DROP IN CROATIA

Abortions dropped sharply in Croatia

From: information at SPUC (Paul Danon)
May 4, 2000

The number of legal abortions in Croatia since the end of communism have plummeted. In 1987 the total was 48,608, but the number has fallen steadily each year since then and in 1998 the figure was only 8,907. The official government statistics also indicate considerable regional variations. In 1998, the region of Split had only 30 abortions compared with 5,592 births, but in the region of Rijeka there were 1,241 abortions compared with only 3,032 births. Marijo Zivkovic, director of the Obiteljski (family) Centre in Zagreb, credits this success to concerted efforts over a number of years to distribute pro-life information literature, the clarity and consistency of the Catholic hierarchy in addressing the issue of the unborn, and the visits of Pope John Paul II in 1994 and 1998. [Obiteljski Centar, 22nd March]

[This bulletin is privately circulated by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, www.spuc.org.uk, 5/6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 3763. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. Please forward this bulletin to other interested parties.]