December 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — In the few last years, the number of abortions in Germany dropped slightly, but newly published statistics show a slight upturn this year.
The third quarter of 2016 has seen 24,200 registered abortions in Germany, which is 0.2 percent more than in the previous year.
Data show that 72 percent of women who had abortions were between ages 18 and 34, the German Office for Statistics reports. Approximately 8 percent were younger than 18 years old.
The number of abortions in Germany overall has otherwise dropped steadily since 2004. The peak was in 2001 at 135,000 abortions, compared to 100,000 in 2015.
Martin Lohmann, a journalist and president of the National Association for the Right of Life, told LifeSiteNews, “The official number of abortions in Germany is roughly 100,000 per year. But not all killings of children are registered and included in these statistics. So there are many more than ‘just’ 100,000! But we are not playing a game of number comparison here. We are talking about the right to life here that even the European Court of Justice acknowledged for every human being. As long as unborn human beings are killed brutally in the womb of their mother, humanity’s sense of care is perverted to the converse.”
Every killing of a person is one too many, argues Lohmann, who is also the main spokesperson for the March for Life in Germany. “That is why the movement for human rights of the pro-life activists is highly actual and necessary. There is no right to kill. But undoubtedly there is a right to life. For everyone. Always. At any time.”
“Nobody can be degraded as unfit for life and be killed,” he continued. “Whoever wants freedom must also want life. Every killing of a small human being who is in need of protection and help is one killing too many — and should render everyone who is fighting for respect, tolerance, and dignity very sad.”
Most of the registered abortions in Germany are performed with vacuum aspiration, and the chemical Mifegyne is used in 20 percent of the cases. A majority of abortions were performed in an outpatient location, with 77 percent in gynecological offices and the remaining 20 percent in hospitals.