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Abortion rate rises slightly in Switzerland

Surgical tools
Four-fifths of abortions last year involved medication, the rest were surgical. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

The number of abortions in Switzerland increased slightly last year from 11,053 to 11,341, bringing the rate to 6.9 abortions per 1,000 women. It has been rising again since 2017 following a drop after 2010.

Nevertheless, the abortion rate in Switzerland remains low in international comparison, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) saidExternal link on Tuesday. Between 2020 and 2022 it reached a similar level as ten years ago. In 2021 the FSO registered a rate of 6.7 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44.

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Some 95% of abortions occurred before the 12th week of pregnancy and 76% in the first eight weeks of pregnancy. Four-fifths involved medication, the rest were surgical. The FSO counted 11,133 abortions among women living in Switzerland, which corresponds to a rate of 5.8 per 1,000.

For adolescents aged 15-19 living in Switzerland, there was a slight decrease with a value of 3.4 per 1,000. A total of 714 teenage pregnancies were terminated. The proportion of women under 16 fell from 0.8% to 0.5%.

There were 132 abortions per 1,000 live births, up from 121 the previous year.

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