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Row as 13-year-olds get free morning-after pills
Bid to cut teenage pregnancies ‘puts pressure on girls to have sex’
GIRLS aged 13 will be able to ask for the morning-after pill over the counter at five pharmacies from this week – for free – with the bill met by Camden’s local health authority, the Primary Care Trust (PCT).
The chemists are to stay open late and at the weekend as part of a joint bid by Camden Council and the PCT to cut unwanted teenage pregnancies.
Camden’s annual health report found teenage pregnancies in the borough as a whole were lower than the national average. But figures for Kilburn, Swiss Cottage, Regent’s Park and King’s Cross put these wards in the highest 20 per cent in the country for teenage pregnancies.
The report found that in Camden as a whole over the past two years about 40 out of every 1,000 girls aged 15 to 17 had had an abortion.
In the past the Primary Care Trust targeted teen pregnancies by introducing education schemes, with figures falling by 15 per cent between 1998 and 2004. Health experts at the trust say that to cut the numbers further they want to make contraception easier to obtain.
The chemists, in Kentish Town, Euston, Queen’s Crescent and Camden Town, are in wards which have high levels of teen pregnancies and abortions.
Lib Dem councillor John Bryant, Town Hall executive member for children, said: “Reducing teenage pregnancy is of the utmost importance and can be the number-one determining factor in whether a young person is going to reach their full potential in life.
“Research shows that teenage pregnancy can be both a cause and a symptom of social exclusion and projects such as this one go a long way towards making a real difference in the lives of our most vulnerable young people.”
Gospel Oak Tory councillor Chris Philp added that, by making contraception easier to obtain, the Town Hall would encourage happier families.
He said: “We believe that, where possible, it is better for children to be brought up as part of a stable, secure family unit, and public policy should encourage that aim.”
But critics say the scheme will lead to further misery for young people. Dr Helen Watt, from the Regent’s Park-based Catholic medical ethics unit, the Linacre Centre, said the scheme killed unborn babies and increased the pressure on girls to have sex.
Dr Watt added: “The morning-after pill does not ‘prevent’ pregnancy if a child has already been conceived. It stops that child from implanting in the womb, thereby ending his or her life.
“It is lethal to the child, and may also harm the woman or girl who takes it, particularly if taken repeatedly. Research has shown that even ‘visible’ pregnancy and abortion rates are not decreased by making this pill available.
“Many girls experience pressure to have sex, outside the moral and practical protection offered by a loving marriage. Handing out contraceptives or abortifacients (substances which induce abortion) merely increases such pressure. It does nothing to equip girls with the self-esteem they need to say no.” |
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