Teen Sex: Lessons From Europe (Again)

Well, here’s something to pop your eyes open in case you can’t quite shake that post-election torpor. A county in the U.K. has just authorized pharmacies to distribute birth control pills to girls as young as 13, without parental consent.

It’s a pilot project in the Isle of Wight, best known as a British tourist destination for its ye olde worlde charm. Under the project, teenagers who approach a pharmacist for the morning-after pill will also be able to get a month’s supply of the contraceptive pill without seeing a doctor or informing their parents. After that month is up, girls must make an appointment with their general practitioner or sexual health nurse in order to get any additional supplies.

The campaign is aimed at reducing unwanted pregnancies, which have crept up on the island in recent years. According to Jennifer Smith of the local branch of the National Health Service, which approved the project: “I would suggest that what we’re doing is being entirely responsible by providing [contraception to] these most vulnerable women, for whom, for the most part, pregnancy is not a good outcome. We are linking them with people most able to support them in further decision-making and appropriate behavior in the future.”

Read the rest of this post at www.PoliticsDaily.com

 

Image: one pill gone by jodigreen via flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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8 Comments
  • Reply Asa

    November 4, 2010, 7:50 pm

    That is so good. So nice to here. Thanks for all you news reporting.

  • Reply Chris

    November 5, 2010, 5:55 am

    That just doesn’t make much sense because with most birth control pills you have to be on them a month BEFORE you are protected from pregnancy. Any doctor will tell you when starting a contraceptive pill that you need to use another form of birth control the first month.

    • Reply delialloyd

      November 5, 2010, 12:08 pm

      yes chris but they are getting them b/c they are at pharmacy in the first place to get the morning after pill. the idea is to get them to think ahead next time. thanks for stopping by.

  • Reply Shelley

    November 5, 2010, 1:16 pm

    Funny, I always thought of the Isle of Wight as being pretty well off and that rich kids don’t have those sorts of problems…obviously I’m mistaken. From the last few harangues I’ve had with family in the US, I’m thinking that whilst we may have separation of church and state, we don’t have separation of separation of religion and politics. Britain is far better at that than the US.

    • Reply Simon

      November 16, 2010, 11:42 pm

      The Isle of Wight is not particularly well off at all. Rich retirees moving here for the climate skew earnings figures and keep house prices artificially high, but in fact unemployment is very high and there are a lot of poverty-associated social issues. Cornwall has very similiar problems.

  • Reply Erin

    November 5, 2010, 1:38 pm

    Good Lord! The only thing I was riding at 13 was my horse. What kind of world is this? I think it’s fantastic that they’re offering this to teens who need it but I worry about my daughter. I seriously hope she isn’t interested in birth control at 13. Maybe I should look into horse riding…

  • Reply Daryl Boylan

    November 7, 2010, 10:30 pm

    Well, bully for the Brits yet again — as for USA government sexual health policy, I guess the all-American response to the Isle of Wight is:”Stop making sense!”

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