Sex education, birth control, and abortion for children in England
Parents are powerless

 Facts and figures below are provided by SPUC, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children

The pregnancy-rate among under-18s in England and Wales rose by at least 2.7% between 2006 and last year. Government figures suggest that, while 40.9 girls in every 1,000 got pregnant in 2006, 42 did so last year. Some 1,200 more girls became pregnant last year than the year before and Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, according to the UN. A 1999 government strategy costing £150 million aimed to halve teenage pregnancy by 2010 and missed its 2004 target. Dr Patricia Morgan, a sociologist, said the strategy actually groomed young people for sex. The government insisted that it knew what was effective in cutting teenage pregnancy. The Centre for Policy Studies called for parental involvement, contraception and discouragement of teenage sex. Hormonal birth control pills are to be sold without prescription. [Telegraph, 16 December, and Daily Mail, 16 December] Many pregnant teenagers come under pressure to have abortions.
(from SPUC December 16, 2008)

British schools are targeting under-age children for instruction in sexual activity, according to a newspaper columnist. Ms Melanie Phillips is writing after teenage pregnancies rose despite birth control and sex education programmes. She says: "The underlying message of providing contraception and sex education is that sexual relationships themselves for under-age children are perfectly normal and acceptable." She mentions widespread sexually transmitted disease and how "abortion services are offered to children as young as eleven without even informing their parents." Ministers refused to support abstinence education, which had worked in America. [Daily Mail, 16 December] Pupils are giving sex education to their fellow students, according to a report on classroom practices in the UK. [Reuters, 16 December]
(from SPUC December 17, 2008)

Birth control and pregnancy tests are being offered to 11-year-olds in schools in England without parental knowledge. Morning-after pills are being given to children in Wiltshire, which has a high rate of sexually transmitted infection. The Life organisation said it was irresponsible. Evidence suggested such moves did not cut pregnancy or abortion. [Western Daily Press, 22 December]

The main British opposition party says in a report that children aged 11 and above should be taught about refusing consent to sex. The Conservatives' Ending Violence Against Women also says sex education should not be value-free [Sunday Telegraph, 21 December]

John Smeaton of SPUC said: "We shall study the Conservatives' report. Current sex education policies have comprehensively failed and must be entirely rejected by policy-makers."
(from SPUC December 23, 2008)

 Summary information provided by Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 5-6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 5845.

These summaries, with links to the sources, are found on their website www.spuc.org.uk/news .  The accuracy of the summaries depends on the accuracy of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted.

Updated on RARTL December, 2008