Teenage terminations raise abortion rate - Guardian
Extract:
"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.""
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