Abortion rate on the rise

SURABAYA, East Java: The number of abortions in the country continues to climb steadily, currently reaching an alarming rate of one million per year.

Sexologist Wimpie Pangkahila of the School of Medicine at Bali's Udayana University said here on Friday that the rise in abortions was due to increased promiscuity.

"Freer sexual practices which began in the 1980s have not only led to a rise in sexually transmitted diseases but also abortions," he said as quoted by Antara.

He conceded that "liberal" views of sex were hard to curb as the world prepared to enter the third millennium.

"I believe the most appropriate way to handle this is to encourage better awareness through sex education."

He said that a recent study of teenagers in Bandung, West Java, showed that nearly 4 percent of junior high school students and 12 percent of high school students acknowledged engaging in sexual relations.