Newer fashions in illegitimacy.
In 1968 Illsley and Gill examined the rise in illegitimacy in the decade 1955-65 and showed that this rise, unlike rises in the first and second world wars, had not been accompanied by a fall in prenuptial conceptions but by a rise. Statistics from 1970 to 1975 have been examined and a third parameter, legal abortion, added. After a period characterised by an apparent rise in the total of extramarital conceptions there has since 1972 been a decline; and in the age group 20-24 this fall dates from 1971. Improved contraceptive practice is probably the reason.
D000029:Abortion, Legal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007086:Illegitimacy; D010290:Parents; D011247:Pregnancy; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D006113:United Kingdom