AQW 9369/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Health
To ask the Minister of Health why up-to-date statistics on terminations of pregnancy are not published on his Department's website.
Asked by Connie Egan MLA on 21 March 2024
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 21 March 2024
- Answer due by
- 9 April 2024
- Answered
- 8 April 202418 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Health
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The Department publishes an annual report on terminations of pregnancy carried out in Northern Ireland. The most recent report was published in January 2023 and covered the period 1 April 2021 – 31 March 2022.
The data contained within this report, however, only considers those terminations carried out in HSC Hospitals in Northern Ireland as an inpatient or day case, in line with the definitions and scope of previous iterations of this publication.
Following the commissioning of abortion services in Northern Ireland, as instructed by the Secretary of State on 2 December 2022, work is ongoing to ensure that future annual publications include statistics on all terminations of pregnancy in Northern Ireland. As a result, the next annual publication which has been delayed until June 2024 will include statistics from the introduction of the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No 2) Regulations 2020 on 31 March 2020 to March 2023 respectively.