Abortions ‘rise’ despite morning after pill

27 August 2004

BRUSSELS – Claims that the morning after pill has reduced the abortion rate in Belgium have been thrown out by abortion clinics.

Sales of the morning after pill have risen sharply in Belgium, with ten thousand sold every month in pharmacies, Flemish dailies Het Niewsblad, Het Volk and De Standaard reported on Friday.

According to calculations by the pill’s manufacturer, this number of pills would have prevented 350 abortions every month, or 4000 annually.

But Belgian abortion clinics dismissed the idea that the pill had had a significant impact on terminations and said there had been no signs of a drop in numbers.

“There are no recent figures but I estimate that the number of abortions has gone up, despite the morning after pill,” said Lucie Van Crombrugge, from the platform of Dutch-speaking abortion centres.

“The experience of other countries shows that the morning after pill makes little difference to the number of abortions,” she stressed.

The morning after pill has been available over the counter in Belgium since 2001.

Women can take it after having had sex either using no contraception or where contraception is thought to have failed.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news