LONDON — Abortions in England and Wales reached a record high in 2023 as a growing share of women seeking abortion reported using no contraception or relying on fertility-awareness methods, according to official statistics and a study published in the BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health.
There were 277,970 abortions among residents of England and Wales in 2023, 11% more than in 2022 and the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced, the Department of Health and Social Care said. The age-standardised abortion rate also reached a record 23.0 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44.
Separately, Office for National Statistics data showed that 279,970 conceptions ended in abortion in 2023, 13% more than the previous year. Abortions accounted for 32.1% of all conceptions, the highest proportion recorded, while conceptions leading to births continued a longer-term decline.
The BMJ study examined self-reported contraceptive use among 88,550 patients who sought abortion care from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service during January-June periods in 2018 and 2023. The proportion reporting no contraception at the time of conception increased from 55.8% to 69.6%.
At the same time, reported use of hormonal contraception fell from 18.8% to 11.3%, while use of long-acting reversible contraception declined from 3% to 0.6%. The share reporting fertility-awareness-based methods, including approaches based on identifying fertile periods, rose from 0.4% to 2.5%.
Researchers said the findings showed a shift toward less effective contraceptive methods among the abortion patients studied, but stressed that further research was needed to determine the reasons for the change. The study was observational and therefore cannot establish that changing contraceptive practices caused the rise in abortions.
The findings come as health authorities continue to monitor changes in reproductive healthcare use. NHS England's latest contraception statistics cover activity at dedicated sexual and reproductive health services but exclude much contraceptive activity provided through general practitioners and pharmacies, limiting direct comparisons with abortion figures.
The Department of Health and Social Care said publication of the 2024 abortion statistics has been delayed by technical problems processing notification forms and a backlog requiring validation and quality assurance. The department said it was working to improve data collection and processing, with 2024 and 2025 statistics still pending as of August 2026.
