Legal abortions increased by 15 percent in Israel since a law limiting the right to abortion was passed by the Knesset nine years ago.
According to figures released Monday, the Health Ministry approved 9,300 abortions in the first six months of 1986. Health authorities estimate that 10,000 abortions are performed illegally every year by private physicians.
The main grounds for approved abortions are pregnancies which endanger the lives of the mothers, physically deformed fetuses and pregnancies resulting form extra-marital relations by married women.
The latest figures on abortions were released after a 17-year-old girl from Safed died of complications during an illegal abortion. The incident prompted a delegation from Naamat, the Labor Zionist women’s organization, to call on Education Minister Yitzhak Navon and the Knesset Education Committee Monday to urge sex education in school.
According to a Naamat survey, a third of Israeli parents refuse to educate their children about sex because they fear it would lead them to have sexual relations.
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