The Taiwanese Cabinet last week proposed legislation that would require women and girls under age 18 seeking an abortion to undergo counseling on abortion alternatives -- such as foster care and adoption -- before undergoing the procedure, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports. Taiwanese law requires teenage girls seeking abortions to obtain parental consent prior to the procedure. According to some women's groups, many women and girls seeking abortions go to unlicensed clinics or purchase abortion pills to avoid the stigma associated with pregnancy outside of marriage. Although there are no official figures on the number of abortions performed annually in Taiwan, some health officials say the number might exceed 230,000, the number of annual births. A Taiwanese women's advocacy group on Friday criticized the proposal. According to Chi Hui-rong, head of the Garden of Hope Foundation, a women's rights group, the government should offer help instead of requiring counseling. "We should make information and services available to the pregnant girls, not tell them what to do," Chi said. The proposed measure must be approved by the island's Legislature before it becomes law, according to the AP/Tribune (AP/International Herald Tribune, 10/20).