Abortion rate for Asians high

By ANGELA GREGORY health reporter

One in three pregnant Asian women is choosing an abortion, and the rate of terminations is soaring high above the New Zealand average.

Figures issued by Statistics New Zealand yesterday show that in 2001, Asian women had the highest abortion rate of any other ethnic group.

Abortions accounted for 364 of every 1000 known Asian pregnancies.

That is about 61 per cent above the national average of 226 abortions in every 1000 pregnancies, or about one in five pregnant New Zealand women.

The chairwoman of the Hakka Society of New Zealand, Nadia Chen, said she was concerned many young Asians were arriving here with little or no sex education.

Mrs Chen said the society, which represents mainly Taiwanese, but also mainland Chinese and Asians from Hong Kong, wanted to do what it could to help the young people.

She said unprotected sex was a particular problem with students from mainland China as the country was conservative and there was little sex education.

Often the young Asians did not have parents in New Zealand to look after them, and sought each other out for company.

Mrs Chen said many started intimate relationships out of loneliness and a need for support.

"They don't know how to protect themselves ... don't use contraception.

"Once they are pregnant they don't want anyone to know and have an abortion."

Mrs Chen said having a baby was not seen as an option as it would be a shock to their parents.

Medical Association chairman Dr John Adams said questions needed to be asked about the increasing rate of Asian couples choosing termination. But there should also be a general concern about the rising number of abortions in New Zealand.

There were 16,400 abortions performed in New Zealand last year, 300 or 1.9 per cent more than in 2000.

A growing proportion continued to be repeat abortions.

"It is a public health issue if more and more women are using termination services ... Clearly this has resource and other implications ... like more serious side-effects for the women."

Dr Adams said the reasons for the increase were more complex than what could be gleaned from bald figures, and raised questions about couples' attitudes, and access to contraceptives, and sex education.

Figures showed that the total number of abortions was rising for women in de facto couples, from eight to 14 per cent between 2000 and 2001, and falling for married women, from 30 to 24 per cent.

Dr Adams said the shifts were probably an artefact of the changing New Zealand society.

Government Statistician Brian Pink said the changes partly reflected the trends towards fewer and later marriages, and the growth of de facto unions.

Mr Pink said the number of abortions per 1000 women aged 15-44 years rose from 19.0 per 1000 in 2000 to 19.4 per 1000 in 2001.

New Zealand's abortion rate was higher than that of the Netherlands, Germany and Finland, all with rates below 11 per 1000, but lower than that of Australia and the United States, both 22.2 per 1000.

The 20-to-24-year age group remained the most common age for abortions, accounting for approximately three out of 10 abortions in 2001.

Mr Pink said the average age at which New Zealand women had an abortion had risen by 0.4 years since 1991, to 26.5 years in 2001.