Abortion decline in Canada; Pro-life groups celebrate steady drop in abortions in British Columbia

Good news for pro-life advocates: Abortion incidents in the Canadian province of British Columbia have been declining steadily for the past five years.

Based on statistics released recently by the British Columbia Health Ministry, 13,067 abortion procedures were performed in the Pacific Northwest province from 2013 to 2014.

This figure is 14 percent lower than the number of abortion cases in British Columbia recorded by the Health Ministry during government fiscal year 2009 to 2010, which the agency pegged at 15,184.

The Health Ministry also noted that abortion statistics in between these years have been gradually declining.

If broken down, the abortion figure in British Columbia from 2013 to 2014 showed that 9,875 were performed when the baby was less than 14 weeks; 2,596 were performed when the baby was between 14 to 18 weeks; 288 were done when the baby was 18 weeks and over; and 2,308 were considered as "medical abortions."

The British Columbia government also revealed that $1,970,965 in taxpayers' money was spent on these abortion procedures.

Pro-life groups in British Columbia welcomed the steady decline in abortion figures in their province.

"I'm happy there is a decrease because it means more babies are being born," John Hof, president of United for Life British Columbia, said.

Hof nevertheless said that the government should be more transparent in releasing abortion figures.

"It would help us in our work to know whether there is an abortion epidemic among teenagers in Prince George, and not one in Kimberly. It would help to know how many are repeat abortions. It would help to know how this decrease impacts on the birth rate," the pro-life advocate said.

British Columbia legally allows abortion procedures, which the province considers as part of access to health care.