The 2021 March for Life in Berlin, Germany. / Rudolf Gehrig/CNA Deutsch.

Wiesbaden, Germany, Sep 30, 2021 / 08:00 am (CNA).

New figures show that the number of abortions in Germany has fallen by 8.5% year on year.

The German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on Sept. 28 that around 22,900 abortions took place in the second quarter of 2021, compared to roughly 25,100 in the same period last year.

The decline follows a drop of 7% in the first quarter of 2021, when some 24,600 abortions were reported, in comparison with around 26,500 the year before.

CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, said that there was no clear cause for the downward trend.

Germany, the European Union’s most populous country, permits abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with mandatory counselling at a state-approved center, as well as later abortions in certain circumstances.

The country of 83 million people recorded approximately 100,000 abortions in the pandemic year of 2020, with a generally downward annual trend beginning in 2001.

In the second quarter of 2021, 69% of women who had an abortion in Germany were between 18 and 34 years old, and 20% were between 35 and 39.

Destatis said that 8% of the women were 40 years of age or older, while 3% were younger than 18.

The statistical office based in Wiesbaden, central western Germany, added that 96% of reported abortions were performed under the mandatory counseling regime.

Medical reasons or sexual crimes were the justification for abortion in the remaining 4% of cases.

Most abortions — 52% — were performed with the abortion method called vaccum aspiration. In 32% of cases, the abortion pill Mifegyne was used.

Most of the abortions were performed on an outpatient basis, 81% of them at medical practices or operating centers and 16% as an outpatient in hospitals.