Romania still faces high abortion rate 16 years after fall of Ceausescu

The number of abortions in Romania is declining but is still the highest in Europe, as older women in particular have failed to take on the idea of contraception, which was illegal in the country until 1989.

The First Step, a Romanian non-governmental organisation offering counselling and advice to pregnant women, says that in 2002 79 in every 1000 women in the country underwent an abortion, totalling around half a million terminations.

In comparison, the association says, the rate in the same year in the United Kingdom was 15.6 in every 1000 women and in Germany 7.6 in 1000 women.

In its report, the organisation claimed: “The average Romanian woman will have three or four abortions in her life, compared …