City's teenage abortions see drastic fall in 2016

At a mere eight medical terminations of pregnancy, abortions by teens below 15 have fallen drastically in 2016, data gleaned through Right To Information (RTI) shows. A total of 33,526 women opted for MTP last year.

The RTI data shows there had been a progressive increase in such teen pregnancies in 2013 through 2015. In 2013, 111 such abortion cases were registered, 185 cases in 2014, and 271 in 2015.

Saying no special awareness drive had been undertaken, Padmaja Keskar, Health Executive Officer, BMC, attributed the numbers to better logging. "There has been decrease in number as the cases has to be registered on the software reporting system which gives out correct figure. While the names are confidential, other details has to be given for regisration in the system," she said.

BMC data also reveals that the number of abortions below the age of 19 has fallen over the past three years. Including under-15 data, 1,595 abortion cases were registered in the under-19 category in 2014, 1,313 in 2015, and 491 in 2016.

Dr Shilpa Agrawal, a consulting specialist in high risk pregnancy and fetal medicine at Jaslok Hospital, said, "In cities like Mumbai, there are more number of unmarried teenage pregnancy cases. There has been decrease in number of teenage pregnancy because they are well-educated now and aware about the consequences. There has been increase in the sex education and usage of contraceptives. Due to increase in awareness, as the pregnancy rates are decreasing, it automatically reduces the abortion rates."