Abortion

Abortion is the premature discontinuation of the vital development of an embryoor fetus, naturally (miscarriage) or forced (induced abortion).

Induced Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy intentionally, ie drug terminated pregnancy (abortion by pill) or through mechanical intervention (surgical abortion).

The first reference to abortion in English law dates back to the 13^th Century. The newest reference to when an abortion can be carried out under UK law is covered in “The Abortion Act 1967” This law however is only applied to the UK mainland(England Scotland and Wales) but not Northern Ireland.  To date in Northern Ireland it is an offence to perform an abortion, however under the Infants Life (Preservation) Act 1929 some specific cases are permitted within these guide lines.

Abortion: reasons for a possible abortion

A woman can have many reasons to abort and can freely choose to do so or not. These are some of the most common reasons:

           - The pregnancy is a result of a rape.
           - We could have problems with our parents.
           - Fetal deformaties.
           - Due to health, because it is harmful to the mother to continue with the pregnancy.
           - We can not financially support our baby, etc.

Abortion: methods

At present there are two methods to abort a pregnancy, abortion pills or medication and surgical abortion. The doctor is who will tell us what is the best alternative, always depending on the woman's medical history, gynecological and obstetric history, her anatomical conditions and characteristics of the pregnancy. The chemical abortion (abortion with pill) can only performed up to 9 weeks of pregnancy(63 days).

Abortion: Statistics of abortions in the UK

Here are the statistics for the number of abortions performed in the UK since 1968:

For the first time since 2011 the number of abortions has decreased, this may be due to the sale and easy availability of emergency contraception (the morning after pill which can be taken in the first 72 hours after sexual intercourse) without a prescription which appears to be preventing pregnancies.

-The region showing the greatest rate of abortions is London

-By contrast, the region that recorded the lowest rate of abortions is North East England