Teenage pregnancy rates halve in the UK
Author: Professor Joyce Harper
I have always been concerned about teenage pregnancies. In the UK some are planned but many are not. Either way, we are obviously failing education of teenagers. Recently the UK Government announced that sex education would no longer be compulsory in schools, which to me is madness. Ideally parents should be involved in sex education for their children.
Yesterday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that in the UK, new figures show the teenage pregnancy rate has halved since the 1960s. For 2014, out of every 1,000 teenage girls aged 15 to 17 in England and Wales there were 22.9 pregnancies. In 1969, when comparable records began, the rate stood at 47.1 conceptions for every 1,000 girls in this age group. This is very good news.
But the abortion rates have slightly increased from 19.5% in the mid 1990s to 21.1% in 2o14. Education is needed to reduce this rate.
Ella Pickover reports “The ONS figures also show a dip in the number of girls under the age of 16 who fall pregnant. In 2014, it was estimated that 4,160 girls under 16 fell pregnant – a 10% decrease compared to 2013″.
Talking to The Guardian, Alison Hadley, director of the Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange at the University of Bedfordshire, led the teenage pregnancy strategy, a long-term project that began in 1999 and is widely credited for reducing pregnancy rates.
She said: “This is an extraordinary achievement in addressing a complex public health and inequalities issue affecting the lives of young people and their children. Many people thought the goal was unattainable and that high rates were an intractable part of English life. This shows that committed senior leadership, dedicated local practitioners, effective education programmes and easier access to contraception equips young people to make informed choices and brings down rates even in deprived areas.”
She added: “But despite the big reduction, the job is not done. England continues to lag behind comparable western European countries, teenagers continue to be at greatest risk of unplanned pregnancy and outcomes for some young parents and their children remain disproportionately poor. It is vital to keep a focus on teenage pregnancy to sustain the progress made and narrow inequalities. Universal, high-quality sex and relationships education, well-publicised, easy to use contraceptive and sexual health services, a youth-friendly workforce and good support for young parents, all need to be in place so successive generations of young people have the knowledge, skills and confidence to make choices. Disinvestment now risks an upturn in the rates.”
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