- Economist Philip Pilkington argues that rising abortion numbers in Great Britain reflect a voluntary decline in native-born population growth, which he terms “self-euthanasia.”
- He notes that conceptions remain stable while abortions have spiked since 2022, with estimates showing continued increases in 2023 and 2024.
- Pilkington rejects common explanations such as permitting mail-order abortion drugs during the pandemic or reduced sex, instead attributing the trend to falling living standards and inflation.
- He argues that the UK’s population growth — necessary to maintain a stable economy — now depends on immigration rather than births.
British people are systematically “self-euthanizing” through abortion, and they are increasingly relying on immigration to bolster the lowering population, Irish economist Philip Pilkington explained in a Nov. 17 X thread.
“There is now strong reason to think that British people are starting to aggressively curtail their own reproduction,” Pilkington posted.
Referencing birth and abortion statistics, he pointed out that the overall total of conceptions has remained relatively stable since 2022, but the number of abortions has skyrocketed. According to his post, 271,000 women had abortions in 2022, compared with 306,000 women who chose abortions in 2024.
“There is a massive reluctance to carry the babies to term,” he wrote.
He also shared official statistics on total abortions per year in the United Kingdom, highlighting a jump of roughly 50,000 abortions between 2021 and 2022. While official data from 2023 and 2024 are not available, an estimate from Percuity, an organization that conducts research and data analysis on abortion, shows abortion levels continuing to rise.
Pilkington said that the COVID-19 pandemic is commonly blamed for the increase in abortions since the government had allowed women to receive abortion drugs in the mail and did not ban the practice once the pandemic ended. However, he rejected that hypothesis, noting that a 50-60% increase in abortions — as occurred in 2022 through 2024 — would not result from mail-order abortion drugs.
“THAT many women were just too lazy to go to the clinic until the postal option became available? Doubtful,” he wrote.
Pilkington also compared the data with statistics from U.S. states that allowed women to receive abortion drugs in the mail during the pandemic. He found that abortions in those states rose only 20%. Additionally, he pointed out if mail-order abortion drugs were to blame, abortions would have majorly increased in 2020, not in 2022.
Pilkington rejected another common explanation for the lowering birth rate — that fewer people had sex in 2020 and 2021 — by noting that the conception rate remained the same and similar amounts of condoms were sold in that time frame compared with previous years.
According to Pilkington, the reality is that “a massive hit to living standards mainly driven by spiking energy costs and rising inflation” caused British people “to start self-euthanizing.”
He later noted, ”The self-euthanisation being undertaken in Britain is ensuring that there is now no increase in the domestic population. All population increases come via inward migration.”
Pilkington also wrote that former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed his hypothesis when Johnson admitted that he allowed a huge influx of immigrants into the country because the British Treasury said the economy would otherwise collapse.
Pilkington concluded that “living standards in Britain are falling and people are so pessimistic they’re refusing to reproduce,” and later added, “If living standards continue to fall will abortion rates continue to climb? We’ll have to wait and see.”
The post Economist: British people committing ‘self-euthanasia’ appeared first on CatholicVote org.