Recently released statistics show 16,630 abortions were performed in New Zealand in 2010; down from 17,550 in 2009.
- One in five were performed on teenagers
- 44% were performed after the first nine weeks of pregnancy.
- For 39% it was not their first abortion
- The overall rate dropped from 19.2 per thousand women in 2009 to 18.1 in 2010
- The highest age-group rate (33 per thousand women) was for women aged between 20 and 24
Family First welcomed drop in the number of abortions, but expressed concern about a number of issues revealed in the statistics.
Family First spokesperson Bob McCoskrie also drew attention to a University of Otago study in 2008 which found that women who had an abortion faced a 30% increase in the risk of developing common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
“With 98% of abortions in NZ being performed on the basis of the mental health of the mother, it is time that the research on the post-abortion mental health outcomes was given equal weight with the pre-abortion claims. Abortion harms women – yet groups seeking to decriminalise abortion refuse to acknowledge this, seeing the right to abortion as more paramount than the long-term health and welfare of the women,” he said.
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