LONDON, June 6 (UPI) -- Many women in Britain having pricey in-vitro procedures are changing their minds about being mothers and seeking government-funded abortions, authorities say.
The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said an average of 80 abortions are performed every year in England, Scotland and Wales on the tab of the National Health Service for mothers 18-34 following IVF, The Sunday Times of London reported.
Fertility specialists say they are shocked at the figures.
"I had no idea there were so many post-IVF abortions -- and each one is a tragedy," Professor Bill Ledger, a member of the authority, said.
Some women terminate their pregnancies in resistance to pressure to start a family, observers say, while others do so after a relationship breaks up.
The incidents are concerning doctors, The Times says, and have family-planning advocates accusing those women of treating babies like "designer goods."
