Abortion statistics for England and Wales: 2020
Statistics and commentary on abortions carried out in 2020.
Updates to this page
- From:
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Published:
- 10 June 2021
- Last updated:
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15 January 2026
Show all updates
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Replaced the ODS file 'Abortion statistics 2020: additional tables' with the file 'Abortion statistics 2020: additional tables (amended)' to amend the labelling of abortions by method. Full details of the changes are in the 'Revisions' tab of the new ODS file.
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Updated to announce a change will be made to the labelling of abortions by method following review.
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Replaced the attachment 'Abortion statistics 2020: freedom of information and other data releases' with an updated version.
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Updated 'Freedom of information and other data releases' to include 3 new requests: a) 13/12/2021 1) Legal abortions: residents of England, seen in clinic, percentage, October to December 2020 2) Legal abortions: residents of England, gestation under 10 weeks, seen in clinic, percentage, October to December 2020 3) Legal abortions: residents of England, home use, provider, October to December 2020 4) Legal abortions: residents of England, provider, percentage, October to December 2020 b) FOI-1377376 1) Table 1: Number of mentions by medical condition of legal abortions performed under ground E pre 24 weeks (alone or with other conditions) for residents of England and Wales, for 2018, 2019 and 2020 2) Table 2: Number of mentions by medical condition of legal abortions performed under ground E at 24 weeks and over (alone or with other conditions) for residents of England and Wales, in England and Wales, for 2018, 2019, 2020 3) Table 3: Number of legal abortions performed under ground E (alone or with other conditions) by gestation (week by week where possible) for residents of England and Wales, for 2018, 2019, 2020 c) 22/12/2021 1) Legal abortions: purchaser, gestation weeks and Sexual Health Indicator by Clinical Commissioning Group (England) and Locality Office (Wales) of residence, 2020 2) Legal abortions: method of abortion and repeat abortions, all ages, under 25, and 25 and over by Clinical Commissioning Group (England) and Locality Office (Wales) of residence, 2020 3) Legal abortions: purchaser, gestation weeks and Sexual Health Indicator by Local Authority, England, 2020 4) Legal abortions: method of abortion and repeat abortions, all ages, aged under 25, and aged 25 and over by Local Authority, England, residents, 2020
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Updated 'Freedom of information and other data releases' to include 1 new request: 1) FOI-1350177 a) Legal abortions: gestation (weeks) and method, residents of England and Wales, 2018 to 2020 b) Legal abortions: gestation (weeks) and method, by month, residents of England and Wales, 2020
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Updated to add the pre-release access lists: abortion statistics, England and Wales, 2020.
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Added new spreadsheet: 'Abortion statistics 2020: clinic data tables'. Updated 'Abortion statistics 2020: freedom of information and other data releases' to include 2 new requests: 1) Legal abortions: number of abortions where the woman has a recorded residential postcode the same as that of a prison by gestation, residents of England and Wales, 2020 2) Legal abortions: number of abortions by age (over 20 years), all abortions, England and Wales, 2020, and legal abortions: number of abortions by ethnicity, all abortions, 2020.
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Added new document 'Abortion statistics 2020: freedom of information and other data releases'. This includes 5 requests: 1) FOI-1334356: Legal abortions: by age (under 16 years), residents of England and Wales, 2020 2) a) Abortion rate per 1,000 women, by age and index of multiple deprivation (IMD) decile, Wales, 2020 b) Abortion rate per 1,000 women by IMD decile, Wales, 2020 c) Legal abortions: rates by region and IMD, residents of Wales, 2020 d) Legal abortions: residents of Northern Ireland, abortions performed in England and Wales, 2020 3) FOI-1336605: Legal abortions: numbers by parity (number of previous pregnancies resulting in live or still birth) and local authority (England) and locality office (Wales) of residence, 2020 4) Abortions to residents of Ireland taking place in England and Wales, 1991 to 2001 5 a) Legal abortions: under 25 years old, previous live or still birth by local authority, England, 2020 b) Legal abortions: NHS funded, under 10 weeks gestation, by local authority, England, 2020
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First published.
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Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Abortion statistics 2020: data tables
ODS, 346 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
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Abortion statistics 2020: clinic data tables
ODS, 114 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
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Abortion statistics 2020: additional tables (amended)
ODS, 83.9 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request an accessible format
Abortion statistics 2020: freedom of information and other data releases
ODS, 229 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
Details
The labelling of abortions by method has been updated. See the ‘Revisions’ tab of ‘Abortion statistics 2020: additional tables (amended)’ for full details of the changes.
This report sets out and comments on abortion statistics in England and Wales for 2020 and provides an update to the abortion statistics during the coronavirus pandemic: January to June 2020.
The statistics are obtained from the abortion notification forms returned to the chief medical officers of England and Wales.