What’s driving the huge rise in abortions?

Britain is experiencing a crisis of motherhood.

Ann Furedi
2nd February 2026

There has been a significant rise in the number of abortions carried out in England and Wales over the past few years. According to government statistics published at the start of the year, abortions increased by 11 per cent in 2023 compared with 2022. This follows on from a 17 per cent increase in abortions in 2022 compared with 2021.

It’s true that abortion numbers have been climbing steadily since the mid-1990s. But it certainly looks as if the numbers have risen sharply in the 2020s. Despite some attempts to play these figures down, this is a hugely significant increase.

Continued; https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/02/02/whats-driving-the-huge-rise-in-abortions/


Why Are So Many British Women Getting Abortions?

New government figures suggest that, amid a fertility slump, there has been a sharp rise in abortions in the UK. Our reporter speaks to the women who can explain why.

By Kara Kennedy
01.29.26

Gemma is 28, British, and recovering from an abortion she had just over a month ago. She was far enough along—a few days shy of five months—that she had to be admitted to the hospital. She would have preferred to end the pregnancy earlier—but she didn’t know about it, even after getting checked out by a doctor after suffering from fatigue.

“I was still having periods. I wasn’t gaining weight. I was going to the doctor and getting blood tests, and nobody ever told me I was pregnant,” she told me.

Continued: https://www.thefp.com/p/why-are-so-many-british-women-getting


UK – Woman denies abortion clinic ‘buffer zone’ offence

January 29, 2026
Tom Edwards

A woman has pleaded not guilty to a public order offence after being accused of silently praying outside an abortion clinic in Birmingham.

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, 48, from Malvern in Worcestershire, is the first person in England and Wales to be charged under new "buffer zone" legislation which came into force in October 2024 and restricts some activities near abortion facilities.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgdj3r00p6o


Abortion at 15 ‘changed my life’, says Senedd candidate

Iolo Cheung, BBC Wales and Jacob Morris, Newyddion S4C
23 January 2026

A candidate for the Senedd election in May has said she hopes sharing her own experience of having an abortion aged 15 will empower others to "understand the importance" of women's health and rights.

Tessa Marshall, 28, said going through the experience while studying for her GCSEs "changed" her life, and led her to understand issues such as bodily autonomy and sex education.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgyy32w0ydo.amp


Wales – Mum, 26, ‘wants to be sterilised’ due to problems accessing sickness drug

Jan 22, 2026
Kate Morgan, Wales community correspondent

A woman who almost terminated her second pregnancy because of severe sickness says sterilisation is now her best option due to difficulties accessing treatment.

Chloe, 26, said she couldn't face another pregnancy because of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), which causes prolonged severe nausea and vomiting that may last until birth.  Plaid Cymru MS Lindsay Whittle has called for better access to Xonvea - an anti-sickness medication which is not routinely available in Wales.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wxvre2d4xo


America’s abortion wars: inside the clinic on the front line

Since the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, abortion is illegal in 13 US states. New Mexico has become the nearest place for many women to terminate a pregnancy — if they can get past the religious activists on a mission to change their minds

George Grylls
Friday January 16 2026

Haley Nathan, 19, writes down the details of women’s cars on a clipboard outside an abortion clinic in New Mexico, braced for the day ahead. New Mexico is the closest option for any Texan woman to receive an abortion since the overturning of Roe v Wade in June 2022.

She’s frequently yelled at, or shown the middle finger. “I try not to let it bother me because it’s gonna affect my performance on the sidewalk,” says Nathan, a young intern, fixated on the clinic’s door as she prepares herself for the hostility coming her way. “I like to say it’s not me who’s doing the work. It’s God in me. I step out, God steps in.”

Continued: https://archive.is/6FX9Y
(https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/abortion-roe-v-wade-h2j7j9lm9)


What record abortion numbers reveal about the cost of being a woman in Britain

The majority of people seeking abortions already have children

By Jennifer Savin
16 January 2026

New Department of Health data says the number of abortions taking place in England and Wales is at a record high, with 2023 figures showing 277,970 abortions took place. The year prior, 251,377 abortions were recorded and a decade earlier in 2013, the figure sat at 185,331.

Around half of the women (54%) who had an abortion in 2023 said they already have children and cited the cost of living crisis, along with astronomical childcare fees, as part of the reason as to why they did not want to expand their family.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/health/a70018816/abortion-statistics-uk-2026/


Abortions at record high in England and Wales ‘driven by cost of living’

Providers and doctors say lack of access to contraception another reason for the 11% rise in procedures in 2023

Hannah Al-Othman
Thu 15 Jan 2026

The rising cost of living and a lack of access to contraception have driven another rise in abortion rates in England and Wales, providers and doctors said.

Government statistics released on Thursday showed that abortions increased by 11% in 2023 compared with the previous year.

The age-standardised abortion rate for women was 23.0 abortions per 1,000 residents, the highest rate since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967.

Continued; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/15/abortions-record-high-england-wales-cost-of-living-contraception


In Post-Roe America, Abortion Care Is Being Reborn From the Ground Up

A British doctor finds fear and legal chaos being transformed into a new, decentralized model of reproductive freedom

Sabrina Das
Jan 13, 2026

Along the broad, ceremonial expanse of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., its lanes framed by rows of evenly spaced trees, Amy Allina paused to remember how her career began. Years before she established herself as a consultant for reproductive rights nonprofits, she learned how to perform abortions with nothing more than a length of plastic tubing and a mason jar.

It was the early 1990s. She was part of a loose network of feminist health collectives — women who believed, with a conviction that feels almost radical now, that information belonged to everyone, especially when it concerned their bodies. A mentor taught her “menstrual extraction,” a low-tech method capable of removing the contents of the uterus in very early pregnancy. The procedure was performed in living rooms and kitchens, surrounded by friends. There were no machines, no metal instruments, no men in white coats.

Continued: https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/in-post-roe-america-abortion-care-is-being-reborn-from-the-ground-up/


Wales – Two women make the toughest choice imaginable. What happens next depends on where they live

There is a stark contrast in how women needing one key treatment are dealt with depending solely on whether they live in England or Wales

by Laura Butler
11 Jan 2026

Two women in Cardiff want abortions. One has a GP in England while the other’s is in Wales – and this difference determines whether they wait one day or three weeks.

Beda (not her real name), a 26-year-old Cardiff woman, got unexpectedly pregnant in January 2024. With her GP in the Welsh capital she went through Cardiff and Vale University health board. Four weeks later she had her abortion.

Continued: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/two-women-make-toughest-choice-33208096.amp