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Abortion Rates in UK Reach New High - One Third are Repeat Abortion


LifeSiteNews ^ | 4/6/06 | Hilary White


Posted on 07/06/2006 2:18:59 PM PDT by wagglebee


LONDON, July 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nearly a third of British
women who have an abortion have had one or more before according to the
latest Department of Health statistics.

In England and Wales, abortion rates have risen from 185,713 in 2004 to
186,416 in 2005. A significant increase was found particularly in early
term abortions, those under ten weeks gestation, whereas late
abortions, those committed over 20 weeks gestation, decreased almost 10
per cent last year.

Despite a move by some MP's and others to promote a Parliamentary
reconsideration of the legal gestational age limit for abortion -
currently at 24 weeks - the numbers show that the real problem is not
late term but early abortions, a problem that the upper age limit will
not address. In 2005, abortions under 10 weeks accounted for 66.5 per
cent of the total number compared to 60.2 per cent in 2004.

The statistics also showed an increase in eugenic abortions, those
permitted because the child is handicapped or potentially disabled. 22
per cent of these cases were the result of a diagnosis of Down's
Syndrome.

A spokesman for the Society for the Protection for Unborn Children
(SPUC) said the government is guilty of pressuring doctors into doing
abortions. Citing the statistics showing a five per cent increase in
abortions on girls under 16, SPUC president John Smeaton said,
"Government guidance includes a thinly-veiled warning of severe
punitive action against health care professionals who break a strict
code of secrecy concerning abortions for children who are under
16-years old."