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UK is 'Abortion Capital of Europe'
Rex Features
Britain has overtaken France and now ranks fifth in the world behind Russia, the US, India and Japan in the abortion league tables - despite having a smaller population.
Teenage pregnancy rates in Britain have increased by almost a third over the past decade with half of all pregnancies among girls who are under 18 now ending in a termination. Anti-abortion campaigners say the figures show that the Government's drive to cut teen pregnancies is not working.
Labour announced last week that it now intends to make sex education compulsory in all schools for pupils from the age of five upwards.
The latest figures, reported in the Telegraph, were compiled by the Norway-based pro-family pressure group, the Institute for Family Policies, from statistics collected by the European Union's statistical arm, Eurostat.
They showed that in 2007, the latest year for which figures were available, 219,336 abortions were carried out in England, Scotland and Wales.
Britain also had the highest number of teenage abortions - 48,150 among girls under 20 compared to France's 31,779.
In March, the Advertising Standards Agency said it was considering allowing abortion clinics to advertise on television after Government calls for action to combat rising teenage pregnancy rates.
'These are not surprising figures,' she told The Daily Mail. '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. Britain will continue to have record abortion levels until ministers recognise the idiocy of these policies'
What do you think? Are Britain's teens too quick to have abortions? And should we be offering sex education to children as young as five? Have your say in the box below...
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Thursday 12 November 2009
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What happened to innocence? I think the introduction of sex education to 5 year olds is an absolutely ludicrous idea, I don’t see what it can achieve. The government is not addressing the underlying problem which is the modern day attitude to sex is very blasé, it is no longer the reserve for married couples in stable relationships. The media have an irresponsible attitude to sex, that it is ok to sleep with everyone and anyone, there is no stigma attached to unmarried sex or teenage pregnancy anymore, in some cases it is actively encouraged. I don’t think giving 5 year old children sex education is going to combat this problem. I think the only way this problem is going to be combated is if you change the attitude towards sex and give children properly structured lives, keep them occupied and supervised, teach them respect for themselves and others instead of letting them roam the streets by themselves getting drunk, taking drugs and having sex. Children and teenagers need structure within there lives, I think that teenage pregnancy is just part of a very large underlying problem.
Comment by gecko girl on November 12 13:51
I couldn't agree more with gecko girl and her comments above. How can the gov even consider 5 year old sex education? In my opinion, any sex education should start after the age of 15. And children should be made aware there is nothing great about sex outside a stable relationship,based on trust and respect and maturity, the average age for having the first sexual experience should be somewhere around 21, and I have no idea why people think this sort of thinking is outdated. When you are a child you should be able to enjoy your childhood, not act as if you were an adult for fun...you'll never be a child again, guaranteed, so why would you want to ruin that part of your life? Children should be taught the real value of each period of their lives, and how to make the most of it, so they don't grow old with the unconscious feeling that they missed out on big parts of their lives...Cause, sadly, there is no going back...
Comment by elisa on November 13 11:10