Norway: Abortion rate declines again

Abortion rate declines again
March 12, 2017

A steady decline in the number of abortions performed in Norway continued last year, and it’s now well below the number in 1979, when the country’s law that liberalized abortions took effect.

The decline in abortions is significant, note state health care officials, because there are roughly 300,000 more women aged 15-49 living in Norway, and thus deemed fertile, than there were 37 years ago when the state abortion register was launched. That means there’s been an even bigger decline in the abortion rate in Norway, which now is set at 11 per 1,000 women.

The public health institute (Folkehelseinstitutt) reported this week that 13,169 women opted for an abortion in 2016. That’s down from the 14,224 abortions performed in 1979, when the population was much smaller than now.

Last year’s total was the lowest ever recorded by Norway’s Abortregister. Fully 87.5 percent of abortions in Norway are also now performed with medication, instead of invasive surgery, reported news bureau NTB.

Source: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2017/03/12/abortion-rate-declines-again/