Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many pregnancy terminations have been carried out on grounds of a diagnosis of (1) Downs Syndrome, or (2) Brittle Bones, in each of the past five years.

We are unable to provide the data requested for 2022 and 2023 as these statistics have not yet been published. Abortion statistics for 2022 are provisionally scheduled to be published in May 2024. The date of publication of abortion statistics for 2023 will be announced in due course.

The following table shows information on the number of pregnancy terminations carried out on grounds of a diagnosis of Downs Syndrome or congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system between 2019 and 2021:

Source: NHS England

Notes:

1. The number of mentions is the number of times a particular condition has been listed under Ground E.
2. ICD-10 codes are taken from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health problems (Tenth Revision) published by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
3. ICD-10 codes Q65 to Q79 (Congenital malformations and deformations of the musculoskeletal system) includes Q78.0 which is the ICD10 code for osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bones).
4. To protect patient confidentiality, we are unable to provide the number of mentions for osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bones). Instead, we have provided the number of mentions for congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system, which may include mentions of osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bones), for the same period.