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for every 20 live births.
Today, within a growing number
of historically predominantly Cath–
olic nations legalized abortion has
become a majar form of birth con–
trol. In Communist-led Poland, for
example, experts find the abortion
rate higher than the nation's birth–
rate. Abortion estimates range
f r om 800,000 to one million
annually, compared to 702,000
children being born.
Married women account for 80
percent of abortions performed,
and most already have children.
Even with a variety of available
birth control methods, the Japanese
still regard abortion as a necessity.
An official of a Japanese femi–
nist group states, "One out of every
three women walking down the
street between the ages of 25 and
40 has had an abortion."
Despite opposition by the Greek
Ortbodox Church, abortion remains
Greece's most popular form of birtb
control. According to figures
released by Athens Social Science
Center, 56 percent of Greek women
who have abortions begin after the
birth of their first child, and for
every birth thereafter there are two
abortions. Sorne women reported
having up to 30 abortions.
In 1981 French women had
more than 180,000 legal and an
estimated 80,000 illegaJ abortions.
"One in four pregnancies [in
France] end in abortion," reports
the
Times
of London, "and only 30
percent of women of child-bearing
age use any form of contracep–
tion."
In Romanía 60 percent of the
pregnancies end in abortion. Abor–
tion has become so much a part of
Romanian experience that the
country has one of the lowest birth–
rates in Europe.
In arder to reverse this trend
Romanian President Nicolae Ceau–
sescu wants Romanian women to
have four children. Tt's their "pa–
triotic duty," he says.
The list goes on, but one coun–
try "wins" with the highest abor–
tion rate: the Soviet U n ion.
Demographers within the United
S tates estímate that 1
O
mi Ilion
abortions are performed annually
in the Soviet Union, between two
and three for every live birth. A
typical Russian woman has about
May 1985
Ratio
ol
Abortions
to
Uve
Births
CUBA
BNOLAND/
WALES
GREENLAND