Pressure to make sex education compulsory in UK schools is likely to mount as latest abortion figures hovered around the 200,000 mark, with a 10 percent rise in terminations among under-aged girls.

The official survey showed there were 198,500 abortions last year, up by nearly 30,000 in the decade since Labour came to power.

In 1969, the first full year after abortion was legalised, the total was under 50,000.

Nearly a third of the women, 64,000 were having a second or subsequent termination. Of these, 14,746 were on at least their third, more than 1,000 were on a fifth, and 29 had gone through eight or more.

The high level of repeat abortion has fuelled claims that the procedure is seen by many women as a form of fallback contraception rather than a last resort.

Mrs Curtis Thomas, from the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, said: "These figures show that far from further liberalising the law as some MPs want to do, there is a real need to tighten it up, to show a greater regard for the unborn child.

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