Abortion Statistics 2023: Life’s Response
A sign of a society that is failing women
These are more than numbers; they reveal a shift in how pregnancy and motherhood is viewed in society and show that abortion is becoming a routine outcome of pregnancy in the UK.
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Sobering Reading
The 2023 abortion statistics, released last week by the government, make for sobering reading. We’ve been working with women every day for over half a century, and we know first-hand the disruption and anxiety that can come with unexpected pregnancy. We also know the lasting trauma an abortion can have on women. And we recognise the deep loss of every pregnancy that ends too soon.
Knowing intimately the arguments for and against every aspect of the abortion debate from all angles, we can say in all certainty that the latest statistics are not good news. A rising abortion rate is not only one of the saddest things we can imagine; it’s also a sign of a society that is failing women. Let’s have a closer look:
In 2023, there were a staggering 277,970 abortions in England and Wales – the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967, and an 11% increase on the previous year. The statistics show rising abortion rates across nearly all age groups, including teenagers and women over 35.
What does this tell us?
This suggests that abortion is no longer only a response to crisis, but a default solution for pregnancies that are unexpected or challenging. These are more than numbers; they reveal a shift in how pregnancy and motherhood is viewed in society and show that abortion is becoming a routine outcome of pregnancy in the UK.
The Impact
As well as the hundreds of thousands of lives each year that will not be lived, abortion on this scale creates a silent but pervasive societal pressure on women to end a pregnancy that is less than ‘ideal’. What is presented in the mainstream as a personal choice can quickly feel like an expectation. We have heard this time and again from women on our Life Helpline when they relay the well-meaning but devastating pressure from the people closest to them to terminate their pregnancy. Abortion, therefore, is a quick and cheap replacement for the real support women need – care, community, practical help, and reliable anti- and post-natal healthcare.
When abortion is normalised the depth of loss that women experience is often overlooked. There are countless different experiences of abortion from countless women and too frequently we are told that they haven’t felt safe to talk about a past abortion, which they feel they are not ‘allowed’ by society to identify as a source of pain.
These stories reveal something else too; what abortion does to a society, especially when it becomes common and expected. It creates a society that has little motivation to support women facing an unexpected or difficult pregnancy and reinforces patterns of pressure and abandonment where women carry the quiet cost alone once a ‘problem pregnancy’ is ‘resolved.’
What we hear
On Life’s Helpline we hear from women everyday who are under pressure to end their pregnancies. Pressure can come from partners, families, circumstances, workplaces, or even the tone of public discussion, shaping a woman’s perception of what is possible. For example, the insistence of many that it is irresponsible for a woman to keep a baby that she ‘can’t afford’ in order not to be a ‘burden on the taxpayer’. Many pregnant women are left to process complex thoughts and emotions alone, feeling as though there is no community or ‘village’ to help her raise this child.
Asking the right questions
Discussion around this issue is toxic and it rarely focuses on what women need to feel able to continue their pregnancies – the necessary emotional, practical and community support that might result in a different outcome. As abortion becomes more normalised, apathy towards unexpected pregnancy grows and society seems to become less motivated to accommodate pregnancy, motherhood, or vulnerability.
What about asking...
- Why do so many women feel that continuing a pregnancy is incompatible with work, education, or stability?
- In what ways do partners, families, or employers implicitly pressure women toward abortion?
- Are we addressing the root causes of abortion, or only managing the outcomes?
- What kind of society are we shaping if pregnancy is treated as a problem to be solved?
- How can we change the national conversation around unexpected pregnancy to make women feel empowered, capable and entitled to become mothers?
What about action...
A society that truly supports women should ask why so many pregnancies are ended, rather than assuming abortion is the logical or responsible solution.
It should not ignore the stories of pain and trauma that reveal the ways society fails women and their children.
It should focus on action – providing real practical, financial, and emotional help – so that women do not feel alone and pushed toward abortion simply because continuing a pregnancy seems impossible in the face of social expectations.
What kind of society do we want to live in?
One that relies on abortion to resolve difficulty and erase vulnerability? Or one that reduces the perceived need for abortion by ensuring that no woman faces pregnancy or pregnancy loss alone.
Life is Calling for Communities That Support Women and Mothers
Join us in providing the real, day-to-day, practical and emotional support that makes a difference in the moment to a woman facing an unexpected or challenging pregnancy.
This quiet work that we do, out of the political debate, supports hundreds of women every year to have their children, and impacts thousands. Can we dream of a world where we can affect these recently released statistics of hundreds of thousands of abortions?
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