New official figures show a surge in the number of women having nine or more terminations, raising concerns that the procedure is being used increasingly as a means of contraception.
The Department of Health figures obtained by show there were 202,577 abortions in mainland Britain last year taking the total for the last decade to just under two million. Of these, 50 women were treated for nine abortions or more.
A British schoolgirl had her fourth abortion in 2012, and a further five girls had three terminations before the age of consent. They are among more than 200 under-16s to have had repeat abortions since 2011.
Commenting on the statistics, Conservative MP, Fiona Bruce said: "Rather than providing for abortion in exceptional circumstances as originally intended by the Abortion Act, these figures show a concerning and increasing trend of abortion sadly being used as a lifestyle choice or as a substitute for contraception.
"Better counselling and advice is needed for women as to the alternatives to abortion available in order to reduce multiple abortions and the potential negative effects upon the women themselves."
The figures show the abortion rate for over-35s has reached its highest ever level, and almost 70 per cent of those who had a pregnancy terminated last year were shown to be married or in a stable long-term relationship. Over half of those terminating pregnancies in 2013 were mothers who already had children.
Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said too many teenagers were having sex without thinking about the consequences. “Too many are being taught that they have a right to sex without consequences and are free to dispose of any unborn child that threatens their lifestyle,” he said.
Labour MP Jim Dobbin also commented: “Why, in a country which apparently abhors abortion being used as a method of contraception, do the figures for repeat abortions keep rising?”
The new figures come amid controversy over the ways in which abortions are recorded and supervised. Police and prosecutors recently decided not to charge doctors who pre-signed abortion forms without even seeing the women concerned. Last month the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group also noted that the DoH report does not consider in its statistics the issues of gender selection abortions, repeat abortions or the discrimination inherent in the provision of abortion on the grounds of foetal abnormality.
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