Teenage abortions on the rise
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The number of teenage girls having an abortion in the UK has rocketed over the last decade, according to official statistics, which suggest that four out of ten girls under the age of 20 who become pregnant abort their child.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released figures which show that the proportion of young girls opting for a termination rather than keeping their baby has soared by a fifth in the past decade. 42.4 per cent of all pregnancies to girls under the age of 20 ended in a legal abortion in 2008.
Experts said that abortion is increasingly seen as the major method of contraception for many teenagers and almost half of those under 18 who fall pregnant subsequently have a termination.
The highest rates of abortions among teenagers are in the wealthiest areas of the country. In Richmond upon Thames, Windsor & Maidenhead and Westminster 70 per cent or more of all pregnancies to girls under the age of 18 end in abortion.
Phyllis Bowman, of Right to Life, said:
“The Government is simply encouraging sexual activity with its safe sex message. Many methods of contraception don’t work or teenagers are not using them properly. The vast majority of girls who go to hospital in labour were actually on some form of contraception when they fell pregnant.”
“But it either failed or, as in the case of the Pill, they weren’t taking it properly. It’s a real tragedy. There is so much evidence that young girls who have an abortion suffer some form of psychological trauma later on in life.”
Official figures from the ONS also revealed in February 2009 that more teenage girls were falling pregnant in spite of a £286million Labour Government campaign to tackle the problem. They reinforced Britain’s position as the teenage pregnancy capital of Europe, with about 40 in every 1,000 schoolgirls becoming pregnant. Half of them went on to have abortions.
Last year the charity YouthNet conducted a study of 16- to 24-year-olds which found that a large proportion of youngsters are sexually active, and those who decided to abstain felt pressured to engage in sexual activity.
Andrea Minichiello Williams commented: “An increase in sex education in schools has led to an increase in sexual activity outside of marriage, unwanted teenage pregnancies and STD’s. We need sex education that encourages abstinence and emphasises the importance of marriage. The fruits of the so called ‘sexual liberation’ are rotten.”
Sources
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