An influential group of NHS experts is urging the
Scottish Government to allow the morning-after pill to be handed out in schools
(See reports by BBC, Scotsman and Scottish
Herald)
But the push has faced criticism from the Roman
Catholic Church in Scotland for being irresponsible. The parliamentary officer
John Dieghan said it ‘pours more fuel on the flames.
In a written submission to a Holyrood committee, the
Scottish Sexual Health Lead Clinicians Group (SSHLCG) accused ministers of
‘running scared’ of its critics over contraception in schools.
The group said: ‘Why is emergency contraception not
available in schools? Why are condoms and contraception not accessible? Why can’t
pregnancy and other STIs be prevented?’
The Scottish parliament’s Health and Sport Committee
are looking into the high rate of teenage pregnancy in the country, which is
one of the highest in Western Europe.
Ministers had hoped to cut the pregnancy rate for
under 16s to 6.8 pregnancies per 1,000 girls by 2010 but the pregnancy rate for
that year was 7.1 per 1,000.
But according to the evidence John Dieghan is quite
right.
An American
study which I highlighted last
December showed that making emergency contraception available free over
the counter without prescription leads to an increase in rates of sexually
transmitted infections and does not decrease pregnancy or abortion rates.
These results were almost identical to those of a
British study published in the Journal of Health Economics (full
text) in December 2010 and reported in the Daily
Telegraph in January 2011.
This latter research, by professors Sourafel Girma and
David Paton of Nottingham University (See my previous blogs on this here and here)
found that rates of pregnancy among girls under 16 remained the same, but that
rates of sexually transmitted infections increased by 12%.
In fact, in a systematic
review published in 2007, twenty-three studies published between 1998
and 2006, and analyzed by James Trussell’s team at Princeton University,
measured the effect of increased EC access on EC use, unintended pregnancy, and
abortion. Not a single study among the 23 found a reduction in unintended
pregnancies or abortions following increased access to emergency contraception
(see also fact sheet here).
The phenomenon whereby applying a prevention measure
results in an increase in the very thing it is trying to prevent is known as ‘risk compensation’.
The term has been applied to the fact that the wearing
of seat-belts does not decrease the level of some forms of road
traffic injuries since drivers are thereby encouraged to drive more recklessly.
In the same way it has been argued that
making condoms readily available actually increases rather than decreases rates
of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections because condoms encourage
teenagers to take more sexual risks in the false belief that they will not
suffer harm.
Whilst condoms offer some protection against sexually
transmitted infections the morning-after pill offers none.
Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in
Western Europe. In 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, more
than 7,500 girls in England and Wales became pregnant. Nearly two thirds of
these pregnancies ended in abortion.
Rates of sexually transmitted diseases are also
rising. In 2009 there were 12,000 more cases than the previous year, when
470,701 cases were reported. The number of infections in 16-to 19 year-olds
seen at genito-urinary medicine clinics rose from 46,856 in 2003 to 58,133 in
2007.
International research has consistently failed to find
any evidence that emergency birth control schemes achieve a reduction in
teenage conception and abortion rates. But now there is growing evidence
showing that not only are such schemes failing to do any good, but they may in
fact be doing harm.
Making the emergency contraceptive pill available
free, without prescription, is sadly an ill-conceived knee-jerk response to
Britain’s spiralling epidemic of unplanned pregnancy, abortion and sexually
transmitted disease amongst teenagers. It is also not evidence-based.
The best way to counter the epidemic of unplanned
pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease is to promote real behaviour change.
The government would be well advised to enter into dialogue with leaders of
communities in Britain where rates of sexually transmitted diseases and
unplanned pregnancy are low, especially Christian faith communities, to learn
about what actually works.
Church-based programmes such as Love for Life
(Northern Ireland), Love2last (Sheffield), Challenge Team, Romance Academy or
Lovewise (Newcastle) are getting great results and have much wisdom to pass on.
How about financing some serious research into examining them in more depth?
ReplyDelete>> The government would be well advised to enter into dialogue with leaders of communities in Britain where rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy are low
Good point.
What are the rates of sexually transmitted disease and unplanned pregnancy in the Asian (Indian, Chinese) communities in Britain, for example?
How is it *they* manage to persuade their children to abstain until married, and WE seem unable to do this?