The abortion rate for young girls under the age of 14 went up by over 20 percent in 2007 in Britain, according to media reports Tuesday quoting official data.

The total number of abortions rose in all age groups in England and Wales, with the number of abortions among under-14s had gone from 135 in 2006 to 163 in 2007, new figures from British Department of Health showed.

A total of 198,500 pregnancies were terminated in England and Wales last year, an increase of 2.5 percent on 2006.

There was also a 10 percent rise among the under-16s to 4,376 abortions, and most striking was the rise in terminations among teenagers as a higher proportion of pregnancies were aborted.

"The increase in abortions in this age group fits the pattern in women aged under 18 generally, that is, a higher proportion of pregnancies are terminated," Said Kaye Wellings, professor of sexual and reproductive health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

More government-backed sexual health counseling and contraception services was called for at present to protect the young girls, and the main goal is to reduce the number of pregnancies in young women.

(Agencies via Xinhua July 1, 2008)