Britain has Europe's highest teenage pregnancy rate, how would you bring it down?

[SecondhandRose]

This one will cause trouble I know. How does Britain break the cycle of teen pregnancies leading to young, on the breadline single Mums with fathers (of the baby) that just wander off or are discarded?

My theory is rather right wing and probably won't go down very well so I just wondered what everybody else thinks.

I hope I don't offend anyone here - but as it is the girls that are left with the responsibility of a baby, I would first make all the girls wear a fake pregnancy belly for a few days (being 7 months pregnant I am feeling it all right now) so it simulates the backache, tiredness, extra weight and then show a really graphic video of a birth - not necessarily a bad birth, but what actually happens. Follow this by a doll that wakes up every two hours at night, poos and wees and cries all the time and surely this would put some of them off - I know it would of done me.

Also the more sex education the better. In my christian school there was virtually nothing - no talk of contraception as we were supposed to wait until marriage to do it - and there was a large number of pregnancies among the girls in my class after school.

Loads of sex education. Education about contraception (and good access to it). Education about the many sex acts that won't get you pregnant. Education about the fact that sex with partners of the same gender won't get you pregnant.

i personally think that there is a thick as shit is ok culture in schools.

as once a teen parent i have given this oodles and oodles of thought.

i would scrap community development work and workers. and all the "diversionary activities" to keep kids out of trouble.

arse arse and more arse - and i say that as once a community worker - and so was my dh.

with all that lottery and eiropean funding i would make education a huge priotiy spending billions of schools and equipment.

i would attempt to change cultural attitudes - as per the wonderful breastfeeding support and campaigners and sure start have done over the last 5-6 years in particularly.

i firmly believe that hope of achievement is what counts

i firmly believe that if you have goals, ideals and ambition to do something in life then you will start to take some responsability for your life.

teenagers are sexual and ithink this country needs to grow up about it.

along side the education is the key cultural shift i would also run a cultural campaign urging teenagers to get long term contraception if they are in a sexual relationship.

when my son bought his girlfriend home i gave him condoms and took them both to family planning clinic. - becuase in the absence of my ideal pervading culture (above) i have to fight all the way to make sure that i do not become a grandma before the age of 35.

its very easy for a 16 year old girl to get pregnant in the absence of any other life choice. however the lack of ambition to do anything but - is truly the sad thing IN MY OPINION!

My theory about this is that it's not just about girls who don't know the facts of life getting pregnant by accident or while drunk, it's also about teenage girls who want to do something useful rather than just being unemployed and going out clubbing, but don't have any prospects of a job and don't see education as being for them, so they decide to have a baby because that actually is a positive and useful way for them to use their time. (This is based both on teenage mums I meet and ones I have seen on tv documentaries who actually seem to have made a positive decision to get pg rather than being at the feckless end of the scale.)

Therefore the answer is to provide them with more alternatives such as better vocational training, more flexible educational opportunities so it's easier to drop back into education if you feel like you have failed at school, and of course better job opportunities, so there are more advantages to them in waiting.

(Unfortunately I'm not quite sure how that's going to be done )

I think a lot of it is self esteem

I think we need to listen more to children (and custy, you are a true star in that respect re your boy and his girlfriend)

Education, education, education

I would speak to my teenager about sex without treating it as a tabou as it is now.

Don't you think there is too much 'support' for young girls if they get pregnant. The Govt. picks up the pieces and pays the tab for the lot. Young girls know all about how to get pregnant I dont think it needs explaining to them and I do think some of them think this is a choice to take rather than getting a job. Sadly.

I think most teenage preganancies are down to alcohol so tackle that and it will go a long way to help

Secondhandrose, I think there is a problem with it being the best career option available to some girls, and certainly to some extent that is caused by the fact that benefits are available. However, the problem is, there are always going to be (and always have been) girls who get pregnant, and the amount of suffering caused by not having a safety net - not just to the girls themselves, but to their children as well - used to be so huge, that it would be tragic to return to that situation.
If you did take away the benefits, what do you think should happen to the girls who get pregnant and their children? I'd be interested to know.

(BTW it happened to my granny in the 1920s - she was a waitress at a hotel and got pg by one of the guests who said he would marry her and then scarpered. Her child was brought up by her childless sister - so in a way she was one of the lucky ones as she didn't lose her child altogether - but she didn't get on with the sister. Granny then met my grandad and had my mother and would have loved to have had another baby but couldn't. I find it so sad to think of my grandmother living for her whole life with the shame and secrecy and my mother not having a chance to grow up with the big sister she could have had.)

if your 16 80 quid a week or something sounds a lot of money.

what we need to do is educate yound people in real life - actually your mum isnt going to buy the nappies and formula and clothes.

your never going to have a night out - not regularly anyway - becuase not only can you not affor it but you will soon rub out of people who give a shit.

new mobile phone - think not

how much is gas electic water etc? dya even know?

that leaves youwith how much? 5 quid a week - if your lucky.

seriously your friends probably have more desposable income from pocket money.

ihave to say that i think a good work ethos is missing.

work - money - more money than benefits - higher self esteem promotion, own your own car, house

blah de blah,

just more ambition than benfits - becuase it will be another 2 kids and 14 years later before theyget on their feet.

so its not the support that is the matter - its the explaination. the ambition to do more.

absolutely agree with custy 1.32 post (well done for taking them to the family planning clinic!).
education and sex education are the key. I also think parents should talk more to their children about sex. being supportive. teaching them self esteem and respect for their bodies, sexuality and that of other people.

Education Education Education

Agree with Custy and Kathy - show them that they can aspire to something else.

Also encourage a culture where people are less embarassed to talk about contraception than they are to give somebody they have just met a blow job. (Although at least blow jobs don't get you pregnant...).

Id love to say make benefits harder to access etc., but its just not fair on the people who really do need/deserve them. There should be specialist education in schools about sex/contraception- even Catholic Schools. Our sex ed. was abstinence (sp?) which is all well and good, but not realistic for everyone. Education should start earlier, and it not be "taboo" and just one quick 1/2 hour in the classroom (the education I mean!). Same with drug education aswell. You just have to teach children this day and age things that are relevant, theres no point ignoring it all and hoping it goes away. I also personally think education should be compulsory until 18.

Anyway, teenage pregnancy rate highest in Europe. Most European countries have social benefits too. Think the problem is education, yes, but also cultural - related to other probs like binge drinking, low aspirations, etc. Why? Children having children who go on to have children as children... established patterns of behaviour become the norm (btw, know this is a simplification of the issue and that it is also a generalisation) Divide between rich and poor, types of entrenched poverty??? I don't know...

Young girls nowadays know for a fact that if they have unprotected sex they can get pregnant.

It's the consequences of having a baby that they need to be educated about. Our welfare state doesn't help this much by giving substantial handouts to people who get themselves into this situation.

Young lads should also be educated about the consequences too before they start dipping their wick in anything in a skirt.

Custy you talk a load of sense and are wise beyond your tender years!

Yeah, I do think as a society we do not hold boys accountable really. Also, maybe barking up wrong tree here, but really think that self esteem for girls an issue - rather have an crappy shag than say no.. really is a prob

It amazes me that so many young boys seem quite happy to get a girl pregnant and disappear off the scene. They are as bad as the girls that they care not a jot about an unborn child.

Please don't start shouting at me but I feel that if benefits/housing wasn't paid/given out until the age of 21 then many girls wouldn't get pregnant and maybe by the age of 21 they may have matured a little bit so they don't make it a life choice.

But then what would happen to the girls who get pregnant before they're 21? The ones who's families refuse to support them? When the father won't stick around for help?

What's the alternative in a humane, civilised culture?

I agree that education and parental acceptance/support of sexuality is the key, but there will always be some cases. We are animals after all...

you can't deny teenagers benefits..we would be back to the work house and abandoned babies

Then maybe there could be some system where the girls are housed so that they have some sort of carer helping them to care for their babies, helping them to continue their education and learn life skills.

Not sure about not having benefits, but even going along with that idea, I think 21 is a bit old. 18 year olds vote and pay taxes, 16 year olds pay taxes and are legally allowed to have sex and get married.

We don't need more sex eduation, we need better sex education. Mine (and it wasn't too long ago) was excruciatingly embarrassing. A breakdown of it is this:

1. Biological processes. Fallopian tubes, prostate glands etc. No teen really cares about this, it's mind-numbingly boring.

1. Puberty. By the time teens get into proper sex ed, quite a few of them are way ahead in the puberty race and don't really need lectured on how wet dreams are normal.

1. Contraception. It's mostly male oriented, i.e. condoms. My guess is the pill didn't get much mention due to its inability to protect from diseases, but it's important to show girls that they have more control over this too. AND that they're entitled to confidentiality from their doctor even if they're under age.

1. Diseases. AIDS of course, being king. Most of my class didn't seem to care because how many teens do YOU know with AIDS? Obviously it's important to talk about STDs but they should do it without resorting to scare tactics. Believe me, when you use statistics to back up an argument all through a lecture then suddenly don't, everyone knows why. They should be totally honest about the risks involved.

1. Relationships. This was quite possibly the worst part of sex ed. Sex was predominantly portrayed as something that happens between heterosexual couples who are either married or in love. Sex isn't JUST for that category of people! Teens know it too. No amount of, 'you should wait until you're older' speeches is going to have the slightest bit of impact on teens.

1. Seriousness. We got into trouble if we laughed at any of the sex ed videos. We were shown a clip of a woman who'd just gotten out of the shower who drops her towel and starts brushing her hair with her legs wide open so the camera could zoom in. Pepole laughed because it was absurd. It resulted in several people being given detention. I think any dialogue - even if it involves laughter - is better than none. The teachers need to loosen up and be more approachable.

You wanna reform sex ed? Scrap the terrible videos and bring real people into classes. Bring in a teenage mum. Bring in a teenage dad. Bring in someone actually suffering from an incurable STD. Bring in gay/lesbian couples. Bring in someone who gave a child up for adoption.

Real life stories are so much more powerful than a prepackaged sterile video. Sex needs to be shown for what it is, diverse. By limiting videos to show only a small portion of what sex is all about we're alienating teenagers.