Japanese women surveyed on abortion

TOKYO – A government survey in Japan has found that 56 per cent of women who have had an abortion said they felt sorry for the aborted child. The survey of 890 women, conducted by a research group with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and in co-operation with the Japan Family Planning Association, also found that one in six women between 16 and 49 years of age has had an abortion. According to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, the survey found only 5.5 per cent of respondents said they supported abortion rights unconditionally, while 60 per cent said they supported abortion under certain conditions. Tellingly, seven per cent said they did not support abortion under any circumstances. Of the 16.3 per cent of respondents who had abortions, about 30 per cent have had two or more abortions.

Bestiality on rise in Sweden

STOCKHOLM – Sweden, known the world over for its avant garde sexual mores, has crossed yet another barrier in its moral descent with the news that sexual abuse of animals is on the increase. A government-commissioned study has found that more than 200 animals, mostly horses, have been sexually abused in Sweden since the 1970s. Unlike in most countries, bestiality is not illegal in Sweden. The legal prohibitions against both bestiality and homosexuality were lifted by the country in 1944.