Credit: babychums.com

Health authorities reveal a worryingly high number of young girls in WA having abortions and some are as young as 12 years old.

Just last year, there was as many as 44 girls aged 14 or younger had abortions, revealed the Sunday Times.

The current figure is more than double -a record high- for the age group compared to the number of 20 girls who had abortions six years previously.

The data of girls of 14 years of age and younger was recorded by the Health Department because they fall outside the reproductive age group.

Julie Cook, state director of Abortion Grief Australia said these girls were as young as 12.

The staggering high figures has Ms Cook recently called the WA government to initiate a TV advertising campaign in an effort to solve the dilemma of teenage pregnancy.

Girls who had abortion at an earlier age are 3.6 more times likely to abuse drug and twice as likely to binge-drink as adults, said Ms Cook.

A total of 39 per cent of women, who had abortions, had another one later in life.

Having abortion is a difficult choice for any teenager, said Minister Robyn McSweeney, minister of Child Protection.

She said, These situations are never easy to deal with for the people concerned and it is up to the young woman, her parents and the doctor concerned.

Sex education is one of the best approaches to prevent teenage abortions, said Ms McSweeney.

A lot of cases we see young girls dating older boys or men and were pressured into sex, informed Bronwyn Harman, psychology lecturer at Edith Cowan University who studies teenage motherhood.

According to Dr Harman, girls of this age are being pressured to adopt adult behavior at such an earlier age compared to previous generations.

The pressure, he said can be coming from boys of their own age, or in a high number of cases, from older man who are predators.

Another pressure factor comes from the premature sexualization of girls in the media - marketing gone haywire, said Dr Harman.

Sue Ellery, spokeswoman for the Opposition called the government to start taking pro-active decisions and make sure all young people are educated about contraception.

Abortion