Strategy doesn't work; schools need parents' trust
 NO Says Anne Fearon, secretary to the Merseyside region of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children WHEN the Government introduced its teenage pregnancy strategy, it pledged to halve conceptions among girls under 18 by 2010. The provision of birth control to young people is a main plank of this strategy. However, since the strategy was launched in 2000, there has been no significant change in the trend, and teenage pregnancy rates remain higher than 10 years ago. Provisional government statistics suggest that the number of under-18s who became pregnant in England and Wales rose by 2.2% between 2001 and 2002. The Family Education Trust has found conception rates rose steeply in areas where contraception and confidential advice were given to underage teenagers without parents' consent. Many teenage girls who become pregnant are pressured to have an abortion. As we heard recently, it is even possible for schools to facilitate an abortion for a girl without even involving her parents. Incidentally, while we sympathise with the mother who only found out about her daughter's abortion after the event, we are not saying that abortions on minors should proceed if parents give consent. We would, rather, want to prevent abortion from happening at all. Resources should be used to help girls and women with unwanted pregnancies to give birth. Dr David Paton of the University of Nottingham Business School has calculated that one tenth of new sexually transmitted infections are linked to an increase in contraception and abortion services for teenagers. Sexual infections among teenagers increased by around 15% between 1999 and 2001. Over the same period, the number of adolescent family planning clinic sessions rose by more than 23%. In one inner city area where the number of teenage family planning clinic sessions increased by 81%, diagnosis of sexually transmitted disease rose by 70%. In another area where there was no increase in family planning sessions, the number of diagnoses fell. Many of our members will be concerned at the ethical and psychological implications of giving birth control to schoolchildren. However, as a pro-life group, we have a particular concern about the effects of what may be given out. Some substances and devices described as contraception can cause abortion. Intra-uterine devices can prevent the implantation of young embryos, as can morning-after pills. A dose of such pills is equivalent to 50 conventional birth control pills. Morning-after pills do not always prevent conception and the hormones in them can affect the lining of the womb so that it becomes a hostile place for new human life. Such pills do not stop sexually transmitted disease. School is a place for education, and parents trust school governors and staff to protect their children's interests. Giving pupils birth control, particularly the sort which causes abortion, is a serious breach of parental trust. Should schools permit condom machines? YES - Let's banish 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude >>> | 
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