Some comments on the demographic and social effects of the 1967 Abortion Act

Abstract

Estimates of the incidence of illegally induced abortions are critically reviewed and on the basis of a revised estimate it is tentatively suggested that there were 50,000 (legal plus illegal) abortions induced annually between 1964 and 1966. A substantial reduction in the extent of illegal abortions is an important consequence of the 1967 Abortion Act. But induced abortion is seen as a contributory factor only in the decline of legitimate fertility which has been greater at all ages and all parities than the increment of abortions to married women. A particularly marked reduction in legitimate births occurred between 1972 and 1975 whereas the number of induced abortions performed on married women declined slightly. However, the reversal of the secular trend of increasing illegitimacy is evidence of the demographic impact of the Act. Regional rates of abortion are found to be unassociated with the decline in high parity births but nagatively associated with illegitimacy ratios. At the regional level differences in the proportion of abortions performed under the NHS remain. At the national level a lower proportion of early terminations occur in the public sector than in the private sector, and women in the least skilled occupational groups have their abortions latest.