Department of Health: more than 5,000 women under 20 had repeat abortions in 2008

December 7, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News, Pregnancy

The Department of Health has released statistics for 2008 that provide a revealing look at repeat abortions in the UK.

Health ministers in the U.K. have received new 2008 statistics from the Department of Health that reveal a reported 5,218 instances of repeat abortion among women under the age of 20. Additionally, 15,029 instances of repeat abortion were reported among women between the ages of 20 and 24.

The statistics come as the government struggles with how to deal with teenage pregnancy in the U.K. After failing to meet government-set goals of reducing teenage pregnancy rates by 2010, new attempts are being made to educate youth about sex, including mandatory sex education in schools and a new contraception campaign designed to get youth to talk about contraception with their partners.

The abortion statistics raised concerns among many that the government was failing its youth.

Anne Milton, Conservative MP for Guildford, told the Guardian: “It is of huge concern that such a high number are having repeat abortions. Why is it that we are not able to reduce the number of young girls who not only end up with one unwanted pregnancy, but then just go back and have another?”

“These figures demonstrate the government’s failure to produce a coherent and effective sexual health policy for England,” added Milton.

The statistics also showed a small subset of almost 3,800 women that had four or more abortions in 2008, likely signaling much deeper problems than lack of sexual education.

“These figures represent a tiny number of women and actually illustrate an extremely complicated issue,” said Julie Bentley, chief executive of the Family Planning Association to the Guardian.

“Some having repeat abortions may be in an abusive relationship, a personal crisis or may be having other serious problems in their lives. There will be other women having a repeat abortion who aren’t receiving the level of contraceptive advice and services necessary — and that they are entitled to.”

Some have given an even deeper criticism of the statistics, claiming that “abortion has in effect become another form of contraception.”

Phyllis Bowman, representative for the Right To Life group, told the Daily Mail: “There is an enormous amount of evidence to show that efforts to provide young people with contraception in an effort to reduce numbers of pregnancies only leads to more and more abortions.

“It means that young women are more prepared to have sex because they know they can always get an abortion. That in turn leads to more sexual abuse of young women by men.”

Helen Cameron, head of the charity Education for Choice, disagreed, telling the Guardian: “There is no evidence that women are opting to use abortion as a form of contraception. The vast majority of women requesting abortion have tried and failed to use contraception effectively.”