Abortion rises again

BY CHRISTINA WHITE
MORE women are having abortions in England and Wales and increasingly abortion is being seen as a solution to an unplanned pregnancy, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.
More than 185,000 legal abortions were carried out in England and Wales last year — a rise of 2125 on 1999.
Commenting on the figures, the UK's largest private abortion provider, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said the slow but steady rise in abortion was
likely to continue. The largest increase was for women in their twenties: more than a quarter of pregnant women aged 20-24 had an abortion.
A spokesman for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children reacted with sadness to the latest figures.
"Every abortion is a tragedy. When the figures get into hundreds of thousands, it's almost too much to take in," he said.
"An apparently small annual increase of 1.2% means that more than 2,000 additional innocent lives were taken."