Up to 200,000 Abortions Annually in Serbia

Health officials report that between 150,000-200,000 abortions are carried out every year in Serbia, news-site Mondo reported Monday.

Every twelfth woman between the ages of 15-49 years has had an abortion. Most had not used contraception.

The head of the Family Planning Centre of Serbia, Dr. Katarina Sedlecki, told Mondo that in 80-90 per cent of cases abortions were performed on "women older than 20 who are already married and have a kid, or kids".

Sedlecki considers the abortion situation in Serbia as severe as every fourth abortion was carried out on women who had already had four or more abortions.

“Research findings discovered a complex array of factors [relating to the] abortion problem, including insufficient knowledge of contraception and abortion, a belief that modern contraceptive methods are harmful to health, and a number of psychological barriers, [including] those arising from relationships with partners,” Marija Rasevic from the Demographic Researh Centre in Belgrade told delegates at the European Population Conference in 2006.

She added that there are few organised efforts to promote sex education, or to provide information on how to limit family size in Serbia's family planning programme.

Sedlecki stressed that economic factors are not the main reason for the high number of abortion cases in Serbia.

"The truth is, however, that a certain number of women would decide to give birth to a child if they had greater social support,” she said.

Since1995, parental permission for abortion has been required for girls younger than 16 under Serbian law.

Before an abortion is performed, a woman need to sign a document that says the operation is being carried out at her request and that she is aware of all of the possible consequences of the procedure.