Abortion: Neural Tube Defects
(asked on 12th October 2017) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the trend in recent years of terminated pregnancies due to neural tube defects.
The percentage of terminations for the most common neural tube defects has remained stable in recent years. Between 2012 and 2016, 0.21-0.24% of total abortions were performed under Ground E with the principal medical condition listed as either anencephaly, spina bifida or encephalocele.
Information on the numbers of terminated pregnancies is shown in the following table.
Year | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
Anencephaly | 219 | 237 | 230 | 217 | 208 |
Encephalocele | 31 | 36 | 31 | 36 | 33 |
Spina Bifida | 177 | 159 | 181 | 167 | 149 |
Sub-total | 427 | 432 | 442 | 420 | 390 |
Total number of abortions performed under Ground E | 3,208 | 3,213 | 3,099 | 2,732 | 2,692 |
Total number of abortions | 185,596 | 185,824 | 184,571 | 185,331 | 185,122 |
Percentage of total abortions with a primary diagnosis of anencephaly, encephalocele or spina bifida | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.23 | 0.21 |
Source: Departmental annually published abortion statistics, 2012-2016