Who objects to this institutionalized child abuse?

[TheFury]

How can it possibly have come about that some GPs are effectively condoning, covering up and actively facilitating child abuse by prescribing contraception to 11-year-old girls without the consent or knowledge of their parents (see Sunday Times lead today)? Sex with a minor is a criminal offence, but they are effectively concealing the crime by their actions and supinely allowing it to continue. Since authority figures such as GPs are involved, it effectively amounts to institutionalized child abuse. How on earth has this situation been allowed to develop? When was legislation passed to allow the State to interpose itself between children and their parents in this way? Even a pregnancy would be better ~ at least the situation would be out in the open and the parents could deal with it through a quick and easy abortion, trace the culprit who has made their daughter pregnant and have him prosecuted. As it stands, this is an intolerable situation and it is time we mothers of daughters stopped being apathetic and began actively campaigning to change whatever recent law has allowed GPs to act against the interests of these little girls in secrecy. Some long-term injectable or implanted contraception, amounting to a bombardment of hormones, in such young children could imperil their future fertility and may have all sorts of long term medical implications. GPs are not chemists. They know absolutely nothing about drugs and are simply not in a position to judge the long-term effects of what they are prescribing. We have a collective duty to put a stop to all this. Please do reply to discuss what we can do.

Well we could maybe start by knowing where our 11 year old daughters are and being more aware of what they are actually doing.

Presumably they have to go to a doctor to ask for the contraception. And in doing so they must also be aware of what it is and why they need it.

So where exactly do their parents think their 11 year old daughters are while they're out getting the contraception (without their parents knowledge) let alone where they're off to and induging in sexual activity.

Why blame the doctors for the lack of parenting?? I would rather they gave out contraception rather than having these girls going through forced abortion. Abortions which could have equally long term affects to their health; physical and mental.

How could an abortion for an 11 year old ever be described as 'quick and easy'? What an odd thing to say.

I'm sure that GPs aren't prescribing contraception to 11 year olds as a matter of course. I'd imagine they'd have a very real concern about the health and welfare of an 11 year old girl to go down that road in the first place.

I was prescribed the pill at 12 because I had such heavy and painful periods that I was completely unable to function at school for a week out of every four. It didn't make me desperate to get out there and have sex.

Not saying this is the case for every child in the article in the Times but there are other reasons why children are prescribed contraceptives 'in secret', not just because they want to have sex without their parents knowing about it.

How many of these 11-year-olds are taking the pill to reduce painful periods?
It's still recorded as a contraceptive (and functions as one, obviously)

(recalls snotty woman GP who refused to believe me age 17 when I said I wasn't having sex and told me I'd have to pay for my pill then - nice pharmacist kid pointed out it still worked as a contraceptive no matter why I took it so therefore it was still free...)

A pregnancy for an 11 year old would be better than taking the Pill. Somebody's got a punitive attitude, right there. Do you think an 11 year old is going to think "oh, well since I'm on the Pill I might as well have sex"?.

The Pill is often prescribed at that age for painful periods and/or severe acne. Both my SILs had acne bad enough to scar, and the Pill helped my younger SIL avoid the worst of that.

Institutionalised child abuse. FFS, don't be ridiculous.

WHile GPS can offer counselling and the opportunity to speak out if one is being abused, their first duty of care is surely to help the girls prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Simply refusing them the pill would make a bad situation worse.

Honestly OP...you think an abortion is ther better option for a child of 11 or 12? really?
Ive never read such a stupid comment in my life.
Taking the pill , may happen for many reasons .Its a contraceptive , but its aslo used to help painful and heavy periods , and to help control acne.
Abortions are not "easy" .They are something a grown woman can struggle with...never mind a child.

And also, what?

GPs are not chemists. They know absolutely nothing about drugs and are simply not in a position to judge the long-term effects of what they are prescribing

I was rather under the impression that medical school taught doctors about medicines. That'd be why they need a doctor's prescription.

Gillick competence

There's information on the Wikipedia page about Fraser Guidelines as well - basically if a GP is supplying contraceptives to someone under the age of 16 it's because they believe that on balance of probabilities it will be worse for the child if they don't.

Well as a practice nurse and Family Planning Nurse I can honestly tell you I have never seen contraception (note contraception, not hormones) prescribed for an 11 year old.

Health care professionals do have a duty of care and if an 11 year old presented for contraception some pretty serious questions would be asked.

I'm sorry, but the interposition of a pressure group wielding a big generalised journalistic stick between an individual child and her individual doctor is the thing that worries me. Victoria Gillick was a fine woman with a genuine concern for children but the impact of her campaign in the 80s was IMO largely negative. Do we have to repeat history?

You know that some of these girls will be getting contraception to stop their fathers / stepfathers / brothers getting them pregnant, right? In those cases there is no 'lets tell the loving parents and then everything will be ok.'

Those 11 year olds are seeking contraception as they know their parents wont find out

Remove that

They will not have contraception, and having a baby is going to be more traumatic I'm afriad, and what is this 'quick and easy' abortion thing? Quick and easy my arse. Ask anyone who has had an abortion - I don't think it can ever be described as easy.

Your way, well I hope you are going to be the one to employ the people who will need to rescue the newborns dumped in rubbish bins and in phone boxes. Seriously.

Lesser of two evils I think sums it up nicely

I mean that giving underage children contraception is the lesser of tow evils, sorry I am ill and tired!!!!

Victoria Gillick was a deranged shitbag who did a lot of damage. Her view was that all contraception is a sin and that teenagers are property of their parents. SO it's kind of nice that she is now immortalised as the name of a law/rule that young people can make their own decisions about their medical treatment.

i told my kids aged 15 that there was a nurse at the doctors that they could go and see and i wouldn't be told about it.

i can't imagine that there is a plague of 11 year olds who are sexually active. i am certain that doctors and nurses wouldn't just write a script and send them on their way whilst shouting 'next' and pushing them out of the door.

A quick and easy abortion?????
Words fail me.

Technically for a child under 13 there is mandatory reporting of sexual activity as in law it is considered that a child under 13 cannot consent to sex. A referral would need to be made to social services/the police. So I wonder if the gp also made a refferal?

OP your post is unbeleievably offensive towards GPs.

"GPs are not chemists. They know absolutely nothing about drugs" Really? Pharmacology is an integral part of the medical degree.

"Even a pregnancy would be better ~ at least the situation would be out in the open and the parents could deal with it through a quick and easy abortion" Clearly you know very little about the physiology of the average 11 year old. Did you know that one of the complications of abortion can lead to a hysterectomy? Hardly a quick and easy option. And what about the emotionalm scarring of going through a procedure like that at that age?

The first thing that would cross a GPs mind if an 11 came in wanting contaception (and believe me this would be an incredibly rare occurrence for your average GP - there is no epidemic of sexually active 11 year olds and I would imagine only a tiny minority of them would have the gumption to go to their GPs anyway) would be the child abuse implications. Doctors can breach confidentiality if they suspect a serious crime has been committed and this would include an 11 year old having sex under coercion. Do you honestly think that your avaerage GP is just going to sit there and happily dole out the pill to such young children without asking some pretty searching questions?

Ultimately this is about parenting. These very rare 11 year olds are not in the main cossetted well brought up middle class girls & the type of parents getting hysterical about this are highly unlikely to have children off getting nobbed at a very young age. GPs and other health care professions exist as a safety-net for the most vulnerable in society and the legislation currently helps rather than hinders them in this. Change the law and it's children who would suffer not paranoid control-freak parents who think that everyone outside of their semi-detached world is part of some massive conspiracy to bespoil their offspring.

"GPs are not chemists. They know absolutely nothing about drugs and are simply not in a position to judge the long-term effects of what they are prescribing."

What nonsense!

GPs are doctors who have done at least 5 years of undergraduate training, then at least another 4 years of postgraduate training before becoming a GP, and often have additional qualifications in family planning.

Bizarre statements like yours show how ill-informed you are and makes it difficult to take anything else you say seriously.

The OP is obviouly either a journalist or the spokesperson for some pressure group or other. I suggest ignoring this thread is the best way forward.

I totally desagree with OP WRT "quick and easy abortion" but I do think that when an 11yo asks for contraception, the GP should make the parents aware, or at least ask to see them all together to discuss things (GP can then act as a mediator or somethin

When I was 11 I hurt my finget in a gym lesson, nobdy believed I was really hurt and after 2 days being in pain I made my own way to our family doctor. My parents were very good parents but as there was no sign (bruising or swelling) that anything was wrong thy just did not act on it. I had fractured my finger though. All that to say that I am not surprised at an 11 yo going to the GP on their own but ultimatly, I agree with all the poster who say that pregnacy/sexually active 11yo mainly is a parenting issue.

I think you should be asking why the parent's of these girls allow them so much freedom that they can be sexually active and what to do about that, and also why such young girls want to be sexually active. That they are seeking contraception at the age of 11 is surely a symptom and it would be better to find the cause of that rather than blaming GPs. The patient-GP covenant of confidentiality should never be undermined, and I suspect that sometimes the GP propably does know better than the parents.