133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
9 July 2025
Lisa
By email: [FYI request #31082 email]
Ref:
H2025068315
Tēnā koe Lisa
Response to your request for official information Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) transferred from
Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora to the Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora (the Ministry)
on 10 June 2025 for abortion data. Please find a response to each part of your request below:
Under the Official Information Act I request the following information on number of
abortions done between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2025, provided for each calendar
year.
Preferably this information will be in a spreadsheet where these factors can be filtered to
enable comparison across the different categories.
Please note, there is no requirement under the Act for agencies to create new information or
compile information that is not part of the usual reporting process. The Ministry is also permitted
to provide the requested information in an alternative format to what you have specified, in line
with section 16(2)(a) of the Act, should the requested format impair efficient administration.
Therefore, the Ministry is providing a PDF document of the figures requested.
1. The total number of abortions that were denied or deemed inappropriate nationally. Also
broken down into:
•
by fetous gestational age as follow s 0-10 weeks, 11-20 weeks, 21-30 weeks, 31-
40 weeks
•
by sex, male, female, unknown
•
age of mother 0-15 years, 16-20 years, 21-25 years, 26-30 years, 31-35 years,
36-40 years, 41-45 years, 45-50 years etc
•
ethnicity of mother
•
the reason the abortion was declined
The Ministry does not collect this information. Therefore, this part of your request is refused
under section 18(g)(i) of the Act, as the information requested is not held by the Ministry and
there are no grounds for believing that it is held by another agency subject to the Act.
2. Total number of abortions undertaken nationally and then broken down into the following
also:
•
by District Health Board
Some of the information you have requested was provided to you on 31 March 2022 (OIA
H202204223 refers). Please note that repeated requests for the same information that has been
sought previously could potentially be regarded as frivolous or vexatious, and refused under
section 18(h) of the Act.
Information relating to abortion service provision by district of service for the years 2020 through
2023 have been published within abortion service reports and can be found here:
www.health.govt.nz/system/files/2024-12/Abortion-Services-Annual-Report-2024-v6.pdf. As
such, section 18(d) of the Act applies to this part of your request.
Data relating to 2024 and 2025 are provided and attached as
Table 1. Please note that data
relating to abortion provision during 2024 and 2025 is provisional, pending final review and
publication. Data on this content will be published in due course. Some information within
Table
1 is withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect the privacy of natural persons.
•
per abortion provider
Your request for the number of abortions performed at individual clinics is withheld in full under
section 9(2)(a) of the Act.
•
by fetous gestational age as follows 0-10 weeks, 11-20 weeks, 21-30 weeks, 31-
40 weeks
Table 2 is attached for the years requested. Please note that the number of abortions at greater
than 30 weeks’ gestation have been included within a single category of ‘greater than 20 weeks
gestation’ due to very low numbers. A further breakdown of information is withheld in full under
section 9(2)(a) of the Act.
•
by sex, male, female, unknown
The Ministry does not collect this information. As such, this part of your request is refused under
section 18(g)(i) of the Act.
•
age of mother 0-15 years, 16-20 years, 21-25 years, 26-30 years, 31-35 years, 36-
40 years, 41-45 years, 45-50 years etc
The published reports include abortions by standard five-year maternal age groups (under 15
years, 15-19 years, 20-24 years, 25-29 years, 30-34 years, 35-39 years, 40-44 years and 45
years +).
Please note that data relating to 2024 and 2025 is provisional pending final review and
publication. Due to very low numbers, the number of people accessing abortion services aged
greater than 45 years have been included as one category to protect the privacy of natural
persons.
The number of abortions by age during 2024 and for the year 2025, ending 31 March 2025 are
attached as
Table 3.
•
ethnicity of mother
The published reports include detailed information relating to ethnicity of the person seeking
abortion services. To fulfil your request, we have included information attached as
Table 4 by
Page 2 of 3
prioritised ethnicity for the years 2024 and as of 31 March 2025. More detailed information will
be published in due course.
•
the reason the abortion was approved
This information is not collected and is therefore refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act. For
further information regarding data collection, please review the Contraception, Sterilisation, and
Abortion (Information Collection) Regulations 2021:
www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2021/0219/latest/LMS532081.html.
•
the number of abortions that resulted in a live birth
•
of the number of live births the percentage that were terminated after the
event through inaction and leaving the baby to die
•
of the number of live births the percentage that were terminated after the
event by medical intervention
A live birth sits outside the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1997. In the event of a
live birth, there is a requirement to provide appropriate care. What care is relevant in the
circumstances will depend on the clinical assessment of the baby by their health practitioner.
In all cases in which there is a live birth, a care plan will be developed in accordance with
relevant standards and best practice guidance. Additionally, all live births must be registered
with the Department of Internal Affairs.
Although previous reports grouped together all foetus gestations over 20 weeks I request
the additional data that provides the 21-30 and 31-42 weeks numbers.
Due to low numbers of abortions occurring at the later gestations requested, the information
regarding weeks’ gestation is included as one category, referring to 20 weeks or greater.
Further delineation of the data is withheld in full under section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect the
privacy of natural persons. Please refer to
Table 2.
Where information is withheld under section 9 of the Act, I have considered the countervailing
public interest in releasing information and consider that it does not outweigh the need to
withhold at this time.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this decision, please feel
free to contact the OIA Services Team on:
[email address]. Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-official-
information-act-requests. Nāku noa, nā
Ruihua Gu
Group Manager, Quality Assurance and Safety Regulation and Monitoring | Te Pou Whakamaru
Page 3 of 3
Table 1:
District
2024
2025 (to 31 March
2025)
Auckland
4,062
1,059
Canterbury
1,572
300
Capital and Coast
971
242
Waikato
681
170
Southern
859
255
MidCentral
1,372
327
ACT 1982
Lakes
582
160
Northland
426
133
Hawke’s Bay
439
115
Nelson Marlborough
317
75
Bay of Plenty
256
71
Taranaki
228
70
INFORMATION
Tairāwhiti
207
55
South Canterbury
103
16
Counties Manukau
105
41
Waitematā
205
88
West Coast
14
S*
Hutt Valley
7
S*
Note that in 2024, 5,421 abortions have been provided by the National telehealth service,
DECIDE. As of 31 March 2025, 1,382 abortions have been provided by the National telehealth
service, DECIDE during the 2025 calendar year.
* Due to very low numbers, figures in the West Coast and Hutt Valley have been suppressed (S)
to protect the privacy of natural persons.
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
Table 2:
Duration of
2025*
2024 2023
2022
2021 2020*
gestation
(weeks)
0-10
3,985 15,360 13,929 11,470 11,164 10,818
11-20
540 2,300 2,207 2,600 2,002 2,139
>20
42
167
141
94
91
101
1982
* Please note that 188 abortions were reported in 2020 (the first year of the law change) without
providers having completed information relating to gestational term.
ACT
Table 3:
Age
2024
2025 (to 31 March
2025)
Under 15
48
11
15 – 19
1,804
425
20 – 24
4,377
1,114
25 – 29
4,244
INFORMATION
1,099
30 – 34
3,876
1,017
35 – 39
2,520
658
40 – 44
894
226
45 +
64
OFFICIAL
16
Table 4:
THE
Prioritised ethnicity
2024
2025 (to 31 March
2025)
Māori
4,719
1,289
UNDER
Pacifica
1,629
392
Asian
3,912
948
Other
7,562
1,936
*Note that in 2024, 5 people did not provide their ethnicity information during the data collection
annual year. As of 31 Match 2025, one person did not provide their ethnicity information during
RELEASED
the calendar year.
