Post by kjvsteve on Jun 28, 2009 12:13:31 GMT -5
I really didn't believe the UK had gone THIS far downhill....
UK abortion shock figures
Dozens of girls as young as 12 or 13 are regularly having abortions, Government figures show.
More than 450 youngsters below the age of 14 ended unwanted pregnancies between 2005 and 2008 - including 23 girls aged just 12, the Department of Health statistics reveal.
Over the same period, 52 teenagers terminated four or more pregnancies before they reached their 18th birthday, helping the number of repeat abortions hit record levels.
Across all age groups, 64,715 repeat abortions were carried out last year. This is the biggest figure on record and includes 46 women who had terminated at least eight pregnancies.
The figures will fuel fears that abortion is being used for lifestyle reasons by a generation that feels it has the right to have babies to order.
They follow research published earlier this year, which found that the number of abortions performed on teenage girls who have had at least one before has risen by almost 70 per cent since 1991.
In 2007, 5,897 girls under 20 had their second, third or even fourth termination. Sixteen years earlier, in 1991, the figure stood at 2,934.
Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said the statistics were evidence of the failure of Labour's teenage pregnancy policies.
He said: 'When you look at the cases of young girls having abortions repeatedly, this is not just tragic and disturbing, but totally unnecessary.'
The Department of Health spokesman said the Government had invested almost £50million in efforts to prevent teenage pregnancies and that the rates of abortions for teenagers as a whole had fallen by 4.5 per cent in the past year.
UK abortion shock figures
Dozens of girls as young as 12 or 13 are regularly having abortions, Government figures show.
More than 450 youngsters below the age of 14 ended unwanted pregnancies between 2005 and 2008 - including 23 girls aged just 12, the Department of Health statistics reveal.
Over the same period, 52 teenagers terminated four or more pregnancies before they reached their 18th birthday, helping the number of repeat abortions hit record levels.
Across all age groups, 64,715 repeat abortions were carried out last year. This is the biggest figure on record and includes 46 women who had terminated at least eight pregnancies.
The figures will fuel fears that abortion is being used for lifestyle reasons by a generation that feels it has the right to have babies to order.
They follow research published earlier this year, which found that the number of abortions performed on teenage girls who have had at least one before has risen by almost 70 per cent since 1991.
In 2007, 5,897 girls under 20 had their second, third or even fourth termination. Sixteen years earlier, in 1991, the figure stood at 2,934.
Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said the statistics were evidence of the failure of Labour's teenage pregnancy policies.
He said: 'When you look at the cases of young girls having abortions repeatedly, this is not just tragic and disturbing, but totally unnecessary.'
The Department of Health spokesman said the Government had invested almost £50million in efforts to prevent teenage pregnancies and that the rates of abortions for teenagers as a whole had fallen by 4.5 per cent in the past year.
