Abortion Statistics -2005
Last year, 17,530 abortions were performed in New Zealand, representing the second successive decline, compared with 18,210 in 2004 and 18510 in 2003.That means there is now one child aborted for every 2.9 live births.
In 2005, there were 9,730 abortions to women who identified with the European ethnic group (either as their only ethnic group or as one of their ethnic groups).
A further 3,880 were to women who identified with the Mäori ethnic group, 2,960 were to women who identified with the Asian ethnic group, and 2,050 were to women who identified with the Pacific ethnic group.
Despite there being nine grounds for terminating a pregnancy (these include combinations of grounds, eg mental and physical health danger), around 98?99 percent of all abortions in any year are performed because of serious danger to the mental health of the woman.
Information obtained from Statistics New Zealand
The 17,530 abortions approximates the population of a town like Masterton.Put another way, 17,530 abortions represents 649 classrooms, each containing 27 children, who will not be starting primary school in 2008.