Britain has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, so the Government is trying a new schemes to try and minimize it. The Government plans on introducing a new project, where girls as young as 11 will be able to send a text message to the school nurse, for the morning after pill. Also, the government are dicussing relaxing the 9 o’ clock watershed restrictions to show condom adverts, except for programmes specifically aimed at child of 10 or below.

 

 

Advertisements for pregnancy advisory services will be allowed on prime-time evening slots on the major channels. Britain’s biggest pregnancy advisory service said they may consider making an ad.

 

 

Not everyone agrees with this policy. Some people think it will lead to greater promiscuity among young people. Dr. Peter Saunders from the Christian Medical Fellowship said, “The whole approach from the Government and officialdom creates an atmosphere where it is seen as acceptable for teenagers to indulge in recreational sex without regarding the very serious consequences in terms of physical and emotional health.”

 

We’ve interviewed some pupils at Park High School to see how they feel about the Government’s new plan. People were chosen at random from all year groups. We repeatedly came across the opinion that “sex is advertised a lot by celebrities and I think that more advertising will make it even worse. Also contraception is too expensive.” The head of PSHE at Park High, Mrs. Ward said, “They should only allow ads on abortion if they have both pros and cons.”

 

This is a major issue for teenagers because this will affect them most. Many people feel that these ads will only encourage unprotected sex. Surely we cannot be certain until we have tried it out?

 

By Silvia and Varsha