Abortion rate hits record high, figures show

A record high of almost three in 10 conceptions in England and Wales ended in a legal abortion in 2022, official figures show.

The percentage was 29.7% - up from 26.5% a year earlier and 20.8% in 2012, according to the Office For National Statistics (ONS). The figure has generally been increasing for all age groups since 2015, the ONS added.

Lengthy waiting times for some forms of contraception and financial struggles could explain the rise, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) said. The figures were described as "heartbreaking" by the Christian Action Research And Education charity, which added that it was "especially painful" if poverty was a driving factor.

There were 247,703 conceptions leading to a legal abortion in 2022, a 13.1% rise on the 218,923 recorded in 2021, ONS data showed. Figures published last year by the government showed the number of abortions in 2022 for women in England and Wales was at a record 251,377.

The ONS said its data was based on the estimated date of conception, while government figures are based on the date of the abortion, leading to a difference in the overall numbers. Girls aged under 16 remained the age group with the highest percentage of conceptions leading to abortion, at 61%.

Women aged between 30 and 34 had the lowest percentage of conceptions leading to abortion in 2022, at around a fifth, or 20.5%. The age group with the highest number of conceptions was women in their early 30s, at 249,991.

Read more from Sky News:Dates doctors will strike this summer announcedInfected blood victims are 'waiting to die in limbo' Women aged over 40 had a conception rate of 17.2 per 1,000 women in 2022, slightly below the record high of 17.3 per 1,000 women in 2021, the ONS said. Katherine O'Brien, from BPAS, said emergency contraception "remains an underutilised resource".

"The government has committed to improving access via pharmacies, but we need to see this medication reclassified so that it can be sold in a wider range of outlets, including supermarkets, so that women can access it as swiftly as possible when needed," she said..