Teen Repeat Abortions Increasing in England

Abortion numbers in the UK are the highest in Europe with 219,336 terminations taking place in one year according to a new study. Britain also has the highest number of abortions for girls under 20 with 48,150 of the abortions falling into this age group... In February official figures revealed that 41.9 girls per 1,000 aged 15 to 17 became pregnant in 2007, compared with 40.9 in 2006. This comes following £300m ($690m NZ) having been spent to date on the Labour Government’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, with Phyllis Bowman of Right to Life commenting, “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” - The Christian Institute, 13 Nov 09.

Yesterday in England the Daily Mail reports that in 2008, 5,218 teenagers (girls up to the age of 20) had an abortion that was at least their second termination. This means that one in 20 of the teenagers who became pregnant ended it with their second or further abortion. For the first time women having repeat abortions made up more than a third of all those women having their pre-born child killed. Julie Bentley, chief executive of the Family Planning Association claimed, "These figures represent a tiny number of women," while Tony Kerridge from pro-abortion institution Marie Stopes International said the findings are proof that young people need "continuous and consistent sex education," and is in favour of compulsory sex-education for every child from a young age, The Guardian reports.

While advocates of abortion continue to claim that it is not being used as an alternative to contraception, it is abundantly clear from the increase in repeat abortions committed against teenage girls and their pre-born babies that firstly, the sex-education they're receiving in schools is not having it's desired effect, and secondly that abortion is very much promoted and used as an all-too-convenient alternative to other means of contraception. What is the solution? Should sex-education be taught by compulsion from a younger age (currently being taught from 5yrs in England), as Marie Stopes International is advocating for, or should the Government instead get out of family homes and leave the so-called essential sex-education to children's parents.