Shocking Statistics out of England and Wales

I recently came across this podcast episode, and was shocked by a few aspects. For context, this is a podcast in which two people representing different sides of an issue come together to have a long-form discussion about their differences. The discussions always start with each side giving their best understanding of the other side’s view, which I appreciate.

While most of the episodes take on issues of faith, Episode 8 covered abortion in the UK. A few things:

(1) Unlike many of these discussions, this one was very respectful on both sides, which helps cut through the straw men and sleight of hand one often comes across in these discussions.

(2) The statistics were shocking to me. After some additional confirmatory research, it would appear each of these statements is true with respect to England and Wales (who report abortion statistics together):

"Based on current abortion rates, around one in three women in England and Wales are estimated to have at least one abortion by age 45."

"In 2023, about 32% of conceptions in England and Wales ended in abortion."

“In 2023, there were about 280,000 abortions among residents of England and Wales,” which was an all-time high.

(3) I was further shocked that the pro-choice advocate, unlike many pro-choice advocates, is more than happy to concede that an unborn baby is a human life as opposed to what many such advocates would prefer refer to as a “clump of cells” or something similar. Yet, despite that, she’s still okay with terminating its life (although she appears to have recently begun contemplating her stance more deeply).

(4) I also couldn’t help but notice amidst the ongoing migrant situation in the UK that rationale for large scale immigration often points to low birth rates and the need to increase population for economic reasons. Yet the English and Welsh are apparently now ending the lives of a third of future citizens who could help fill that void.