Northern Ireland Termination of Pregnancy Statistics 2019/20

The Department of Health (DoH) today published statistics relating to medical abortions and terminations of pregnancy during 2019/20.

The statistical bulletin presents information on the number of medical abortions and terminations of pregnancy during 2019/20.

The information release is published on the Department of Health's website.

Key Points

• There were 22 terminations of pregnancy in HSC hospitals in Northern Ireland during 2019/20.  This was 14 more than the previous year (Table 1).  It should be noted that due to small numbers, relatively large fluctuations may be expected from year to year.

• All of the 22 terminations of pregnancy during 2019/20 were carried out on women normally resident in Northern Ireland (Table 3).

• During 2019/20 there were 15 terminations of pregnancy carried out on women aged 30 years and over, five terminations of pregnancy carried out on a women aged 25 to 29, and two on women aged 24 and under (Table 4).

Notes to editors: 

1. The source of this information is the HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland.
2. The structure of the terminology used within the UK National Clinical Coding Standards ICD-10 4th Edition (2013) Reference Book is as follows:
   
   Abortion: The term abortion means the expulsion or extraction of all (complete) or any part (incomplete) of the placenta or membranes (products of conception) without an identifiable foetus or without a liveborn infant, or stillborn, before the 24th completed week of gestation.  This covers a range of codes within the ICD-10 structure and includes ‘missed miscarriages’ (the retention of a dead foetus before 24 completed weeks of gestation, with no signs of abortion), spontaneous abortions (known miscarriages) and terminations of pregnancy.
   
   Medical Abortion: The term medical abortion within the confines of the use of the ICD-10 code O04 – Medical Abortion equates to the interruption of a live pregnancy for legally acceptable, medically approved conditions.  It also includes re-admission with retained products of conception following a previous termination of pregnancy only. 
   
   Termination of Pregnancy: This is defined as any patient who has a live pregnancy terminated for Northern Ireland legally acceptable, medically approved conditions.  This is a subset of the term ‘medical abortion’.
    
3. Following a public consultation carried out by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, the UK National Clinical Coding Standards were revised for 2013.  As a result, the definition of ‘medical abortion’ has been significantly altered.  The revised definition (provided in point 2) has been applied throughout the UK from 1st April 2013.  The change in definition of medical abortion has resulted in a break in the time series of medical abortions; consequently, figures from 2013/14 onwards are not comparable to figures for before then.  There has been no change to the definition of a termination of pregnancy.
    
4. Further information on Northern Ireland Terminations of Pregnancy is available from:
   Hospital Information Branch
   Department of Health
   Annexe 2, Castle Buildings
   Stormont, BT4 3SQ
   
   Telephone: 028 9052 8452
   Email: statistics@health-ni.gov.uk
    
5. For media enquiries please contact the DoH Press Office by email pressoffice@health-ni.gov.uk.
6. Follow us on twitter @healthdpt.
7. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

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