This report provides information on key legislative changes and the Ministry of Health’s work, along with data on abortion services provided in the 2020 calendar year.
The Ministry of Health is now responsible for publishing an annual report to inform the sector about the progress of its Abortion Services work programme. The Ministry is aware that annual reporting supports the sector with service planning and research activities.
Before the passing of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 in March last year, the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) had oversight of abortion services, set standards of care and was responsible for annual reporting on abortion-related information. As part of the legislative changes, the ASC was disestablished on 24 March 2020 (ASC 2020).
This 2021 annual report is similar in content to what the ASC reported in previous years. Future annual reports will have a greater focus on equity of abortion service provision, as further work is completed in this area. In addition, data collection for future reports will look different because new data information collection regulations applied from 24 September 2021. This report contains more information about those regulations.