Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the prevalence of gender-selective abortion in the UK.
In August 2015, the Department published an ‘Assessment of termination of pregnancy on grounds of the sex of the foetus’ on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/abortion-on-grounds-of-sex-of-the-foetus
A further analysis of birth ratios in Great Britain was published on the gov.uk website in October 2017 at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gender-ratios-at-birth-in-great-britain-2011-to-2015
No substantiated evidence was found of gender selective abortions taking place in Britain. The Department will continue to monitor this issue closely through repeating the analysis of birth ratios annually, and working with other government departments and researchers. This includes collaborating with a successful applicant to the Economic and Social Research Council on research into son preference and sex selection against females in the United Kingdom, which will look at evidence, causes, trends and implications.