PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press release – Almost 1 in 3 conceptions ended in abortion in England and Wales in 2022
11 July 2025 – In 2022, 29.69% of all conceptions in England and Wales ended in abortion, up from 26.54% a year earlier – and a large increase since 2012, when 20.84% of conceptions ended in abortion, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
This means that the number of conceptions ending in abortion is approaching 1 in 3, and in 2012, the number was just over 1 in 5.
Between 2020, when pills-by-post at-home abortion schemes were first introduced, and 2022, there has been a 19.61% increase in the number of conceptions leading to abortion.
The ONS figures show there were 834,260 conceptions for women resident in England and Wales in 2022, and 247,703 of these conceptions led to abortion.
The figures show:
- The number of conceptions leading to abortion in 2022 was 13.15% higher than 2021, when there were 218,923 abortions.
- The number of conceptions ending in abortion in 2022 has increased by 34.31% since 2012, when 184,420 conceptions ended in abortion.
- Between 2020 (the first year in which the pills-by-post scheme was made legal) and 2022, there was a 19.61% increase in the number of conceptions leading to abortion.
- The percentage of conceptions ending in abortion was lowest among women aged 30-34, but still sharply increased from 13% of conceptions ending in abortion in 2012 to 20.53% in 2022.
- The percentage of conceptions ending in abortion among those outside marriage or civil partnership increased from 29.4% in 2012 to 36% in 2022.
- The percentage of conceptions ending in abortion among those within marriage or civil partnership increased from 7.6% in 2012 to 11.1% in 2022.
- The percentage of conceptions leading to abortions were:
- Highest in the following areas
- Liverpool – 40.3%
- Brighton and Hove – 40.3%
- Lambeth – 38.4%
- Halton – 38.1%
- Knowsley – 38.0%
- Lowest in the following areas
- Tewkesbury – 21.1%
- Mid Suffolk – 21.0%
- Bolsover – 20.2%
- South Cambridgeshire – 20.0%
- East Cambridgeshire – 18.6%
- Highest in the following areas
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said:
“Almost one in three conceptions now end in abortion. This is a national tragedy. The dramatic rise in the reported percentage of conceptions ending in abortion has accompanied the second full year that abortion services outside of a clinical setting through pills by post schemes have been operating in England and Wales”.
“The vote to make at-home abortions permanently available passed by just 27 votes. A large number of MPs had serious concerns about the negative impact these schemes would have on women”.
“Since then, we have seen these concerns confirmed, with women such as Carla Foster performing at-home abortions well beyond the 24-week time limit, putting their health at serious risk. If Carla Foster had been given an in-person consultation, where her gestation could have been accurately determined, she would not have been able to access abortion pills and this tragic case would have been prevented”.
“The clear solution here is the urgent reinstatement of in-person appointments. This would prevent women’s lives from being put at risk from self-administered late-term abortions”.
ENDS
- For additional quotes and media interviews contact 07774 483 658 or email press@righttolife.org.uk
- For further information on Right To Life UK visit www.righttolife.org.uk
Background:
- The release explains that “conception is a pregnancy that leads either to a maternity or a legal abortion”, and a maternity “refers to a pregnancy resulting in the birth of one or more live-born or stillborn children. The number of maternities represents the number of women giving birth rather than the number of babies born (live-born and stillborn)”.
- The total number of abortions for residents of England and Wales, according to the 2022 abortion statistics, was 251,377. The total number of live births for the same year was 605,342, and the number of stillbirths was 2,402. This would make a total of 859,121. These figures differ from those provided in the conception statistics because the conception statistics count the number of women becoming pregnant, not the number of babies being born. This means twins, triplets and multiple births are not counted separately.
- The discrepancy between the ONS figures and the annual abortion figures is also likely to arise from the fact that the ONS figures reports conceptions in 2022, but the abortion statistics reports the number of abortions in 2022, i.e. some abortions in 2022 would have been conceived in 2021, and some unborn babies conceived in 2022 would have been aborted in 2023.
- The conception statistics do not contain “data on pregnancies that lead to miscarriage or pregnancies ending in illegal abortions”.
