More abortions are carried out annually in Britain than in any other country in Europe, latest figures have shown.
The Institute for Family Policies, a Norwegian pro-family pressure group, issued the latest calculated statistics collected by the European Union’s statistical arm, Eurostat, showing for the first time that Britain has overtaken France, which has a population of more than 65 million, compared to Britain’s 59 million. Britain now ranks sixth in the world in annual abortion figures behind China, the US, Russia, India and Japan.
On 11 November 2009, the group presented the figures to the European Parliament as part of a report on developments in family life.
Half of all pregnancies among girls under 18 in the country end in abortion. Anti-abortion campaigners claim the figures are an indictment of the Government's teenage pregnancy strategy.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the figures showed that in 2007, the latest year for which figures were available, 219,336 abortions were carried out in England, Scotland and Wales, compared to 209,699 in France.
Both countries’ tallies far outstrip those with the next highest numbers: Romania with 150,246 and Italy with 126,562.
Abortion numbers are rising fastest in Spain, but there were still only 112,138 abortions carried out there in 2007.
Britain also had the highest number of teenage abortions – 48,150 among girls under 20 compared to France's 31,779. There is a growing tendency of pregnant teenagers turning to abortion.
Abortion campaigners blamed Labour's policies, and in particular its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, based on promoting sex education and contraception, the Daily Mail reported.
Phyllis Bowman of Right to Life said:
'These are not surprising figures. The Government is not so much running a Teenage Pregnancy Strategy as a Teenage Abortion Strategy. Conceptions are not going down and abortion is going up, exactly the reverse of what was supposed to happen.
Britain will continue to have record abortion levels until ministers recognise the idiocy of these policies,’ she added.
In March this year, the Advertising Standards Agency proposed to allow abortion clinics to advertise their services on television and radio after the Government called for action to combat rising teenage pregnancy rates. The plans were fiercely condemned by family campaigners and politicians.
(See the Daily Mail report)
In September this year, a draft report on sex education drawn up by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization claimed that children as young as five should be taught about abortion alongside other controversial subjects. It recommended that by the age of 12 children should be taught about the ‘right to and access to safe abortion’. The report provoked worldwide controversy.
(See the CCFON report)
Earlier this week, it was also reported that twice as many unborn babies are being aborted because they have Down's syndrome. The National Down’s Syndrome Cytogenetic Register revealed that doctors are trying to spare women's feelings at aborting a disabled child by failing to classify the termination as Down's.
On 12 November 2009, Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo has called on local authorities and health trusts to continue to prioritise the Government’s teenage pregnancy strategy.
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