In 2024, 853 girls under the age of 19 applied to a committee in Israel for approval to terminate a pregnancy — nearly 6% of all applications filed that year, or one in 17. The figures come from a new report by the Central Bureau of Statistics, based on application forms submitted to pregnancy termination committees.
The report also contains a small bright spot: The share of girls among all applicants has dropped sharply, from 14.3% in 2006 to 5.8% in 2024 — a decline of more than half in less than two decades.
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The share of girls among all applicants has dropped sharply over the years; Illustration
(Photo: Shutterstock)
There are also significant gaps among the girls themselves by population group. The highest rate of applications was recorded among non-Arab Christian girls and women with no religious classification, at 7.5%, followed by Jewish girls at 6.8%. The rate among Arab girls was much lower, at just 2.2%.
Overall, 14,608 applications were submitted in Israel that year to pregnancy termination committees — a rate of 6.6 per 1,000 women ages 15-49, down from 6.9 in 2023. Since the late 1980s, the application rate has been on a steady downward trend.
Nearly all applications, 99.8%, were approved, continuing a long-term trend: The approval rate rose from about 90% in the late 1980s to more than 99% in recent years. Of the approved applications, 92.1% resulted in an actual pregnancy termination.
Most common reason: pregnancy outside marriage
The most common ground for approving a pregnancy termination was “pregnancy outside marriage,” which accounted for 43.3% of applications. It was followed by “risk of a physical or mental defect in the fetus,” at 23.3%, and “risk to the woman’s health,” at 21.6%. The share of applications citing concern over a fetal defect has been rising steadily, from 15% in 2000 to more than 23% today.
The data show notable differences among population groups. The share of applications citing “pregnancy outside marriage” among Jewish women, at 47.7%, was nearly twice that among Arab women, at 23.1%. Among non-Arab Christian women and women with no religious classification, the rate was even higher, at 59.5%.
Among Arab women, by contrast, the most common ground was “risk to the woman’s health,” accounting for 43.2% of approvals — 2.8 times the rate among Jewish women, at 15.7%.
By marital status, 51.2% of applicants in 2024 were married women, 38.2% were single, 10.2% were divorced and 0.3% were widowed. Since 2008, the share of married women among all applicants has gradually increased, a figure that challenges the common stereotype that pregnancy terminations are limited to young, single women.
By age, 41.4% of applications were submitted by women under 30, 45.7% by women ages 30-39 and 13% by women 40 and older.
Mostly women without academic degrees
Among applicants ages 25 and older, 40.4% had an academic degree and 44.6% had a high school diploma or matriculation certificate. Among Jewish and other women, the highest application rate was among women with less than a high school education. Among Arab women, the highest rate was among those with a matriculation certificate.
Another notable figure: The application rate among Jewish women born abroad, at 7.9 per 1,000 women, was higher than among those born in Israel, at 6.5. The gap was especially pronounced among women ages 15-24, where the rates were nearly twice as high. By contrast, among women 39 and older, the rates among Israeli-born women were slightly higher than those among women born abroad, 3.8 compared with 3.2 per 1,000 women.
The application rate among women who immigrated from Ethiopia was the highest, at 15.3 per 1,000 women, though that figure has also fallen sharply from 38.4 in 2000.
In 2024, 3,378 applications were approved due to concern over a fetal defect. But only 1,838 of them, or 54.4%, involved a diagnosis of defects or prenatal conditions that could definitely or likely harm the fetus. In 31.4% of cases approved on those grounds, the reason was the use of medications during pregnancy that could endanger the fetus. The remaining cases included maternal illness that could harm the fetus, an intrauterine device, fetal reduction and other reasons.
51.2% of applicants are married women; Illustration
(Photo: Shutterstock)
A breakdown by population group shows that among Jewish and other women, the share of approvals due to chromosomal abnormalities was significantly higher than among Arab women, 38.4% compared with 13.6%. By contrast, among Arab women, the share of approvals due to genetic diseases was higher than among Jewish and other women, 22.3% compared with 15.3%. The share of approvals due to structural defects was also slightly higher among Arab women, 47.6% compared with 43.6%.
By body system, the prevalence of defects in the musculoskeletal system and the genitourinary system was slightly higher among Arab women than among Jewish and other women, as was the prevalence of respiratory system defects and cleft lip and palate. By contrast, approvals due to defects in the cardiovascular, nervous and digestive systems were slightly more common among Jewish women.
Israel in international comparison
Israel’s application rate, 6.6 per 1,000 women, is in the middle range compared with other developed countries. Much higher rates were recorded in England, at 23; Sweden, 18.2; France, 17.1; and the United States, 11.2.
Lower rates were recorded in Switzerland, at 6.2; Italy, 5.6; and Czechia, 2.3. In Poland, the rate is close to zero, the result of one of Europe’s strictest abortion laws, which was tightened further in October 2020 and bans pregnancy termination almost completely, except in cases of rape, incest or a real threat to the mother’s life.
By contrast, Ireland repealed one of the world’s strictest abortion laws in 2018. The new law allows pregnancy termination without restriction up to 12 weeks, and at later stages when there is a serious risk to the woman’s health or life, or if the fetus has a severe condition. The impact of the change is evident in the data: from 32 pregnancy terminations in 2018 to 10,852 in 2024.
In Israel, as in Scandinavian countries and the United States, the rate has been steadily declining. In France and England, the trend has been the opposite, with rates rising in recent years. In Switzerland, rates have remained stable over time.