Data recently released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that the birth rate in both England and Wales has plummeted. This follows last month’s news that shows abortions in the two countries have been on the rise.
Though the birth rate has been steadily decreasing, the 2022 numbers are the lowest they’ve been in 20 years. England and Wales recorded 605,479 births in 2022, a 3.1% drop from 624,828 in 2021 and the lowest number since 2002 when there were 596,122 births. In contrast, abortions in the two countries have skyrocketed. Data released by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) show there were 123,219 abortions between January and June of 2022 — a 17% increase from the 105,488 abortions between January and June of 2021.
One of Britain’s leading demographic experts has called the falling birth rate numbers “a good thing.” Professor Sarah Harper CBE, founder and director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing touted the long-debunked notion that declining population is good for the planet.
“I think it’s a good thing that the high-income, high-consuming countries of the world are reducing the number of children that they’re having. I’m quite positive about that,” she told The Telegraph. “We will see smaller populations in high-income countries going forward. It’s just going to be a trend of the 21st century and that will actually be good for general overall overconsumption that we have at the moment and our planet.”
Despite this claim, the overpopulation concern has been thoroughly discredited. In fact, a growing number of demographers argue that it will be declining populations — not growing ones — that cause the planet most harm.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, a pro-life organization in the UK, decried the declining birth rates, especially in proportion to the surge in abortion numbers.
“The connection between surging abortion and declining birth rates is obvious, urged on by Government policy, including the disastrous DIY abortion scheme, and the abortion industry that feeds off the fears of women,” said a spokesperson. “Abortion idealogues have for decades sold the promise of happiness and so-called liberation, founded on the sacrifice of millions of unborn babies. In England, roughly one in four pregnancies now end in abortion. This life-denying ethic rooted in death exposes a culture that diminishes the value of children and family, and ultimately life itself. Society is heading down a dark and dangerous path, though it is not too late to turn back.”
