[1]LONDON (BP)–More than half of the pregnancies to underage girls in Great Britain ended in abortion last year for the first time.
New government statistics show there were about 40,000 pregnancies to girls under the age of 18 in 2008, and more than 20,000 of those ended in abortion, according to the Daily Mail.
Amazingly, some supporters of abortion rights applauded the development.
“The fact that teenagers felt able to end their pregnancy in abortion is actually a positive sign,” said Ann Furedi of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, according to the Daily Mail.
The statistics demonstrate Britain’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, which began in 1999, is failing to reach its goals, the Daily Mail reported. The initiative, which involves the free distribution of contraceptives and expanded sex education, was intended to cut in half the number of pregnancies among underage girls between 1998 and 2010. Instead, the teen pregnancy rate is higher than it was in 1995.
The British newspaper reported on one girl who had four abortions before she turned 16. “I don’t know why so many teenagers are falling into the same trap,” said the girl, Lucy Lanelly. “Sex education is obviously not working.”
–30–
Compiled by Baptist Press Washington bureau chief Tom Strode.
[2]