Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2019 to Question 217569 on Abortions, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) address the trend of increased abortion rates for women aged 30 to 34.

The abortion rate for women aged 30-34 has increased from 15.1 per 1,000 women in 2007 to 18.5 in 2017 but there are a number of factors that need to be considered before drawing conclusions about the reasons for this increase, including any overall increase in conception rates for women aged 30-34.

Public Health England is developing a reproductive health action plan to be published this year which will include actions around reducing unplanned pregnancy.