pill to be given out without prescription -what's your opinion on this?

[ADDICTEDtosayingHAAAAAAAPYxmas]

articlehere

i personally think the arguements about family history are rubbish - the drop in centres that are run don't know your family history do they!

i think its a good idea. i was always to embarassed to go to the doctors about it when i was younger (small surgery - all doctors known me my whole life)and i couldn't go to the drop in centre cos i was 3:30 - 5:30 and i didn't get back from school til after then.

sex ed at school is a load of rubbish. it needs to start much earlier!i know basic stuff is taught from year 5 but i personally think a lot of the stuff they wait to teach in year 10 should be taught from the very beginning cos frankly sometimes it is just too late. i know you may feel uncomfortable with your 9 and 10 year olds knowing this stuff but they do it in other countries without them being scarred for life. also if it was normal to know about it from a younger age then maybe their wouldn't be the stigma and embarassment and gigglyness attached to it? i also think schools shouldn't be handing out the morning after pill or arranging abortions - surely that's just saying it's ok for them to treat it as nothing serious and that the school thinks it is ok for them to be having sex? what happened to making people feel they shouldn't be having sex until they were mature enough to do so?

oh and i also think sex ed should be compulsory which it isn't in britain. parents can opt to take their children out of the lessons if they want. most teen pregnances will come from families where sex is never talked about cos the kids are to embarassed to ask for advice. stupid approach imo!

The UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe, coupled with the highest rate of sex-ed lessons in schools.

Clearly, sex-ed lessons are not working. They're probably counter-intuitive. Kids who had ever thought about it before are suddenly made to think about it .. on the curriculum.

Britain also has the highest rate of teenage drinkers. That's the link. Girls who are getting pregnant at thirteen/fourteen are drunk, or high .. as is the boy who impregnates them.

The human sexual drive is unchanging throughout history. That goes without saying. The current rise is teenage pregnancy has got nothing to do with a lack of education.

It has everything to do with young adolescents being off their faces. That's what needs to be tackled.

You can't only blame booze

Some kids aren't able to say no as they haven't been given the confidence. Some are looking for love in the wrong place. Some just think they are old enough and some just want to appear old enough

They are many reasons, sex ed in schools needs to be ealrier and more in depth. Parents need to educate and take the mystery away from the deed

So many girls can't talk to their parents, this should be addressed first

i think every girl should be given one of those crying baby things.

when i was 14 i thought i might be pregnant and stupidly decided that i hoped i was. i wasn't in the end and then spent 3 years secretly hoping to get pregnant again even though i was using protection cos knew none of my boyfriends would quite fancy the idea. so then when i did get pregnant at 17 i wasn't panicked in the slightest. i knew straight away i wanted the baby. then i had ds and reality kicked in. having your own baby is much harder than looking after someone elses for a couple of weeks cos you there's this niggling feeling at the back of your mind saying you know you can't give this one back.

i think the good things about the dolls are you only get the bad things of having a baby - the crying etc. where as when you look after a normal baby they start thinking oh but they're really cute and funny and i like playing with them and bathing them and feeding them. i don't think 14 year olds get that satisfaction from a robot!

sorry if this has made no sense - it is late!

I couldn't disagree with you more, minority.

Sex-ed leads to sex-lead. I would be fucking horrified if someone taught my lad about sex before he was at least thirteen. Learning how babies are made, sperm, eggs, etc., is perfectly fine. Children have been learning that for nigh on a century.

But the rest of it, no way.

It's a basic human drive. Let them work it out for themselves. I'm perfectly happy to discuss it with him ... but I'm not happy for a teacher to tell him. No way, Jose.

the thing is though some parents aren't around very much, some kids are in care homes, or passed from one foster home to the next. it's these kids that need the education to be in school aswell. if you don't want them exposed to the sex ed lessons then you can take them out if you must but don't deny kids that wouldn't get it elsewhere. unfortunately some 11 year olds are sexually active so it really needs to start in primary school not age 14.

Yup, fine by me. We have to be pragmatic about the realities of the sex lives of teenagers, anything that helps them take control to prevent unwanted pregnancy is a great idea.

addicted, yes you're right, there does need to be better education in schools and more in depth and earlier than it is now. There are kids not in a good home environment and they also need the education.

Also right about young girls thinking having a baby is fun. Those crying dolls are great, they put a lot of kids off

Des, I'm sorry but I believe kids should be taught very in depth sex ed. I don't believe it makes them want to go do it. Mine are very educated and I have got my girls to 17 and 18 and they aren't that into boys. They have lots for friends but they aren't desperate to have boyfriends as they are confident in their selves. They also have a career path planned and are working on studying to achieve that (one in 6th form, going on to uni and one learning a trade in college)

I read somewhere, that girls with a career plan or goal in life, have the lowest pregnancy rate. So we need to give our girls 'a way to go' Encourage a career and working towards that goal. The pregnancy rate is high for girls without a plan for the future and I can see how that is true

I also don't believe a teen having a sex life is bad thing. Not 13 year olds, but someone over 16, just starting out on adulthood and learning how nice (and hard) relationships are.

As long as they are protected from disease and pregnancy and are doing it for the right reasons

I enjoyed a sexlife at that age, learning how it feels to be in love and having my heart broken. Sex isn't a bad thing for teens, just needs some guidance

I thought this was a great idea when I heard them talking about it on the news this morning, widening access to services to make it much easier for girls to get hold of the pill sounds like a good idea to me.
But then the GP they had on said the problem is that as gp's they have not only medical records in front of them but that girls dob. Pharmacists won't have this obviously and we could end up with some very young girls lying about their age and on the pill.

it's just the same as the fp clinic though isn't it. you can make up everything about you if you go to one - when i first on the pill i gave a false name just incase.