Pregnant women without employment are four times more likely to have an abortion than women doing paid work, writes the newspaper VG.
In the period, 2007 to 2010 there were 312 733 women pregnant in Norway. Of the 246,788 who gave birth to children 15.8 percent were without gainful employment. Among the 60,734 who applied for abortion 46.4 percent were without gainful employment.
It comes from a study led by Professor Anne Eskild, chief physician at the Women’s Clinic at Ahus. The researcher has based her research on figures from Statistics Norway, the Medical Birth and Abortion Register. It is the first time such a study has been conducted in Norway, the newspaper VG reports.
Eskild believes the rule relating to the payment of parental benefit could be one reason why the vast majority of women are in paid work when they have children. Only women in paid employment are entitled to parental benefits.
– Those who are already in employment, also get most when they have children. It helps to reinforce the difference between families and helps ensure that any child is born. That’s what this study shows, she says.
Women who have had a income which earns them more money for their pensions for at least six of the ten months before birth can get up to half a million kroner (6G) in parental benefits in 49 or 59 weeks. Those who are not in employment receive a lump sum that has been recently revised upwards to 46,000 kroner.
– The scheme means that many women will chooose to wait to have children until they are employed and have earned the right to parental benefits. It is also means that many delays having children while they are at their most fertile age, says Eskild.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today