Abortion rate hits record high among under-16s

The abortion rate is rising fastest among the youngest girls, official figures show. Each week in 2007, 84 children under 16 in England and Wales had abortions; three were under 14.

The annual total for under-16 abortions was up 10 per cent to 4,376. Among under-14s it was up 21 per cent. Abortions among women of all ages in England and Wales rose 2.5 per cent to 198,499.

The record figures were attacked by anti-abortion organisations, which demanded tighter restrictions on the procedure. An attempt by MPs to cut the upper time limit from 24 to 22 weeks failed in the House of Commons last month.

Experts remain baffled by the rising trend, which has defied improvements in contraception, family planning services and sex education. One Home Counties GP said: "From what I see, there is a lot more spontaneous sex going on, and these women are unprepared. Abortion is now on demand; all you need is a signature on a bit of paper."

The rise comes as conceptions among teenagers fell. In the 10 years to 2006 conceptions among under-16s fell from 8,900 to 7,800, but of those, abortions rose from 49 to 60 per cent.

The abortion figures, from the Office for National Statistics, show the peak age for abortion is 20 to 24, with high rates also in the late teens and the late twenties. Over 30, the rate drops sharply. The trend to later motherhood was also fuelling the rise.

Anne Furedi of BPAS, formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: "Today, there is a greater expectation that families will be planned. We should stop seeing abortion as a problem when it is a solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy."

The Labour MP Claire Curtis Thomas, of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, said: "These figures show that, far from further liberalising the law, there is a real need to tighten it. The number of abortions is truly horrifying." The Tory MP Nadine Dorries added: "Teenagers have never had so much sex education taught so badly, with almost no access to help when they need it most."

The figures

198,499

Number of abortions in England and Wales in 2007, up 2.5 per cent on the previous year

4,376

Number of abortions to under-16s in 2007, up 10 per cent on 2006. This equates to 84 per week