The annual number of abortions in the Netherlands increased by 14.7 percent in 2022 to a total of approximately 35,000, the highest number since 1986. The abortion ratio, the number of terminations of pregnancy per thousand live births per year, also increased: from 157 to 193. according to a report published on Thursday report of the Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate (IGJ). Between 2005 and 2021, the number of annual abortions did not exceed 33,000.
The number of abortions increased by almost the same percentage in all age categories in 2022. Women between the ages of 30 and 35 most often had an abortion. 23 percent of all abortions took place in that age category. In 2022, there were about 2,700 abortions among teenagers up to the age of 20, including about eighty girls under the age of 15. In 2021, there were about a hundred abortions in girls under the age of 15.
The IGJ provides no explanation for the sharp increase in the number of abortions. This is prohibited by law. If the IGJ did do this, it could be traced back to the fact that a woman had an abortion in a particular clinic.
Abortions for foreign women
The number of ‘foreign women’ – women who traveled to the Netherlands for an abortion, migrant workers or foreign students – who underwent an abortion increased by 304 to 3,258. The share of foreign women in all abortions remained approximately the same.
65 percent of abortions in 2022 took place in the first eight weeks of pregnancy, comparable to 2021. The limit for abortion under criminal law is 24 weeks. In practice, doctors use 22 weeks as the limit.