More abortions for under-16s

BY A STAFF REPORTER
MORE girls undcr the age of sixteen than ever before are having legal abortions, according to figures released by the Registrar General last week.
In the final three months of last year, doctors performed abortions on 544 girls below the age of sixteen, compared with a total of 386 in the same three months of 1969 — an increase of just over 40 per cent.
The number of births in the under sixteen age group was just about the same as in the previous year. Of the abortions in this group, 518 were done because of the "risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the mother" — but five girls under 16 were given abortions because of the risk of injury to the "physical or mental health of existing children."
The total number of abortions in the last three months of 1970 reached a record of 22,778, and of these 10,857 were carried out on single women, 9,929 on married women, and 1,962 on women who were widowed, divorced or separated.
The increase has given impetus to mounting protests against legal abortion. The Birmingham Anti-Abortion Campaign, for example, originally planned as a Midlands demonstration, now has national significance, drawing support from people of many faiths.
The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, and S.O.U.L. (Sanctity of Unborn Life) are among national bodies which have pledged support to the Birmingham campaign.
A silent march and rally of protest in the centre of Birmingham is planned for June 20, and demonstrators will travel from all over the country to take part. The march will finish at Calthorpe Park, where speakers will include the Catholic Bishop of Birmingham, Dr. G. P. Dwyer, Mrs.
Phyllis Bowman, Press Secretary of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, Mr. Leo Abse, M.P. for Pontypool (who resigned from the British Humanist Association because of its support for the Abortion Act), Mr. Jo Kinsey, M.P. for Perry Barr, Birmingham, and representatives of the Church of England and Birmingham's Jewish and Moslem communities.