PrintDecember 3, 2007
UK 12 year olds get morning after pill without parents' knowledge
The Daily Mail reports that girls as young as 12 years old are being given morning-after contraceptive pills at public expense, without informing their parents.
Under a controversial Government scheme to cut teenage pregnancies, youngsters are asked only basic questions in a brief consultation with a pharmacist. [....]The Family Education Trust, which produced the report, says the policy is having no effect on pregnancy rates and is actually increasing promiscuity, putting girls at greater risk of sexually transmitted diseases.Campaigner Sue Axon said last night: "I know of a 14-year-old whose boyfriend tried to talk her into having sex by saying he would take her for the morning-after pill."Young boys think they have a licence to do whatever they want because of this."Disclosures under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that 84 per cent of England's 152 NHS trusts allow pharmacies like Boots to hand out the morning-after pill to girls under 16.Some set lower age limits of 12, 13, 14 or 15, but more than half do not.
Presumably, the pills being handed out are the type containing the progestin levonorgestrel, the most common form of "morning-after" contraception. This is a very powerful dose of hormones issued to a child barely into puberty in some cases.
Widespread easy availability of the pills logically would encourage underage sex in circumstances where condoms are not available, thereby promoting the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. This amounts to a vast experiment in pediatric use of the massive hormone doses, and a social experiment with the health and welfare of Britain's pubescent girls.
Hat tip: Joseph Crowley
