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Figures reveal shocking numbers of teenage abortions

Dec 13 2009 by Robert Weatherall, Sunday Sun

HUNDREDS of teenage girls across the North are using abortion as a method of birth control, campaigners claim.

Shocking figures obtained by the Sunday Sun reveal hundreds of women under 20 years old in the region had at least two terminations in the last year.

The figures have prompted concerns that a multi-million pound NHS safe sex message either isn’t getting across, or that young women see abortions as just another birth control option.

Across the North last year, 221 teenagers had a repeat abortion. Figures do not say how many went on to have another abortion.

Tyneside Marileine Ollerenshaw helps to counsel women who have undergone a termination.

She said: “These figures are truly shocking and just go to show how easy it is to get an abortion. We have a group of young women out there who casually use abortion in the same way others use condoms or the Pill.

“It goes to show how easy abortions are to arrange which was not the intention when the law was brought in.

“The ease with which a woman can get an abortion has resulted in young women viewing it as another form of contraception. It is a very sad state that it has come to this.”

Marileine, 61, from Newcastle, is a member of the British Victims of Abortion group and counsels women who have difficulty coming to terms with the emotional aftermath of the procedure.

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