Forum Brief: Teenage abortion

More than four out of ten conceptions among young women aged 15 to 17 end in abortion, it has been suggested.

A study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that abortion proportions among young women who become pregnant tend to be lower in socially disadvantaged areas - even though these areas also have the highest rates of conception among the under 18s. 

It also concluded that abortion rates tend to be higher in areas where there is more extensive family planning provision, where there is a higher percentages of women GPs and where there is easier access to independent abortion services.

Forum Response: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Ellie Lee, co-author of the report, said:  "When an unplanned pregnancy occurs, it is clear that most young women perceive the outcome as first and foremost their decision.

"Yet the evidence shows that their views are shaped by factors that include social deprivation, the attitudes of family and friends and the accepted ‘norms’ of behaviour in the communities where they live.

"We believe it is important to accept and build on the satisfaction that many young women get from motherhood and to provide medical services that accept that choice. We would also like to see more initiatives that would help raise their expectations for the future - especially regarding educational attainment and building a career.

"At the same time, we believe that young women who choose abortion should have their choice respected and have better access to services of a more consistent quality than currently exists. Abortion needs to be de-stigmatised and the case made more strongly for viewing it as a morally acceptable aspect of reproductive health care and family planning."

Forum Response: British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS, said: "The Rowntree report highlights that young women with unwanted pregnancies need fast access to specialist abortion services where they can be sure that their confidentiality will be respected, where they will be cared for by staff who won’t blame them or judge them and where doctor’s can provide the safest and most effective of procedures.

 

"BPAS clinics can do this.  Agency arrangements deliver a win-win situation.  Patients get specialist care paid for by the NHS while trusts can use their resources to address other gynaecological priorities.

 

"In 2003 BPAS saw 4,565 teenagers aged between 15 and 17."