Abortion
Record levels of abortions due to increasing financial strains
Research shows huge growth in the number of parents terminating pregnancies due to severe financial strain.
One woman spoke recently to The Independent, explaining she had an abortion in April 2021 because she couldn’t afford to have another child, especially due to “extortionate” childcare and nursery fees.
She stated:
“If it wasn’t about the money, we would have had it… That took me a long time to get over. I feel like it wasn’t my decision, I feel like it was forced.” “It was physically impossible financially [to have another child]. It would have been £1,950 a month on childcare. That is more than my partner earns a month. Expensive childcare is entrenching gender equality.”
Another woman told The Independent the cost of childcare “accounted for 70 per cent” of her decision to terminate an unplanned pregnancy in May 2021.
She stated:
“I’ve always wanted to have children. I was crying when I went through the abortion – more from emotional pain. “There is a lot of pressure for the childcare system to be changed and to be much more affordable, but nobody seems to be listening. Nobody cares. Honestly every day, I think about the abortion.” “I was absolutely broken. My child deserves a sibling. We’ve progressed so far in so many ways but we expect women to procreate but we don’t support women to procreate.”
For privacy reasons both women remain anonymous.
Research carried out by Pregnant then Screwed found that 87 per cent of parents using childcare say the cost is preventing them from growing their families.
Data from the organisation last year showed that six in ten women who had an abortion attributed the decision to the cost of childcare in the UK. Their research also found almost one in five women said childcare costs were the main reason they decided to terminate a pregnancy.
The UK’s leading abortion provider, MSI Reproductive Choices UK, reported an “unprecedented” surge in the number of abortions this year because of the “spiralling” cost of living.
It recorded a 31 per cent rise in terminations in February 2023 compared to the previous year – from 5,772 to 7,562.
Clare Murphy, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), another leading abortion provider, commented:
“The majority of women who end a pregnancy are already mothers, and our clients tell us that they cannot bring another baby in to their family when they are already struggling to provide for their existing children.”
Campaigner Lauren Fabianski warned this is a “growing issue”, adding: “For a lot of these women choosing to have an abortion, these are wanted pregnancies.
“Some of these stories are particularly heartbreaking. We have heard from nurses, teachers, and headteachers, who people assume are on quite good incomes and should be able to afford these quite basic things. But to some of them, it would be the difference between having to use food banks or not.”
She added that paying for childcare for a second child would push them “below the poverty line”.
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