The modern contraception

It's abortion - we all know that. Instead of the "few" safe induced abortions on the NHS envisaged by the Act, we now have approaching 200,000 a year.

Recent figures calculated by the Conservatives show that in some parts of Britain more than 4% of all teenage girls have had an abortion. (In Lambeth, London 44 in every 1000 have had one, and other areas in London have figures almost almost as high). Nationally the average is 1 in every 55, or just under 2%. Some have had two or even three abortions.

In 2006 of the 193,737 legal abortions in England and Wales, no less than 17,173 involved girls under 18 years of age, or about 9% of all abortions.

Among the under 16s who were pregnant, legal termination was used in 60% of cases, while for those aged 16 and 17, the figure was 49%. (This suggests that the argument that teenagers sought pregnancy for status, or to get themselves a council house, was true only for a minority.)

Apart from any moral issues about the "unborn life", all this suggests that

1) Sex education at school and home is failing.

2) An increasing number of women will encounter problems in future pregnancies, and depression and mental health problems in the period immediately after abortion.

3) Available free contraception has not been a complete solution.

Where do we go from here?
The problems seem worse in our large cities and industrial centres, where social deprivation and family dysfunction could be at their worst and where educational provision is inadequate. Our record is one of the worst in the developed world.

There does not seem an easy solution. At best we can try to improve in all directions - family support and concern, education and contraceptive provision, but surely the most important is the family, in this area as in many others. Parents are failing, and somehow must rediscover their function to help their young establish standards.