Image Sources: Shutterstock | Department for Health and Social Care
New statistics released by the Department for Health and Social care on the sex ratios at birth in the United Kingdom show a disparity, particularly among those of Indian origin, that suggest the nation’s taxpayer-funded abortion regime is being used to terminate baby girls simply because of their sex.
The Department for Health has committed to releasing such figures annually, with the most recent being 2019-2023’s figures, in line with a 2011 Council of Europe resolution that encourages national governments to “collect the sex ratio at birth, monitor its development and take prompt action to tackle possible imbalances.” It found that the average sex ratio at birth was 105.3 males born for every 100 females, but that there is a statistical anomaly in the third child or later for those of Indian origin and ethnicity. This indicates a self-inflicted imbalance within the community.
Since 1980 the national ratio has fluctuated between 104.7 and 105.8 live male births per 100 female births. The current White British ratio for the third pregnancy or later is 104.5, incrementally lower than the normal ratio. This skyrockets to 113.0 in those of Indian ethnicity, an astounding 8.5 points higher than White Brits. Many experts say that ratios over 107.0 cannot occur naturally.
Country of origin is not recorded when women present for an abortion, but ethnicity is. 91% of women declare their ethnicity when presenting for an abortion—9.9% of those were Asian. There is not a large increase of abortions between six and ten weeks for those of an Asian origin compared to White British women, which would be expected if late-term abortion were happening en masse, though there are slight upticks from thirteen to nineteen weeks, and twenty plus weeks.
It is worth noting that the sex-selective later-term abortion that would be expected to create such a disparity in the live birth sex ratio may be swallowed up in the comparison figures. This is likely due to a lower propensity to abort for Indians with larger family structures and a greater volume of children—they are less likely to abort their male babies than White British women would be.
Under the provisions of the Abortion Act 1967 the sex of the child is not a valid reason to abort a child—it is illegal. Many women may choose an abortion due to cultural factors around the sex of the child but easily disguise that by giving another reason for the abortion. Since the passage of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 women have been removed from the criminal law regarding abortion, creating a de facto abortion up-to-birth regime in which women cannot be criminally liable in the procurement of their own termination.
Many pro-abortion activists claim that pro-lifers raising the issue of sex-selective abortion is a racist dogwhistle, as accused by Abortion Rights UK. It is not racist to point out the fact that our poorly regulated, liberal abortion system is allowing misogynistic cultural practices to materialise to the point of killing baby girls. It is a tragedy that organisations who claim to defend the rights of women turn a blind eye to the slaughter of the most vulnerable girls in our society: baby girls.
SPUC’s Communications Manager Peter Kearney has commented on the new statistics, saying: “SPUC will always take a stand when human dignity is threatened. Baby girls have equal worth to baby boys and that should never be a controversial point. Alas, our abortion regime means that those who do not see girls as equal to boys and who still hold onto misogynistic elements of their cultures can practice sex-selective abortion relatively freely in this nation. That is easier since the decriminalisation of abortion.”
He continued, “The 2011 Council of Europe resolution and the 2015 Serious Crime Act place a duty on the Secretary of State for Health to take prompt action to tackle the statistical imbalances. We implore Yvette Cooper to do that; a first step would be cracking down on our out-of-control abortion system that allows those who want to eradicate baby girls to kill them impunity.”
The government report can be viewed here.
