Teen Abortions Reported On Rise

Abortions among teen-agers are on the rise in Russia, with 3,000 girls a year ending their pregnancies before they turn 15.

The independent Family Planning association said Monday that more than 3 million abortions - more than double the number of births - are performed in Russia each year.

Medics voiced a special concern about the teen-agers, saying the number of abortions among girls aged 17 or less has doubled over the past five years. The association gave no exact figure in a report carried by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Despite the greater availability of Western contraceptives, fewer than a quarter of Russian women used them last year, according to surveys.