Health Ministry: 20,000 legal abortions performed in Israel annually

Some 20,000 legal abortions are performed annually in Israel, according to a Health Ministry report to be released today. The report notes that the percentage of abortions in Israel is low compared to Europe. While in Israel the figure represents 133.8 abortions per 1,000 births, in Europe the ratio was 246.4 abortions per 1,000 births in 2006.

The report also states that the number of abortions by means of the pill Mifegyn has doubled between 2000 and 2007. Last year, 4,799 of the abortions in Israel were by means of Mifegyn, which can be taken up to the seventh week of pregnancy.

The World Health Organization has ranked Israel 21 out of 22 European countries in terms of the ratio of abortions to births. Russia was ranked first, with 1,022.4 abortions per 1,000 births, and second is Romania, with 684.6 abortions.

In 2007, 20,919 women requested abortions from the hospital committees working under the Health Ministry's aegis. The committee approved 98 percent of the requests. Of the approved requests in 2007, 55 percent were from women who were pregnant as a result of illegal sexual relations, incest, for example, or were unmarried. Another 18 percent were approved because of concerns for the mother's physical or mental health; 18 percent because of birth defects; and 9 percent due to the age of the woman, either under 17 or over 40. In 2007, 245 pregnancies that were ended were late terminations, and half of all abortions were between the 24th and 26th week.