People across the United Kingdom will stop for a minute of silence at 11:41am on Friday 23 September 2022 to commemorate the ten million lives that have been lost to abortion in England, Wales and Scotland since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967.
It is projected that the ten millionth baby will have their life ended by abortion at 11:41am on Friday 23 September.
The minute of silence will take place to coincide with the tragic ending of this baby’s life and to also remember the other 9,999,999 lives that have been lost to abortion across England, Scotland and Wales.
In 2021, more than one baby was lost to abortion every two and a half minutes; 26 lives were ended every hour.
The number of abortions in England and Wales reached a record high with 214,869 taking place in 2021, while 13,758 terminations were performed in Scotland in the same year.
Opinion polls repeatedly show that the public wants increased protections for unborn babies and the number of abortions reduced, rather than the wholesale removal of legal safeguards around abortion.
Only 1% of the population want abortion to be available up to birth and 70% of women want the abortion limit to be reduced to 20 weeks or lower.
Polling from 2019 revealed that over 41% of Londoners believe abortion should be illegal in almost all circumstances.
A spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson said: “At 11:41am on Friday September 23, a baby’s life will be ended by abortion. This baby is projected to be the ten millionth baby to have their life ended by abortion in Great Britain”.
“People from right across the United Kingdom have stopped for a minute of silence to coincide with the tragic ending of this baby’s life and to also remember the other 9,999,999 lives that have been lost to abortion across Great Britain”.
“It is a national tragedy that ten million lives have been lost since the passing of the 1967 Abortion Act, each one a valuable human being who was denied the right to life”.
“Every one of these abortions represents a failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies”.
“This day serves as a reminder for people around the country to renew their efforts to do everything they can to help ensure more lives are saved from abortion in the future”.
“This includes contacting MPs and asking them to ensure that protections for unborn babies are introduced and safeguards are strengthened to protect both mothers and babies – along with volunteering with pregnancy support centres and undertaking other pro-life activities that support mothers and their children during pregnancy and beyond”.
*This figure is a projection for England, Wales and Scotland through to 11:41am on Friday 23 September 2022 and has been calculated based on the following assumptions:
- The number of abortions per day in England & Wales will remain the same in 2022 as in 2021.
- The number of abortions per day in Scotland will remain the same in 2022 and 2021 as in 2020.
- The rate of abortions throughout the year is evenly distributed.
- Please note, we have not included data for abortions that have occurred in Northern Ireland since 2020 because it has not been made clear on which day abortions began being performed in Northern Ireland and it is, therefore, unreliable to model a projection for the remainder of the year using this.
