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Monday, 28 January 2008, 07:00 GMT

Give young free condoms, says MP

Pregnancy Free condoms should be given to young people as part of a campaign to cut teenage pregnancies, says a Labour MP.

Chris Bryant wants them made available first in the 150 areas of the UK with the highest levels of teen pregnancy.

Recent figures show there were 43.4 live births per 1,000 girls in his Rhondda constituency, above the Welsh average of 33.7. In England it is 28.9.

Mr Bryant also wants booklets sent to all parents on their children's 11th birthday to help them talk about sex.

The Rhondda MP said parents and children, especially in the poorest communities, can find it difficult to talk about sex and he added that sex education was also "rudimentary at best".

Have Your Say
"Three people in my form have become pregnant and at least seven have had an STI. There is no way to stop them having sex, but I think giving out free condoms will definatley help"
Hannah, aged 15.

He has also launched a website, teenagemums.org.uk, and wants sexual health clinics at schools and colleges.

Mr Bryant will host a debate in Parliament's Westminster Hall on Wednesday amid statistics showing that the UK has the highest rate in Western Europe, and second in the world, behind the US.

He said although the number had been falling since 1997, the map of teenage pregnancy was also "the map of British deprivation".

Among a series of recommendations, he wants government ministers in England and Wales to target support at "the most at risk" in the areas with highest rates of teenage pregnancy.

Last month the Department of Health found rates had been reduced by just 11.4% since 1998 in England, against a target to cut them in half by 2010.

Chris Bryant MP

That led to the Department for Children, Schools and Families - which is jointly responsible for England's target with the Department of Health - promising that efforts would be "redoubled".

Wales has an even higher teenage pregnancy rate than England, with 43.6 conceptions per 1,000 girls in 2005, compared with 41.3.

Mr Bryant said that in his constituency in 2006, almost one in 25 teenagers aged 15-19 gave birth.

The MP said free condoms should be available in "places where young people go, aimed at cutting STIs (sexually transmitted infections) and pregnancies".

He argued that clinics in schools and colleges would allow students to get hold of information, advice and contraception.

'Belt and braces'

He also wants campaigns to offer more accurate contraception information, and urge the "belt and braces" approach of using both the pill and condoms.

Mr Bryant also advocates that schemes allowing chemists to give out free emergency contraception should be extended across the country.

TEENAGE PREGNANCIES

Source: Chris Bryant MP

He cited the difficulties young people in his constituency found in getting hold of contraception.

"When I asked a group of students at Treorchy Comprehensive School in the Rhondda what they thought was the main reason for the high number of teenage pregnancies locally, they were all critical of the local availability of contraception.

"As one boy put it, 'Maybe it's different if you live in Cardiff but it's pretty embarrassing buying condoms in the Rhondda.

"If you go into a chemist's in Treorchy, the girl behind the counter will almost certainly know your mum."

Mr Bryant said he had also been told by a teacher that a girl told her she was not trying hard because she planned to get pregnant the next year and would not be returning to school.

"The teacher tells me the girl didn't care who the father was going to be.

"One of the pupils echoed this, saying, 'I've heard girls say, 'I'm fed up. I'm just going to have a baby. It's easier"'.

Mr Bryant said all international comparisons suggest that deprivation was "intimately linked with high rates of teenage pregnancy".




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Related to this story:
Pregnancy targets 'to be missed' (30 Dec 07 |  Health )
Government misses education goals (20 Dec 07 |  Education )
Pharmacies to widen pill access (13 Dec 07 |  Health )
Teen contraceptive plans unveiled (19 Jul 07 |  UK )
Teenage pregnancy myth dismissed (22 Jan 07 |  Health )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Department of Health
Family Education Trust
Every Child Matters - teenage pregnancy statistics
Teenage pregnancy
Chris Bryant
Teenage mums
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