The Department of Health (DoH) today published statistics relating to medical abortions and terminations of pregnancy in Northern Ireland HSC Hospitals during 2021/22.

The statistical bulletin presents information on the number of medical abortions and terminations of pregnancy carried out in HSC Hospitals in Northern Ireland during 2021/22.

The information release is published online.

Key Points

• There were 53 terminations of pregnancy in HSC hospitals in Northern Ireland during 2021/22.  This was 10 less than the previous year (Table 1). However this is still an increase from 2019/20 and could be the result of changes in legislation passed in March 2021.  However, this number only relates to procedures carried out on hospital inpatients and day cases and is not representative of all Terminations of Pregnancy notified to the Chief Medical Officer during 2021/22.
• All of the 53 terminations of pregnancy during 2021/22 were carried out on women normally resident in Northern Ireland (Table 3).
• During 2021/22 there were 36 terminations of pregnancy carried out on women aged 30 years and over, 13 terminations of pregnancy carried out on women aged 25 to 29, and 4 on women aged 24 and under (Table 4).