The number of abortions keeps climbing in the province of Québec. The statistics show that the rate has increased in the last ten years and doubled in the last twenty years. According to a private clinic manager-nurse as reported in the Montreal Gazette on March 11, 2000, the reasons offered by women choosing abortion are as follows:
• desire for a career
• higher education
• better financial situation
• the instability of the relationship.
Hence, a combination of socio-economic factors are given for the abortion. There is no mention of medical necessity.

According to the Institut de la Statistique du Québec, the rate of abortion was 38 for every 100 births for the year 1998. Statistics Canada reports 31,125 abortions for the year 2000 and 30, 673 abortions for 1999. Women in their twenties account for the highest numbers, the first group being women of 20 to 24 years of age and the second group, women from 25 to 29 years of age. Adolescents rank third overall. Added to its elevated rate of abortion, the province has experienced a declining birthrate. Québec women are having fewer and fewer children.

The financial costs associated with abortion are estimated at 15 to 20 million dollars a year for the public purse but the real tragedy is the loss of more than 30,000 thousand human lives every year.

Québec must affirm respect for human life from conception to natural death, offer alternatives to abortion and promote adoption or it will sadly continue down this deathly road. Saying yes to life is not a tragedy.