Research, data analysis, and commentary on abortion, fertility trends, and pro-natal policies.
In recent years, across England and Wales, there has been a huge shift in how and where abortions are performed. Data published by the Department of Health and Social Care for 2023 show that five in every six abortions are now performed at home by the woman herself. Only five years prior to this, in... Continue Reading →
Don’t panic, it's just an increase in prescriptions, not abortions. This has been the response from some, including in an article published by the Academy of Ideas, to the 30% increase in reported abortions in 2023 compared to 2021, as in the following quote: If a woman finds herself pregnant, and is considering what to... Continue Reading →
On 02 February, whilst speaking in defence of Clause 191 which will decriminalise abortion for women, Baroness Sugg confirmed: “There have been 54,000 complications to medical abortion over the past five years…” [i] This is the estimated total number of women admitted to an NHS hospital for treatment of complications arising from a medical abortion... Continue Reading →
Abortion numbers in England and Wales are highest among White women simply because they are the largest ethnic group. When adjusted for population size, White women do not have disproportionately high abortion rates. Their share of abortions broadly matches their share of women of reproductive age. It is worth noting though that White women have... Continue Reading →
Analysis of abortion complications data published by the DHSC and by NHS England shows that the government continues to deliberately under-report, and that it has excluded more than 99% of complication treatments for early medical abortions, from its official 2023 statistics report. On 15 January 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published... Continue Reading →
In the five years since the introduction of pills-by-post, more than 54,000 women have been admitted to an NHS hospital in England for the treatment of complications arising from the use of abortion pills. Analysis of accredited official statistics published by NHS England and the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities, shows that 1-in-17 of... Continue Reading →
In each of the last two years, more than 12,000 women were admitted to hospital in England for treatment of complications arising from a medical abortion. The Department of Health and Social Care has still not told us how many women had an abortion in 2023, but NHS England has just published its data on... Continue Reading →
A government minister or a higher-up in the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID) must have decided that timely publication of Abortion Statistics is a waste of time and resource, what other reason is there for a further delay of ten months for this annual report? Parliamentary Questions need to be asked, again. UPDATE... Continue Reading →
In 2022, the most recent year for which we have official reporting of abortion statistics for England, more than 11,000 women were admitted and treated at an NHS hospital for complications arising from a medical abortion;[i] this represents about 6% of those women using mifepristone and misoprostol at home, or misoprostol at home after taking... Continue Reading →
An effective medical abortion is defined by the MARE Guidelines[i] as a successful expulsion of an intrauterine pregnancy without the need for surgical intervention, clarified by the following sub-categories: Continuing pregnancy: treated with surgical management Continuing pregnancy: patient opted to continue or outcome is unknown Retained products treated with surgical management (an evacuation of retained... Continue Reading →
On 23 November 2023, the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID), part of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), published new official statistics reporting the rate of complications arising from abortions in England. Previous reporting from the DHSC relied solely on data gathered from the HSA4 forms that are routinely submitted by... Continue Reading →
In England during 2021, at least 3,900 women were admitted to an NHS hospital for surgical treatment of complications arising from abortion. On 23 November 2023, the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID), part of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), published new official statistics reporting the rate of complications arising from... Continue Reading →
Abortion providers are massively under-reporting the incidence of complications arising from incomplete medical abortions. They also under-state the risk of an incomplete abortion when consenting women for this procedure. Thankfully, Lord Jackson has questioned the Government about this critical issue and is holding the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to account to ensure... Continue Reading →
Abortions at home data in tab T2 of this file at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/abortion-statistics-for-england-and-wales-2021
Did you know that the Government and Abortion Providers routinely under report the rate of complications caused by abortion pills? Our freedom of information investigation reveals that less than 1-in-5 complications are being reported. DHSC Under Report. The official DHSC statistics for 2020 show a 1.1% complication rate for all medical abortions and only 0.3%... Continue Reading →
Marie Stopes Australia (MSA) says that more than 5% of the medical abortions it provides, fail to complete. Meaning that 1-in-20 women will have fragments of the baby and/or placenta remaining in their womb after taking both sets of the tablets, mifepristone and misoprostol. These women will need to seek further treatment to prevent ongoing... Continue Reading →
In this briefing we bring you three new sets of data about early medical abortion services being provided across England and Wales. Our analysis will help to inform those responding to government consultations, which ask for your views on whether or not the temporary measure introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing women and girls to... Continue Reading →
In the UK, providers of abortion services must comply with the Required Standard Operating Procedures (“the RSOPs”) set out in this document issued by the Department of Health and Social Care. RSOP12 details the information which must be provided to the woman, and how: Women must be given impartial, accurate and evidence-based information (verbal and written)... Continue Reading →
This is my response to an article in the New Statesman on December 15th, 2020. My main concern is the assertion that abortion has become safer since the introduction of telemedicine in April. The article states that there has been just one complication in more than 23,000 abortions at home, and that is clearly wrong,... Continue Reading →
