From the January 12, 2007 Aftenposten:
A woman's right to choose abortion is deeply engrained in Norwegian society, but it's only most common among young women and women with little education, says Professor Anne Eskild of Akershus University Hospital.
Eskild's study marked the first time that researchers tracked the incidence of abortions and births among
ethnic Norwegian women. Results showed major differences between those who chose to abort and those who chose to give birth.
More than half of pregnant women under 25 chose abortion, a rate double that for pregnant women over 40. The abortion rate for women under age 20 was nine times higher than that for women over 40.
Only 2.9 percent of women with a university education chose abortion, according to the study.
"It's very surprising that it's more common for women under 25 to have an abortion than it is to carry out their pregnancy," Eskild told newspaper Aftenposten. She was responsible for the study that been published in the medical journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.
She questioned whether Norway's generous maternity benefits may in fact be to blame, since the benefits are based on a woman's income at the time she gives birth. Many women under age 25 are still students, and don't qualify for the benefits available later in life.
Others cite economic concerns, dreams for the future, career and self-realization as reasons why young women opt against having children.