On Abortion:
• The UK has the highest number of abortions than any country in Europe with an average of 600 unborn children killed every day.
• 210,529 babies were killed in the womb in 2008* (the UK Department of Health puts the figure lower at 195,296). This compares to 114,484 in Germany (which has a higher population than Britain), 115,812 in Spain (a slightly lower population), and 121,806 in Italy (roughly the same population). The proportion of induced abortions as a percentage of pregnancies was higher than the U.S. (22.3% compared to 16.6%) in 2006 (the latest available figures).
• In 1958, 1,570 abortions (a rough estimate) were carried out in Britain; in 1968, a year after the Abortion Act, the figure was 23,991. The following year, it had over doubled to 53,643. By 1973, the figure had shot up to 120,160.*
• In the UK, unborn babies with disabilities can still be aborted right up to birth, according to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).
• 9 out of 10 unborn babies diagnosed with spina bifida are aborted. A similar proportion of Down’s Syndrome babies are aborted.
• In May 2008, in the first vote on abortion for 18 years, MPs voted against reducing the time limit for abortions from 24 to 20 weeks, even though a lowering of the limit had been predicted. Then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the current deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg voted to keep the limit; David Cameron, the current Prime Minister, voted to lower it to 22 weeks.
• A few weeks ago, Britain’s new Coalition government announced a new maternal health initiative with an “unprecedented focus on family planning” for the developing world. The plan includes the promotion of abortion and sexual “rights” for children.
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