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101
Abortion
During 1969, 54,158 abortions were notified throughout England
and Wales, 33,155 (61.2%) from N.H.S. hospitals and 20,858
(38.3%) from "approved" places. Of the total, 46.7% were in
respect of single women of whom almost 5% were under the age
of 16 years. Some 3,605, equivalent to 6.6% of the country's total,
were notified in the S.E. Metropolitan Regional Hospital area and,
of these, 937 or 26% were forwarded from "approved" places.
Detailed analyses of legally induced abortions carried out in
respect of residents are available only for the period from the
introduction of the Abortion Act on 27th April, 1968, to the 31st
December of the same year. During that period of approximately
8 months, 180 abortions were effected of which 70 (38.8%)
concerned single women, 38 being under 20 years of age of whom
3 were under 16. This gives a calculated annual abortion rate for
Greenwich of 5.9 per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44
years. Of the Borough's total of 180, 142 abortions were carried out
at N.H.S. hospitals, 138 actually taking place within the S.E.
Metropolitan Regional Hospital area.
Congenital Malformations
Congenital malformations probably constitute today's greatest
challenge to paediatrics and most advanced countries are seeking
to discover the aetiologies, the first step to which is the recording of
the various conditions.
The following tables give information regarding malformations
notified to the department during 1969 compared with those
returned for England and Wales in 1968.