­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The 7th Panhellenic Conference of Family Planning, organized by the Greek Society for Family Planning, Birth Control and Reproductive Health, presented abortions statistics that showed that pregnancy terminations  in Greece have shot up 50% since the start of the economic crisis while miscarriages have doubled. On the other end of the spectrum, births in public hospitals dropped by 30% and assisted pregnancies for the same period have also dropped by 20%.

Greece has become a champion in pregnancy terminations with 300,000 abortions per year compared to the 200,000 annual rate of abortions ten years ago. 140:1,000 pregnancies end in abortions, mainly by women who already have one or two children.

More and more couples are finding it hard to cover the costs of pregnancy and labor let alone the financial burden of raising a child. A prenatal care package for an uninsured woman at a state hospital is around 500 euros, while a c-section costs 1,000 euros.

Doctors are concerned by another worrying trend that shows a number of women using medication to induce abortion without medical supervision.

The study presented at the conference also showed that more than 30% of sexually active teenagers do not practice contraception,  resulting in the appearance of HPV that is the only known cause of cervical cancer. Vaccinations are also low in Greece compared to the rest of the EU.

The only good news of the study was the reduction in the number of teen abortions that experts believe is due to the HPV vaccine campaign.