in the West Australian which provides abortion statistics from Western Australia from 2006 to 2009.
The article revealed information from the 2009 W.A Health Department review, which included that:
- W.A has "Australia's second highest rate of abortions compared with the number of pregnancies".
- One in four pregnancies ended in termination.
- "More than half of all pregnancies in teenagers aged 15 to 19 ended in abortion".
- In 2009, there were 8885 abortion performed - one for every 50 women.
- The areas with the highest rates of abortion were in the Pilbara and South West.
- In 2009, 44 girls under 15 and 32 women over the age of 45 had abortions.
- "22.3 per cent of all pregnancies in WA ended in abortion", second only to NSW, with a rate of 24.7 in 2006.
- W.A's abortion rate has been around 22 % since 2006, compared with around 21% for other states (except for NSW).
- Teenagers made up less than one-fifth of the total number of abortions.
- Women in the 20's age category had the highest number of abortions, with 26 being the average age.
- The highest proportion of terminations were performed on teenagers and women over 45.
- The majority of abortions were not carried out in public hospitals, but in private clinics.
- The majority of abortions were done in the first three months of pregnancy.
- Late term abortions (post 20 weeks) accounted for less than one per cent.
- Suspected birth defects (such as down syndrome or spina bifida) accounted for less than 3 per cent of abortions.
