ONE in six teenage girls in Britain has been pregnant by the age of 18, figures suggest.
Forty-six per cent of the pregnant teens decided to keep their baby, while 36 per cent had abortions, according to a study of 8500 teenagers for the Department of Education.
More than eight out of ten said they were sexually active and almost one in five of those teens admitted they had been pregnant at least once by the age of 18.
Almost eight in 10 had been expecting a baby on one occasion, 18 per cent had been pregnant twice, and three per cent had been pregnant at least three times.
Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in western Europe – even though they are at a 20-year low – and last year there were more than 39,000 abortions in girls aged between 15 and 19 in England and Wales.
Sexual health organisations say that at a time of deep public spending cuts, the figures should act as a stark reminder not to tighten the purse strings for sexual health services.
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