Terminations increase to 215,000 with most pronounced rise among women aged 30-34
A record number of abortions took place in England and Wales last year in a trend experts said was driven by financial uncertainty caused by Covid-19.
There were 214,869 terminations during 2021, the highest number since the procedure became legal in Great Britain through the 1967 Abortion Act, the latest annual abortion statistics published on Tuesday show. Numbers have been going up every year since 2016.
By age group the abortion rate was highest among 22-year-olds, at 31 per 1,000.
Abortion rates are highest in the north-west at 22 per 1,000 and lowest in the south-west at 15.4 per 1,000.
99% of abortions were NHS-funded, though private providers performed 77% of them.
161 women from Northern Ireland travelled to England or Wales for an abortion last year, even though the procedure was decriminalised in their home country in 2019.
