EUROPE/SPAIN -
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) – In Europe, in 2007, over 1,200,000 abortions were registered, which is equal to one abortion every 25 seconds. In the past 10 years, over 13 million children have been "eliminated" by this practice. As the President of the Institute for Family Policies (IPF), Lola Velarde, points out it is one of the causes of the demographic decline in Europe. Spain is the country showing the largest increase of cases with a 126% (62,560 more abortions) rise in the last 10 years, equivalent to an abortion every 4.7 minutes. In countries like Germany or Italy, the number of abortions has declined. Each year in Europe, abortion figures are the equivalent of the populations of Luxembourg and Malta combined, or the entire population of Slovenia or Cyprus. According to data from the IPF, one out of every five pregnancies (19%) ends in abortion. Over 176,000 abortions (one out of every 7), or 14.2% of the total number of abortions, are performed on adolescents under the age of 20.
Heads of State of the 27 European Union nations. Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The IPF, gathering data from EUROSTAT and other national sources, says that between 1997 and 2007, the number of cases has seen a sharp increase: 62,560 in Spain, 27,481 in the United Kingdom, 7,939 in France, 5,917 in Holland, 5,772 in Sweden, 4,430 in Belgium, 3,282 in Greece, 295 in Finland. In the same period of time, there have been the following decreases: -2,168 cases in Denmark, -2,832 in Poland, -4,000 in Slovakia, -4,533 in Slovenia, -7,742 in Estonia, -9,954 in Latvia, -13,084 in Lithuania, -13,604 in Italy, -14,019 in Germany, -19,608 in the Czech Republic, -30,694 in Hungary, -50,302 in Bulgaria. Between 1997 and 2006 in Romania there have been -196,880. In percentile, in the decade 1997-2007, the numbers of abortion correspond 126.19% to Spain, 36.12 to Belgium, 26.40 to Holland, 25.53 to Greece, 18.36 to Sweden, 14.32 to the United Kingdom, 3.93 to France, 2.88 to Finland, -9,71 to Italy, -10,71 to Germany, -12.64 to Denmark, -17.92 to Slovakia, -41.16 to Hungary, -43.55 to the Czech Republic, -45.73 to Latvia, -46.60 to Estonia, -46.69 to Slovenia. Between 1997 and 2006, -56.72 less abortions in Romania, -57.23 in Bulgaria, -57.69 in Lithuania, -89.31 in Poland. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 07/09/2009)
