Immigration Immigrant women account for 40% of all abortions in Belgium

[Maciamo]

VRT : "Immigrant women are vulnerable"

40% of all abortions carried out in Belgium involves immigrant women. That's according to research carried out by students at the University of Leuven (Flemish Brabant). The figures were recorded in 2003 and 2004 and published in the daily Het Belang van Limburg.

Most of the immigrant women involved are young women from Middle and Eastern Europe and Africa. Some 30% of them has not been in Belgium for longer than five years.

Belgium already fairly low abortion figures among OECD countries where abortion is legal. If it weren't for immigrants, Belgium might have one of the lowest abortion rate in the developed world.

 

[Ma Cherie]

I wouldn't be too quick to blame this on immigrants. Are they getting fair access to family planning services? That could be a factor, and poverty plays a role too. But it's not surprising, abortion rates among minorites or immigrants are usually higher.

 

[Maciamo]

I wouldn't be too quick to blame this on immigrants. Are they getting fair access to family planning services?

The metro of Brussels (mostly frequented by immigrants) is full of ads about free family planning services. The Belgian government is very generous when it comes to social help, be it monetary, educational or else. That's why so many poor immigrants come to Belgium.

 

[Kinsao]

It could be that immigrants, in their position (perhaps having a low-paid job, father not in the country, feeling of insecurity due to uprooting from their home country, whatever...) don't feel so mentally/socially/financially/emotionally up for dealing with the stress and problems of having a child, so tend to opt for abortions instead.
:clueless:

 

[Ma Cherie]

Why did that headline say immigrant women are vunerable? :?

 

[Kinsao]

Vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy? to unsupportive relationships? to social or financial pressures? ... yeah - it could mean a lot of things. :?

 

[Maciamo]

A new survey showed that women with lower education levels (hence, most third-world country immigrants) are not only more prone to aborting, but also 5x more likely to suffer a miscarriage, and babies born in lower class families are twice more likely to die in infancy.

VRT News : Education an important factor

The researchers found that women who only had achieved a primary school proficiency diploma were five times more likely to suffer a miscarriage than women with a university degree.

Moreover, the incidence of infant mortality during the first twelve months of a child's life is twice as high among the lower social classes as it is among children from higher up the social scale.

Note that education is compulsory until 18 years old in Belgium, and consequently those who only have a primary school proficiency diploma (normally obtained at 11 years old) are mostly immigrants. If they are Belgian of birth, they are either (slightly) retarded people or have very serious family and/or behavioural problems.

Ironically lower class (poor and under-educated people) have a much higher birthrate than average. People who cannot find work or have a unsatisfying life in general are more likely to want children to give sense to their life or "occupy" themselves. Immigrants are even more susceptible to have children as a way to fill their borring existence since they arrive in a country where they do not speak the language and/or know very few people.