Number of abortions remains stable
The rate of 6.7 abortions per 1,000 women remained practically unchanged compared to 2020. 95 percent of the abortions took place before the twelfth week of pregnancy.
In 2020, the rate was 6.8 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (BFS) on Wednesday. There were a total of 10,869 abortions by women living in Switzerland.
The FSO registered 745 abortions among women between the ages of 15 and 19, which corresponds to a rate of 3.7 per 1,000 women in this age category. The rate was 3.5 in 2020.
Abortions in women over the age of 30 have increased over the past ten years. In 2010, 45 percent of women with an abortion were over 30 years old, in 2020 and 2021 their share was 52 percent. The proportion of 25 to 30 year olds has changed little since 2010 and was 23 percent.
While abortions among women under the age of 25 accounted for 33 percent in 2010, the proportion fell to 25 percent in 2020 and 2021. The proportion of women between the ages of 15 and 19 fell from 9 percent in 2010 to 7 percent in 2021.
Trend towards medical termination
The medical abortion measures after the previous year will also increase in 2021. Nationally, they accounted for 80 percent of abortions, with surgical abortions accounting for 20 percent. The increase in medical terminations since 2019 is in all cantons.
However, there were differences: while in 2021 in the cantons of Friborg and Geneva, 60 percent of abortions were medical, in Basel-Stadt, Jura, Neuchâtel, Solothurn, Nidwalden and Uri it was over 90 percent.
The proportion of abortions before the twelfth week of pregnancy, analogous to the deadline regulation, has remained stable over the years with constant cantonal differences. In 2021, 95 percent of the terminations also took place during this period and 77 percent before the eighth week. Dropouts after the twelfth week have also remained unchanged since 2007 at 5 percent.
Cantonal differences
In some cantons, the rate of abortions per 1,000 women was above the Swiss average. In Geneva in 2021 it reached 10.1, the highest value from Vaud with 9.1. The values hardly changed compared to the previous year.
There was an increase in dropout rates in Neuchâtel (from 7.4 to 8.8) and in Zurich (from 7.4 to 8). In Basel-Stadt, on the other hand, the rate fell from 9.1 to 7, in the canton of Basel-Landschaft from 7.2 to 5.8 and in Schaffhausen from 8 to 6.1.
In the Espace Mittelland (BE, FR, SO, NE, JU), the rate of 6.3 was below the national average. Also Eastern Switzerland (SG, TG, AI, AR, SH, GR, GL) and Northwest Switzerland (BS, BL) with 5.6, Central Switzerland (NW, OW, LU, UR, SZ, ZG) with 5.2 and Ticino with 4.3 listed below average values.