintained until sampling confirms that there is no longer a health risk. Unfortunately, it is not possible to say how long this may be as it is dependent on weather conditions and given the warm and dry conditions it may take some time for levels to return to normal. 'It should be highlighted that as well as posing a potential risk to the public, blue-green algae can also pose a risk to dogs and they should not be allowed to enter or drink from the water.'
CBS News
3 hours ago
- CBS News
Woman charged with murder after using abortion pill details claims against D.A., sheriff
A South Texas woman who was arrested on murder charges in 2022 after using medication to terminate her pregnancy has alleged new details about her case against a local sheriff and prosecutors, claiming they violated her constitutional rights. Her Aug. 12 court filing comes as the debate over medicated abortion is heating up in Texas, with Attorney General Ken Paxton announcing a new effort to prevent the abortion pill from being mailed into Texas. "These abortion drug organizations and radical activists are not above the law, and I have ordered the immediate end of this unlawful conduct," Paxton said Wednesday. The case of Lizelle Gonzalez was among the first to expose the complexities of criminalizing the use of medication to end a pregnancy. Starr County, located on the southern Texas border, launched an investigation into Gonzalez after hospital staff reported to law enforcement that she had taken medication to induce an abortion when she was 19 weeks pregnant. Three months later, she was indicted and arrested. Gonzalez spent three days in jail before her $500,000 bond was posted, and the charges were ultimately dropped. While Texas has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, it's not a crime for a woman to obtain or seek abortion care for herself. The state's restrictions on abortion target physicians and those who aid a woman in obtaining or seeking an abortion, whether it's surgical or induced by use of abortion drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol. According to new filings in the lawsuit made last week, District Attorney Gocha Ramirez dropped the charges against Gonzalez after public outcry over Gonzalez's arrest. Included in an exhibit in the lawsuit was a text Ramirez wrote to his son, in which he admitted he'd made a mistake and even called Gonzalez to apologize, stating he "didn't know what happened." In the most detailed account to date of the events surrounding Gonzalez's arrest, her attorneys laid out in the 70-page lawsuit the events that they say led the Starr County district attorney, the assistant D.A. and the sheriff to pursue a case against her, even though records suggest prosecutors knew her actions did not violate state law. "They should have known from the very beginning that the conduct that they were investigating was not going to ever equal probable cause for homicide," said Lauren Johnson, director of the Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative at the American Civil Liberties Union. "The penal code is very clear that a pregnant person cannot be charged with — cannot be guilty of a crime, of a homicide, for ending a pregnancy themselves." According to the original complaint filed in March 2024, Gonzalez says she went to an emergency room in January 2022 after taking misoprostol, an abortion-inducing medication. Less than an hour after she was discharged, she returned to the hospital with complaints of abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding. After an exam detected no fetal cardiac activity, doctors performed a cesarean section to deliver a stillborn fetus. After the procedure, a nurse at the hospital called 911 and reported the procedure to local police, who then contacted the Starr County Sheriff's Office. The nurse later said the hospital's administrators directed her to report the incident "because, she said, abortions could now be considered murder due to a 'change in the law,'" according to the complaint. "It is not an overstatement to say that Lizelle's life was entirely upended by what happened to her," said Johnson, who is representing Gonzalez in the lawsuit. "She wanted to live her life and didn't want to be criminalized and have her mugshot in her local community. And have something that should have been a very personal decision be something that was made public." In July, the Southern District Court of Texas denied Starr County officials' attempts to have the lawsuit dismissed after the prosecutors and sheriff raised claims of absolute and qualified immunity, respectively. The immunity doctrine has been developed by the courts to restrict legal liability of government officials, such as law enforcement, judges and prosecutors. Absolute immunity applies a complete shield from legal action regardless of the legality or constitutionality of the official's actions. Qualified immunity however can not shield a government actor, like law enforcement, if they violate "clearly established" statutory or constitutional rights. However, the court filings allege that all three county officials named in the suit — Ramirez, first assistant prosecutor Alexandria Barrera and Sheriff Rene Fuentes — violated "clearly established" constitutional rights when they pursued a murder charge and arrest for an action the law clearly states is not a crime. And they allege that the prosecutors acted outside of their prosecutorial capacity by directing the investigation and providing legal advice to drive the indictment — which Gonzalez argues would exempt them from any immunity. The A.C.L.U. says the hundreds of pages of evidence it has gathered contradict the claim by county officials that they didn't know that it was not lawful to pursue a murder charge against Gonzalez. In a sworn deposition, an investigator with the sheriff's office testified that she wasn't ready to charge Gonzalez with murder but was instructed to do so by Barrera. "No practices have been put in place or conduct changed to prevent something like this from happening or being done differently in the future," says Johnson. "I think that part has been especially alarming and really does highlight the need for ways to shine a light on this conduct and also really force elected officials to follow the law when they're using the immense power that they have." The Starr County District Attorney's office has not yet responded to a request for comment. This story was reported by CBS News and the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
'I'm seeing young people in their 20s wearing nappies because of ketamine - I need to talk about it'
Young adults are wearing pads and nappies because of ketamine use, a business owner has said. Paige Loraine who runs The Pelvic Floor Clinic said she has had over 100 people contact her about pelvic floor and bladder issues as a result of using the drug. The 32-year-old set up the business in March last year. And since then she says she received dozens of enquiries from people about symptoms related to ketamine, including parents asking for their teenage and young adult children. The mum highlighted the issue in a TikTok video which has now been viewed more than 84,000 times, reports the Liverpool Echo. READ MORE: 'Mounjaro literally saved my life. It felt only right I honour it' READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing's Nick Knowles' wife says she 'doesn't recognise herself' in health update In the video, she said: "I need to talk about this. So ketamine is ruining lives and it is not just mentally. I am seeing young men and women in their 20s wearing pads and even nappies because of the damage it's caused to their bladder and pelvic floor. Never miss a story with the MEN's daily Catch Up newsletter - get it in your inbox by signing up here "So it's leading to bladder leakages, urgency, erectile dysfunction, pain during intimacy and a complete loss of control in day-to-day life. So chronic ketamine use can seriously weaken the pelvic floor. No one's talking about this side of it." Paige she remembers the first call she received about ketamine misuse. She said: "It was a mum for her daughter. "She just lost her way and become addicted to the ket. She was on it every day. She'd come clean off it but she was literally wearing nappies because of the damage." Ketamine is an anaesthetic for humans and animals, but is illegal for use recreationally. It is a Class B drug, making it illegal to have for yourself, give away or sell. The latest government figures show that the drug's usage among 16-24 year olds in England has tripled since 2016. Around 269,000 people aged 16-59 reported using ketamine in the year ending March 2024. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE Chronic ketamine use has been linked to a number of serious health issues, including bladder damage and raising heart rate. Paige added: "I just imagine it being my kids. I just think it's awful. A bit more awareness needs to be raised about it because I don't think people realise how serious it is and I don't think kids realise how bad the drug is. "And it's only now that these things are happening because it's a taboo subject of bladder leaks and stuff. Not many people speak about it, so they're not aware of them side effects when they're taking it because no one wants to say they're weeing themselves or wearing nappies. "My purpose for doing this is for raising awareness. First, it started because one in three women suffer with pelvic floor and bladder problems and leaks. "But now, it's the epidemic of ketamine use. That's become part of my purpose as well. I'm all about raising awareness for women's and men's health." Through her business, based in Wallasey in Merseyside, Paige supports men and women with pelvic floor strengthening, bladder control and vaginal tightening. This includes treatment for women who are postpartum or going through menopause. The pelvic floor specialist does this through non invasive physiotherapy treatment called the Magic Chair. The chair works by giving off the equivalent to 12000 kegel exercises using electromagnetic stimulation. Paige also uses a non-surgical solution for vaginal tightening, pelvic floor strengthening, and improved intimate health called the 360 Magic Wand treatment.
