15 November 2008, 12:42
More abortions than births in Volgograd Region
Annually, the Volgograd Region has 27 thousand newborns against 30 thousand abortions. In experts' opinion, the problem is in low morals and general disregard of contraception.
"The statistics is menacing," Evgeniy Lomovskikh, deputy chair of the public health committee of the Volgograd regional administration, gave his comments to journalists. "No wonder that women's health degrades, and many of them cannot then normally bear their children."
According to his version, the statistics is ambiguous. In the last decade, the region had a downturn in abortions: in 1995, 45 thousand abortions and 30 thousand - in 2007. However, the problem "has grown younger." Today, more than 10 percent of abortions are made to stop the first pregnancy in girls aged 15-19. Besides, in 2007 the region made 14 abortions in girls under 14.
To warn pregnant women against the fateful step, psychologists now work in the obstetric clinics of the region since 2007. Officials, doctors and churchmen see the way out in consolidation of the efforts of the whole of the civil society. Officials see reduction of abortions as an element of the demographic policy; physicians worry about the health condition of future mothers and their babies. In the opinion of churchmen, the society should war on chaotic sexual contacts and overall moral permissiveness.
Author: Vyacheslav Yashchenko, CK correspondent