The number of abortions in England and Wales rose 3.9% to 193,700 in 2006, the department of health reported today.
The previous year had seen just a 0.4% increase .
The figure for teenagers - among the highest in Europe - was also up last year. The abortion rate per 1,000 women was 3.9 among under 16s and 18.2 among under 18s. The rate was highest at 35 per 1,000 for women aged 19.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which provides contraception and abortion services, said the increase came as no surprise.
"A rise in numbers of this scale does not surprise us, as BPAS' doctors saw around 55,000 women for abortion care in 2006," said Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS. "We also know that conceptions are up overall in England and Wales.
"A rise in the number of abortions is not the problem in itself - the real problem is the number of women experiencing unintended pregnancy. For some of these, abortion will be the solution to the very serious problem of being faced with an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy."
The health minister, Caroline Flint, welcomed the fact that a higher percentage of abortions were taking place at an early stage, with almost two-thirds occurring before 10 weeks' gestation and most under 13 weeks.
"It is important that women have early access to abortion services as the earlier the abortion, the lower the risk of complications," she said.
"We have invested £8m to improve early access and set a standard of a maximum waiting time of three weeks. However, the NHS needs to work harder to reduce the demand for abortions by improving access to contraception."
Ms Flint said primary care trusts have received an extra £40m over 2006/08 to improve access to contraceptive services - part of the extra investment for sexual health announced in the public health white paper.
"In addition, we are producing best practice guidance on reproductive healthcare for commissioners and providers," she said. "For the first time, primary care trusts' performance will also be measured in this area."
The Royal College of Obstetricians said the rise was "disappointing" and showed a failure to deal with the problem of unplanned pregnancies.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Spuc) blamed the rising abortion trend on the government's efforts to cut NHS waiting times.
It argued that this was leading to an increasing number of young, single women being pressured into having 'social' abortions, and having them in 'short order'.
"Gordon Brown should end the Labour government's policy of rushing women as quickly as possible through the abortion mill in its frenzy to cut waiting times," said Paul Tully, general secretary of Spuc.
"He should also end the policy of promoting secret abortions on teenagers without telling their parents, and he should stop the counter-productive sex education programmes that the pro-abortion lobby promotes widely."
