MEASURES to reduce the number of teenage girls getting pregnant and having abortions in Worcestershire have been successful, new figures reveal.

The number of under-18s who terminated pregnancies fell dramatically last year in South Worcester-shire to well below the national average.

The county has some of the lowest abortion rates in the country and numbers among all age groups are largely static, despite a 2.1 per cent rise nationwide. New Department of Health figures show there were 660 abortions in South Worc-estershire last year, down from 666 in 2003 - a rate of 14 per 1,000 women for both years.

The national average is 18 per 1,000 women. Among female minors, however, South Worcestershire has witnessed a steep fall in abortions, from the above-average 19 per 1,000 girls in 2003 to just 12 in 2004. In Wyre Forest the overall rate has risen marginally, from 223 to 224, a rate per 1,000 women of 13.

Among under-18s it has fallen from 21 per 1,000 to 12.

Jenny Kimberlee, teenage pregnancy co-ordinator for Worcestershire Sexual Hea-lth Service, said the decrease in abortions was down to working hard to increase education about contraception such as condoms and The Pill. "We want women to take control of their own lives," she said.

"But if they do get pregnant for whatever reason, we do want them to have access to abortion - and get access earlier rather than later. "Our Time 4 U service offers fantastic sexual health advice to under 18s and we encourage people to call our help line on 01905 22957 for any query they may have."

The number of women having an abortion nationally increased from 181,600 in 2003 to 185,400 last year, according to figures published by the Government yesterday.

The Government has committed an extra £40m to improve access tocontraceptive services, part of £300m for sexual health earmarked in last year's Public Health White Paper.