The ProLife Alliance urges the government to take action after figures released today show that Britain still has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.

The figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 40,000 or 40 in 1,000 teenage girls become pregnant in Britain every year, and shows that the government’s target of halving under-18s pregnancies by 2012 cannot be met.

The ProLife Alliance says “The incidence of teenage pregnancies in Britain is far too high, and it is even more shocking that half of pregnancies in under-18s end in abortion.

There is a clear and urgent need to tackle these issues, as reducing the number of teenage pregnancies would lead to a corresponding decrease in the number of abortions in this age group.

The current government strategy is clearly not working and the sex education of teenagers is a priority issue that needs to be reviewed. In the Sex Education Act the government wishes to impose on all schools these counterproductive policies of making contraception and abortion evermore widely available without parental control. We would encourage the government to include increased support for pregnant teenagers in its renewed strategy, so that those finding themselves in a crisis pregnancy situation at such a young age do not feel the need to turn to abortion.

The ProLife Alliance believes in the inalienable right to life of all human beings from conception. As well as abortion infringing the rights of the foetus, it can have hugely detrimental effects on the psychological and emotional wellbeing of these young women.”