Older women more likely to have abortion than teenagers

WOMEN in their late thirties in the West Midlands are more likely to have an abortion than those in their teens for the first time since modern records began.

New data has revealed one in every 111 women aged 35 or over in the region had an abortion in 2017. That compares with one in every 114 girls under the age 18.

It is the first time the rate for older women has been higher than that for teenagers since at least 2004, when the Department of Health and Social Care first published comparable regional figures. That year, one in every 56 teenage girls aged under 18 had abortions in the West Midlands, while just one in every 143 women aged 35 and over had terminations.

Experts warned the figures reflected cuts to contraception services that were disproportionately affecting older women. For the second year running women aged 35 and older in Birmingham were more likely to have terminations than teenage girls. One in every 91 women aged at least 35 in the area had an abortion, compared to one in every 125 girls under the age of 18.

A spokesman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said: “It is not surprising to see a slight increase in the number of women over 35 accessing abortion services, in light of cuts to contraceptive services.

“There is concern that older women are the worst affected. Efforts to reduce teenage conception rates have resulted in a steep decline since 2005, but the needs of older women are sometimes neglected, and we know that there is an unmet need for contraceptive care among these older groups.”