Among women aged 15 to 44, there were 17.5 abortions per 1,000, with highest figures for women aged 20 to 24, at 31.3 abortions per 1,000 women. The largest jump of 5.4 percent, however, was realized in girls under the age of 16, where abortions were committed on 3.9 girls per thousand, as compared to 3.7 per thousand in 2002. 

Youth pro-life groups condemned the "massive rise in the under-16 abortion" despite the "millions of pounds the government has put into cutting the teenage conception rate."  The UK's Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), meanwhile, highlighted that abortion proponents are targeting ethnic minorities -- especially black and Asian women. Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, said: "Whereas the 2001 census indicated that slightly more than 2 percent of the population described themselves as black or black British, today's official figures confirm that 12 percent of resident women having abortions described themselves as black or black British. Other ethnic minorities show similar disparities."  "Today's figures indicate that the Department of Health is pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing in Britain-- under the cover of its abortion policies," Tully said.

SPUC also condemned the failure of so-called sex education despite massive financing. "The figures also reveal that the government is making no headway at all on its 10-year target of reducing abortion among teenagers by 50 percent. Its policy of promoting contraception and the morning-after pill is failing disastrously," Tully contended.

"Promoting the morning-after pill is a particularly ill-founded and harmful policy, because it causes early unregistered abortions, encourages risky sexual behavior, and appears to be fuelling the explosion in sexually transmitted infections among young people," Tully argued.[http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=31015; London, Jul. 22, LifesiteNews.com/CWN]