Abortion Bob Spink To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the rate of (a) conception and (b) pregnancy terminated by abortion was among those under the age of 18 years in (i) England, (ii) Essex and (iii) Castle Point in each of the last five years. Angela E. Smith The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply. Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2009: As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the rate of (a) conception and (b) pregnancy terminated by abortion was among those under the age of 18 years in (i) England, (ii) Essex and (iii) Castle Point in each of the last five years. (278013) Figures on conceptions are estimates based on the number of live births, stillbirths or legal abortions. They do not include miscarriages and illegal abortions. The table below provides the rate of (a) conceptions and (b) conceptions leading to a legal abortion, among girls aged under 18, for (i) England, (ii) Essex county and (iii) Castle Point local authority district for 2003 to 2007 (the most recent year for which figures are available). ------------------ |Rate per 1,0002 | ------------------ |(a) Conceptions | ------------------ | |2003|2004|2005|2006|20073| ------------------ |England |42.2|41.6|41.3|40.6|41.7| ------------------ |Essex county |31.7|30.5|30.6|32.5|32.9| ------------------ |Castle Point LAD|32.5|30.8|32.0|29.9|34.4| ------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |(b) Conceptions leading to a legal abortion | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |2003|2004|2005|2006|20073| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |England |19.4|19.1|19.3|19.8|21.1| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Essex county |15.2|15.9|15.9|17.5|18.7| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Castle Point LAD |17.7|20.0|19.8|17.5|19.7| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1 Under 18 years at estimated date of conception.2 Number of conceptions to women under 18 per 1,000 female population aged 15 to 17.3 Figures for 2007 are provisional.4 Number of conceptions to women under 18 leading to a legal abortion per 1,000 female population aged 15 to 17.| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------