Shocking teenage abortion rates in North

Mar 30 2008 by Eleanor Gregson, Sunday Sun

THE North has some of the highest figures in the country for girls under 18 who have abortions.

And a Tory MP claims abortions are being used as a form of contraception with health bosses making it too easy for teens to have terminations.

In Darlington, which tops the list, one girl in every 37 from this age group has had a termination . . . roughly one school pupil in every two classes.

Darlington is closely followed by Hartlepool with a rate of one in 44, and North Tees with one in 48.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who campaigned for changes to abortion law, said: “These horrific statistics highlight the extent to which abortion is seen as just another form of contraception.”

Father Gerald Lavender, of Holy Family Church in Darlington, said: “What we need to be asking is, ‘Who is advising them that way. Are we failing to support them?’

“There must be another way for them to live apart from them aborting children and getting pregnant. It is damaging, not just for these girls, but for the whole of society. It is a lack of respect for life.”

Mr Lavender added: “There is an ongoing pain and hurt that they live with for the rest of their lives.”

Eileen Brydon, a Stockton- based counsellor with the British Victims of Abortion Association, said young girls needed more information and support.

She said: “It is a concern that so many teenage girls are choosing to have abortions, but it doesn’t surprise me that so many are channeled down that route.

“There seems to be a deliberate conspiracy of silence with abortions. It is the most common operation performed but it is the only one where girls are not told what to expect.

“Many young girls have said to me afterwards that if they had known how it would affect them then they wouldn’t have had a termination.”

No one from Darlington Primary Care Trust was available for comment about the statistics, from 2006.

However, a spokesperson for Hartlepool PCT said: “The PCT is actively committed to reducing teenage pregnancies and therefore the amount of terminations associated with this.

“Abortion is a very complex issue and young women do not make the decision to terminate their pregnancy lightly.

“Services in Hartlepool provide pre- and post-abortion counselling to ensure that the young woman has made the right choice for her.

“In Hartlepool the percentage of under-18 conceptions leading to an abortion has reduced in recent years from 44 per cent in 2002 to 35 per cent in 2006.”

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Figure from round the region

Darlington: 1 in 37

Hartlepool: 1 in 44

North Tees: 1 in 48

Middlesbrough: 1 in 49.3

North Tyneside: one in 49.5

Newcastle: 1 in 51

Sunderland: 1 in 54.9

Redcar and Cleveland: 1 in 56.5

Gateshead: 1 in 57.5

County Durham: 1 in 58

Northumberland: 1 in 73

South Tyneside: 1 in 67.6