The Government of the Soviet Union was concerned about the rate of illegal abortions and attempted to decrease their occurrence. On 31 December 1987, the Soviet Union announced that it would allow many medical institutions to perform abortions until the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy.[1] In 1989, there were 50,100 abortions and 55,782 live births in Lithuania. By 2010, the number of abortions decreased to 6,989 abortions and 35,626 live births.[3] As of 2010[update], the abortion rate was 9.8 abortions per 1000 women aged 15-44 years.[4]