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Concerns raised over how to tackle teenage pregnancy

Law Professor John Spencer has outraged not just parents but also many MPs by arguing in favour of lowering the age of consent.

 

The Cambridge Professor expressed his view that keeping the legal age at 16 criminalised ‘half the population’ in BBC Radio’s 4 show Iconoclasts on Wednesday night.

 

It was in front of a panel of experts were Professor Spencer debated his views by making examples of other European countries that have lower consent ages than the UK and also lower teenage pregnancy rates. Austria, Bulgaria and Croatia have a set age of 14 and in Spain it is as low as 13.

 

Ann Widdlecombe, Former Home Office Minister, Conservative MP and a private counsellor spoke out about the debate saying ‘The proposition that the age of consent should be lowered is absolutely appalling. The situation is bad enough at the moment with high rates of teenage pregnancies and sexual diseases.’

 

‘I don’t detect a great deal of public support for this. If there was, I would argue that it should be debated. I can only assume the BBC is trying to create the debate.’

Professor Spencer has previously argued his case after branding the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as ‘exceptionally heavy handed’ and supported this during the 45 minute BBC debate.

 

‘The laws job is to reconcile and bring together human rights and I would

say that the only ligament role of the law is to protect against behaviour that causes harm, if no harm has been caused there should be no crime.’

 

He agreed that we should punish paedophiles but like other countries do this in a way were we are not punish consenting children. He denied that this would leave loopholes in the law for paedophiles to act and claimed that this is what scares the government.

 

A spokesman for the BBC defended the decision to broadcast the debate by saying ‘Iconoclasts is a live discussion program, in which a controversial viewpoint from an individual who has professional credibility in his or her field is discussed, explored in detail and robustly challenged by panellists.

“The program does not advocate the issue, but is a platform for an individual viewpoint and a starting point for serious debate’

 

Latest figures show that teenage pregnancy rates are higher now than what they were in 1995. In 2007 42,900 under 18s and 8,200 under 16s became pregnant in England and Wales, most of which ended in abortion.

 

This raises the much needed question. How can the UK tackle teenage pregnancy?

The government claim they can do no more when it comes to underage sex without the support of parents and schools, although there are still concerns on how to defeat the growing trend.

 

Many teenagers admit having underage sex giving reason like they felt pressured by friends, they were drunk or everyone else was doing it. In a survey carried out by the BBC nearly a third of 16-24 year olds admitted losing there virginity before the legal age of consent. It also showed that 1 in 10 of the people asked said that they had received no sex education while at school, with three quarters saying that they only learnt the basics.

 

This will all change now because by September 2011 sex education is set to become part of the national curriculum; However Diana Johnson, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Schools wants the government to put 100% commitment into the subject in a hope that it will lower the number of teenage pregnancies.    

 

‘I think it is really important to get this taught in schools and at a good level across the country, some schools teach it very well but some don’t tech it well at all.’

 

Julie Teahan, a childminder and mother of a 12 year old daughter agreed. ‘My daughter was in year seven when she was taught sex education and the classes were mixed. Im all for sex education but I feel it was too advanced for her to fully understand. I think rather than understanding she was embarrassed by it. I felt it was not appropriate for her age and was shocked by what she came home and asked me.’

 

According to the national curriculum sex education will be taught to children as young as four. In the first year of primary school they will learn about different body parts, then by the age of nine will move on to lessons about sex. At key stage three, age 11 to 14 pupils will then learn about contraption, pregnancy, sexual activity and sexually transmitted diseases. They will carry on learning about this throughout key stage 4 which will take them to age 16.

 

Stacey Wilkson 21, a trainee school teacher also said she thinks school teachers need to think when teaching a subject like sex education. ‘I do think children need to learn about sex but it can be too graphic at such a young age. Some things are too much for young children and they could find them embarrassing.’

 

The national curriculum will require children to learn about sex in a lesson called sex and relationship education (SRE) which will teach children about physical, moral and emotional development. According to the government SRE will include learning about the importance of stable and loving relationships and of marriage for family life as well as sexuality and sexual health. However it strongly states it does not promote sexual activity or any particular sexual orientation.

 

Despite many negative reports sexual health charity Brook supports SRE becoming part of the national curriculum and believes it could actually stop children from having underage sex.  

 

Brooks National Director Simon Blake said ‘Many young people are having sex because they want to find out what it is, because they are drunk or because there mates are.

 

‘That’s just not good enough for young people. We have got to have high expectations for them, so they have high expectations for themselves.’

 

He added ‘All the evidence shows that if you start sex and relationship education (SRE) early before children start puberty and before they feel sexual attraction they start having sex later.

‘They are also much more likely to use contraception and practise safe sex.’ 

 

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Key words

Age of consent            Sex education       Teenage pregnancy            Underage sex

Links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4784939.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_four/news/other

http://www.brook.org.uk/content/M&_2008_statutorySRE_OCT2008.asp

© 2010 The Journalism Centre @ Harlow College.