UK: Schools ‘must give sex education’
Schools should be forced to give sex and relationship education lessons to pupils, a Labour MP has said. Chris Bryant (Rhondda) said the UK had a “terrible” problem with teenage pregnancy in comparison to other European countries.
But Tory Therese Coffey said it should be for parents to decide how to provide sex and relationship education [...]
9,000 free condom vending machines set up in Shanghai
Shanghai residents, including students and migrant workers, will now be provided free condoms through more than 9,000 vending machines to be set up across this business capital of China. Condom vending machines will be put up in dormitory buildings, restrooms and laundries ‘where students can help themselves’, officials from the city’s family planning service said, [...]
Lincolnshire, UK: Fall in teenage conceptions will benefit region’s young people
A woman is given a contraception injection
A record low in teenage pregnancy figures could signal a brighter future for the region’s children according to health chiefs. The high teenage pregnancy rate was highlighted as a key area of concern in the region’s 2009 health report. But a boost in Long Acting Reversible Contraception procedures following [...]
New South Wales, Australia: Teenage baby boom sparks call for better sex education
The number of teenage mothers [in Australia] has jumped after decades of steady decline and NSW has had the most significant increase. The teen fertility rate in NSW rose 15 per cent from 2007 to 2008, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Nationally, the number of teenagers giving birth rose 10 per cent, from [...]
Qatari women are delaying getting married and having fewer children
Women in Qatar are delaying getting married and having fewer children, as education and career now play a bigger role in their everyday lives. The recently published Millennium Development Goals in Qatar 2010 (MDG Qatar 2010) report shows that the fertility rate of Qatari women has decreased from 5.7 children per woman in 1999, to [...]
Hazards of adolescent pregnancy
From the Malaysia Star:
Pregnancy in adolescence, i.e. in a girl aged between 10 and 19 years, is increasingly becoming a problem in many developed and developing countries. This phenomenon has been influenced by the decreasing age of the first period (menarche) and schooling.
The former has been decreasing at a rate of about two to three [...]
Preventing Teenage Pregnancy in Ecuador
When fifteen-year-old Maria Victoria Urquizo tends to the potato-field in front of her brother’s house in the indigenous community of Guanilchig, she has a stunning view of the majestic, snow-capped Chimborazo—Ecuador’s highest mountain. At 3,500 meters (about 11,500 feet) above sea level, the morning air in this Western range of the Andes is crisp. The [...]
India Tries Using Cash Bonuses to Slow Birthrates
Dr. Archana R. Khade, left, and a nurse, Sunita Laxman Jadhav, right, explained incentives to delay childbirth to a new bride near Satara this month.
Sunita Laxman Jadhav is a door-to-door saleswoman who sells waiting. She sweeps along muddy village lanes in her nurse’s white sari, calling on newly married couples with an unblushing proposition: [...]
Legacy of the ladette: Now alarming rise in teenage promiscuity and abortions is linked to women’s binge drinking
The devastating effects of excess alcohol on young women have been spelled out by a major study. Binge drinking ‘ladettes’ are 40 per cent likelier to have an abortion. And the proportion of teenage girls who blame alcohol for losing their virginity has more than doubled compared with 60 years ago.
The study, the most extensive [...]
Victoria, Australia: Free condoms for 12 year olds
Family planning has a new twist to it, as Family Planning Victoria prepares to provide free condoms to 12-year-old students in school, in a bid to reduce teen pregnancies. The taxpayer-financed group said they should be kept in student common rooms, or distributed by machines.
“We do know that there are some very young people having [...]
UK: Teenagers to be offered more contraception options
Different forms of contraception should be available to girls as young as 13. The British Medical Association (BMA) says GPs’ need to stop recommending the pill as the main method for teenagers. It’s a change to previous advice. Long-term forms of contraception such as injections, implants and coils have generally been offered to older women [...]
India: Despite laws and campaigns, child marriages persist
Soon after she had her second child, Rathna fell into a frenzied state and had to be brought to a hospital in the southern Indian village of Dharmapuri. After a month-long series of tests, doctors issued their diagnosis: Rathna, they said, was suffering from a psychiatric aberration that seems to occur often among adolescent mothers. [...]
Coerced Reproduction
About a decade ago, Elizabeth Miller remembers seeing a certain teenage girl at a hospital clinic for adolescents in Boston. The patient thought she might be pregnant and asked for a test. When it came out negative, Miller started asking the standard questions, inquiring as to whether her patient wanted to be pregnant (she didn’t) [...]
Early puberty in girls doubles in a decade
Twice as many white girls in the US reach puberty aged 7 as a decade ago. No one is sure why this should be the case, but obesity and exposure to chemicals that mimic the female hormone oestrogen are the prime suspects. The figures come from a study of 1200 girls in three US cities. [...]
New Zealand: More teenage pregnancies, fewer births
The teen pregnancy rate hit a 40-year peak in 2008 despite a long-term downward trend in the proportion of teenagers actually giving birth. A report by Social Development Ministry analyst Dr Barbara Collins has found that an almost continuous rise in the number of teenagers having abortions has more than offset the downward trend in [...]
No coercion in efforts to control population
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad has ruled out any possibility of employing coercive means in efforts to control the country’s growing population. Mr Azad said the Government will rather promote population stabilisation by making people aware about the benefits of small families.
The Minister was speaking after flagging off a run [...]
India: Child marriages rampant in state of Bihar
Child marriages are illegal. But marriages of more than half of the girls in Bihar are solemnised before they turn 18. The mean age for girls being married off in the state is 17.4 years as against 19.5 years across the country. And 68.3% of the married women in Bihar are anaemic. Infant mortality rate [...]
Outcry as Malaysian state allows child marriages
A Malaysian state’s decision to allow child marriages caused an outcry Wednesday, with rights groups condemning new rules that allow Muslim girls below 16 years to wed. The decision by the Islamic religious council in southern Malacca state has been billed as an attempt to curb premarital sex and baby dumping, after a string of [...]
Kenya: Abortion ‘common among teenagers’
An overwhelming majority of young girls in slums have admitted procuring abortion before they were 18 years old. A study carried out in Nairobi’s Korogocho slum shows that 90 per cent of the girls had terminated an unwanted pregnancy by age 18. This is despite the girls belonging to various religious affiliations and claiming to [...]
Tabloids editors need educating in basic medical reporting
In the interest of balance we draw attention to this item, in connection with the post two days ago on the pill being prescribed to under-12s.
‘One thousand girls on Pill at 11: Huge rise in contraceptive prescription for pre-teens without parents knowing’ screams Monday’s edition of the Daily Mail.
And if we are being literal, then [...]
India: Keeping girls in school
Within the next decade, one billion young people – the majority living in developing countries – will enter the global labour market and form the
next generation of parents. The world faces the tremendous challenge of providing economic opportunities and sustainable work for this gigantic cohort of young people. Among them are an estimated 500 million [...]
Afghan Women Fear Loss of Modest Gains
Women’s precarious rights in Afghanistan have begun seeping away. Girls’ schools are closing; working women are threatened; advocates are attacked; and terrified families are increasingly confining their daughters to home. For women, instability, as much as the Taliban themselves, is the enemy. Women are casualties of the fighting, not only in the already conservative and [...]
UK pre-teens hit the pill
Health statistics in the UK show that more than 1,000 11 and 12-year-old girls in Britain have been prescribed the contraceptive pill by a family doctor. Over the past decade, the number of pre-teen girls in the UK taking the pill has increased five-fold. Figures released by the National Health Service show 1,000 11 and [...]
Pledges on Child and Maternal Health in Africa
During the three-day summit of African Union heads of state, roughly 37,000 children and 2,000 women died across Africa, mostly from preventable causes, says a civil society coalition for child and maternal health. The coalition welcomed African leaders’ pledge to make more resources available. The 15th summit of the African Union ended with a commitment [...]
Kids, Condoms, Controversy
A few weeks ago, a tiny resort community on the tip of Cape Cod found itself at the center of a national firestorm. Media descended in droves. People called the town “absurd” and “disgusting.” Even the governor of Massachusetts got involved.
The reason for all the outrage? The Provincetown School Committee announced a policy allowing school [...]
Britain is the European capital of broken homes as worst teenage pregnancy and single-parent household rates revealed
A horrifying picture of the extent of Broken Britain has been painted by an international report which exposes our moral failure on family values. The study found we have the worst record on teen pregnancy in Europe and more children living in one-parent families than any other European country. More of our single mothers are [...]
Ireland: Fewer having baby in teenage years
The number of teenagers giving birth fell by more than 8% last year while an increasing amount of women over 35 sought crisis pregnancy counselling, new figures have revealed.Statistics from the Crisis Pregnancy Agency show 2,223 teenagers gave birth in 2009 - down more than 200 on the previous year. But over the past few [...]
Sex education ‘could be better’
Lessons about sex, relationships and health are not good enough in 25% of schools in England, inspectors suggest. Teacher embarrassment and lack of knowledge were often to blame, Ofsted said in a report based on findings at 92 primary and 73 secondary schools. It said in many secondary schools, pupils were taught about the biology [...]
A fifth of girls pregnant by 18, survey reveals
Almost one in five girls say they have been pregnant at least once by the age of 18, according to a Government survey published today. Just under half (46 per cent) decided to keep their baby, while more than a third (36 per cent), had an abortion, the figures show.
The statistics are part of wider [...]
Labour repeats call for sex education for 5-year-olds
A new amendment to the Government’s Academies Bill has been tabled by Labour as part of an ongoing push to force sex education on children as young as five. Former Education Secretary Ed Balls has put forward plans for Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) to be compulsory for all pupils in academy schools. A [...]
Australian study: Women fear the morning-after pill
Women have been scared off using the “morning-after” pill by misinformation about how it works and where they can get it, reproductive health experts say. The first national study of women’s use of emergency contraception since it was made available over the counter has found most do not know they can buy it without a [...]
Malaysia: Sex education is already being taught in school. But is it enough?
Bound by her purity vow, 16-year-old Quinn only indulges in kissing and heavy petting with her boyfriend Finn. The closest they got to a full sexual intercourse was the one time they made out half-naked in her parents’ jacuzzi. So imagine Finn’s shock when Quinn dropped the bombshell that she was [...]
U.K. Labour Bid for Mandatory Sex Ed for Academies Tanks
LONDON, U.K., July 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Members of the U.K.’s Labour Party have failed in an effort to force British academies to teach explicit sex education to children and teenagers as part of a broader curriculum, the U.K. Press Association reported Wednesday.
Academies are a special type of school that, [...]
Teenagers ‘risk premature babies’
Pregnant teenagers are more likely to give birth prematurely and have a small baby than women in their 20s, says an Irish research team.
Fourteen to 17-year-olds were also more likely to give birth early if they were having a second child, a study of more than 50,000 women in England found.
The [...]
First ever TV commercial for unplanned pregnancy advisory services in Britain
Marie Stopes International (MSI) has launched a broadcast campaign to raise awareness of sexual health and confront the taboo of abortion. The ground-breaking TV commercial first aired on British Television on 24th May 2010 and was shown throughout May and June.
The advert was created after independent research showed that only 42% [...]
Compulsory sex education rejected
A plan to make sex education in primary-age academy schools compulsory has been rejected by the House of Lords.
The last Labour government had previously pushed through the plan, but new Tory Education Minister Lord Hill of Oareford said the benefits of forcing academies to teach sex education were unclear and called [...]
Sex education is a mess, so can a TV series help teenagers?
The Sex Education Show is important and useful but young people need compulsory school lessons
Anna Richardson, presenter of The Sex Education Show. Photograph: Channel 4
Sex education in this country is a mess. Plans to add compulsory lessons to the national curriculum were dropped this year, parents are generally too mortified [...]
Stay committed to help women
AS the chairman of a regional alliance for safe abortion, I would like to refer to your report “Child mums” (The Star, June 26) touching on the problem of teen pregnancies.
This was followed by comments from ministers and welfare NGOs, debating on preventive measures through better sex education and supporting mothers [...]
Spain’s unrestricted abortion law takes effect
A new Spanish law allowing abortion without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy [has come] into effect but the Constitutional Court could yet intervene to suspend or change it.
The law, approved by Parliament in February, was the latest item on a liberal agenda undertaken by the Socialist government, which took power in [...]
G8 Maternal Health Initiative must include funding for family planning
After months of speculation and debate over the priorities, the 2010 G8 Summit in Muskoka, Canada concluded by affirming a sustainable commitment to maternal, newborn and child health through a total contribution of US$ 5 billion over the next 5 years. But overall the G8 commitment to health and development [...]
Family planning offset scheme backs first wave of projects
Companies looking to offset their carbon emissions will from today be offered access to an innovative yet controversial new model for tackling greenhouse gas emissions that allows them to fund projects designed to curb population growth.
The initiative is the work of UK-based charity the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), which campaigns for [...]
Indonesia: Early marriage triggers high births
The high annual birth rate of 730,000 on average in West Java is attributable to women getting married early, at around the age of 18, says West Java National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) secretary Safrudin Hidayat. The West Java BKKBN recorded the number of youths marrying at a young age stood at 12 percent, [...]
Europe:Right to conscientious objection by healthcare providers could be regulated
Regulations to define and govern conscientious objection by healthcare providers might be called for by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In a draft resolution, former Labour MP for Calder Valley Christine McCafferty calls for the introduction of a comprehensive and clear legal and policy framework to govern the practice, along with an [...]
Teens and Toddlers programme shows significant impact on teenage pregnancy rates and educational aspiration
Teens and Toddlers has published the results of its 2009 Retrospective Study to show a significant impact on reducing rates of teenage pregnancy and NEETs (Not in education, employment or training). On an annual basis, graduates of the Teens and Toddlers programme are retrospectively tracked from 14 to 20 years old to measure the efficacy [...]
Call for sex ed for five year olds
A health watchdog has said that children as young as five should be given lessons in sex and relationships. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said good quality classes on sex, relationships and alcohol help youngsters resist peer pressure in later life, and make them understand the risks and consequences better. The [...]
Girls now reaching puberty before 10 – a year sooner than 20 years ago
Scientists are worried that young girls are ill-equipped to cope with sexual development when they are still at primary school Photo: PA
Scientists have found that the average age that breast development begins is now nine years and 10 months – almost a year earlier than a previous study in 1991. They have yet to [...]
Teen sex: More use rhythm method for birth control (US survey)
A growing number of teen girls say they use the rhythm method for birth control, and more teens also think it’s OK for an unmarried female to have a baby, according to a government survey released Wednesday. The report may help explain why the teen pregnancy rate is no longer dropping like it was. Overall, [...]
Poland: Teenage Pregnancies Soar as Church Looks the Other Way
Pressure from the Catholic Church to effectively stop sex education in schools is threatening the health of tens of thousands of teenagers who fall pregnant every year because they have little or no knowledge of safe sex, education groups in Poland have warned. They say many youngsters go into their first sexual relationships with little [...]
MADAGASCAR: “May you have seven sons and seven daughters”
In a tiny shack in Ankilibory village, southern Madagascar, Herintsoa, just 16 years old, recently gave birth to her second child, but it was easy compared to the first one, which she had when she was 14. “That was a lot more painful. I did it at home myself - my husband cut the [umbilical] cord.” [...]
When Teen Pregnancy Is No Accident
Leyla W. couldn’t figure out where her birth control pills kept going. One day a few tablets would be missing; the next, the whole container. Her then-boyfriend shrugged and said he hadn’t seen them. She believed him — until she found them in his drawer. When she confronted him, he hit her. “That was his [...]
Ineffective contraception ups teen pregnancy risk nearly 6 fold
Not using effective contraception once becoming sexually active multiples up to 6 times the risk for teen pregnancy, a new Spanish research has found. The study conducted by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Universidad Complutense in Madrid also found that the use of ineffective contraception (methods other than condoms, intrauterine contraceptive device [...]
More than 1,000 under 15s had an abortion last year
In total 1,047 young people aged either 14 or younger had an abortion in 2009 the figures show, a slight drop on the previous year. The figures were released just a day after the first advert for abortion was shown on British television. There were 3,823 abortions perfumed on under 16s, and 17,916 on under-18s [...]
Call for morning-after pill access
Young women should be given access to the morning-after pill to keep at home in case they need it, a watchdog has said. Pharmacies in particular are being targeted as places where the under-25s can get emergency contraception in advance, according to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which published the guidelines. [...]
Sexual health advice online
A GROUNDBREAKING new website has been launched by a sexual health centre for Essex youngsters who are nervous or embarrassed about going to the clinic. Sexual health and contraception advice from the Kingsley-Ward Centre (KWC) can be accessed online, as well as up-to-date and accurate information.
The KWC has been providing counselling and support on issues [...]
Supermum with fourteen children admits she’ll ‘never say never’ to having more babies
Having just given birth to her 14th child, Sue Radford could be forgiven for wanting to have a rest and put her feet up. But in her busy household of seven boys and seven girls – and with the demands of two-week old Tilly May – time off for relaxation just simply is not on [...]
Fury as TV advert for abortion advice gets go-ahead
An advert offering abortion services will be shown for the first time on British television next week.
Marie Stopes International, a charity that carries out about 65,000 terminations a year at its British clinics, said that it wanted to encourage people to speak more openly about abortion, and reach the [...]
What are condoms, pills?
Mumbai: If you believe that today’s youngsters are well-informed and don’t need sex education, consider this: More than 40 per cent of unmarried women (age 15 to 24) in Maharashtra don’t know about condoms and 72 per cent are clueless about emergency contraceptive pills, a survey has found. On an average, 30 per cent of [...]
Angola: Family Minister Calls for Gender Balance in Access to Education
The minister of Family and Women Promotion, Genoveva Lino, this Saturday in eastern Moxico province urged the Angolan society to introduce changes in the education of their children regarding their access to school, especially for girls. Speaking during the main event marking the International Day of Families, May 15, Genoveva Lino said that this inequality [...]
Uganda: Family Planning Can Slow Our Population Growth
With a current population of 31 million, demographers project that Uganda’s population will reach 100 million by 2050. The high fertility rate among Ugandan women, where on average, every woman gives birth to seven children in her lifetime, is driving the country’s fast-growing population. Given the current growth rate of 3.2 per cent, at least [...]
Long-term contraceptive methods vital in helping cut teenage pregnancy rates
MORE North Lincolnshire women received long-term contraception procedures than anywhere else in the UK last year.
Figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed 76.6 in every 1,000 women in the region received the contraception, which can include implants or regular injections.
The tables are the first of their kind to be [...]
Report blames celebs for risky teen sex
Teens in the UK are facing a sexual health crisis fueled by drugs, booze and risky sex, according to a new report warning of “disturbing” increases in sexually-transmitted infections.
The Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV said Friday young people are being influenced by celebrity culture to abuse alcohol and [...]
Are there no limits to the sexual depravity at Western?
Under public pressure, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty may have withdrawn his government’s revised curriculum guidelines on sexual education for a “serious rethink,” but this battle is far from over.
Proponents of ever-more-explicit sexual education for young school children have been quick to mount a concerted counterattack. They commend the revised curriculum for [...]
No Cause for Complacency on Maternal Health
New estimates of maternal mortality just published in the Lancet suggest encouraging—and long overdue—progress on what for too many years has seemed an intractable problem. According to an analysis by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), maternal deaths fell from more than 500,000 in 1980 to [...]
Young teens wait on more Obama care
5 May 2010
Teenage pregnancy rates in the UK are among the highest in Western Europe and rising. For older teenagers, pregnancy can be a positive experience, but there is an undeniably strong negative association among very young women between the age of conception and subsequent adverse health and social outcomes for [...]
Sex education sees boys separated from girls
Separate sex education classes for boys and girls are being planned to tackle the number of young, unmarried mothers in an area known for a high rate of teenage pregnancies.
By Andy Bloxham
Published: 8:11AM BST 03 May 2010
Knowsley in Merseyside has one of the worst reputations in the [...]
Heads call for ‘urgent’ sex education improvements
“Urgent” improvements are needed to help teachers feel more confident about providing sex education lessons, the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) said today.
The association called for better training and improved resources after a survey found four out of five teachers did not feel confident about the subject. Sion Humphreys, from the NAHT’s education management department, [...]
Few Boys Receive Counseling On STIs and Contraception, Study Shows
Between 2001 and 2002, fewer than one-fourth of boys ages 15 through 19 received counseling from a health care provider about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and fewer than one-fifth discussed contraception with a health care provider, a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health shows, the New York Times reports. Despite recommendations that [...]
10-year-old’s pregnancy fuels Mexican abortion debate
A pregnant 10-year-old, allegedly raped by her stepfather, has become the latest lightning rod in the country’s heated abortion debate.
The girl’s stepfather has been arrested. But advocates on both sides of the issue say their battle is just beginning.
“This girl is much more than an isolated case,” said Adriana Ortiz-Ortega, a researcher at Mexico’s National [...]
Retailers still selling over-sexualised clothing to kids
Retailers came under increased pressure today to take sexualised clothing for young girls off their shelves, after it emerged that shoes for eight-year-olds with three-inch heels were being sold on the high street.
A survey by the Guardian found an array of items available in major chains, from a T-shirt for a three-year-old bearing the slogan [...]
Scotland: teenagers to teach sex education
Teenagers are giving sex education lessons to younger children in a controversial new scheme to reduce the high rate of unwanted pregnancies in Scotland.
Pupils as young as 14 have been trained to teach younger schoolmates about puberty, contraception and where to get advice on gay issues in the first move of its kind in Scotland.
The 11-year-olds receiving [...]
WHO chief sides with U.S. over abortion access and maternal health
The head of the World Health Organization signalled Wednesday that the United States — not Canada — was on the right track over the question of supporting access to abortion services amid an international bid to improve child and maternal health. Dr. Margaret Chan tipped her hand just minutes after sitting next to International Co-operation [...]
Teenagers to teach sex education
TEENAGERS are giving sex education lessons to younger children in a controversial new scheme to reduce the high rate of unwanted pregnancies. Pupils as young as 14 have been trained to teach younger schoolmates about puberty, contraception and where to get advice on gay issues in the first move of its kind in Scotland. The [...]
Teenage kicks: Is internet porn creating a damaged generation?
Type into google any common female name, or the name of a sweet (such as a lollipop) or a flower (a blue orchid, say) and up will come links to websites that open on to a disturbing new world – a world of extreme pornography that includes images of child rape and other acts of [...]
Birth rate among US teens declines
WASHINGTON — The rate at which teenage girls in the United States are having babies has dropped, according to the latest government statistics released yesterday, raising hopes that an alarming two-year increase in teen births was an aberration. Births among US girls ages 15 to 19 fell 2 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to [...]
Sex education ‘betrays children’
A decision to drop plans for compulsory sex education in schools is a “betrayal” of young people, charity workers said. Schools Secretary Ed Balls blamed Conservative shadow Michael Gove for the loss of the proposals.
In a letter, he said: “There is now widespread agreement that statutory PSHE (Personal, Social, Health, and Economic Education) is essential [...]
Watchdog censures timing of contraception ad
A radio commercial promoting contraception devices including the pill has been criticised by the advertising watchdog for being aired when large numbers of young teenagers were listening. The ad, by the Department of Health, featured conversations between two women and a couple about contraceptive devices including the intrauterine device (IUD), the pill, and an undescribed [...]
Campaign helps lower pregnancy rate
An education campaign designed to teach teenagers about healthy relationships has helped reduce the level of teenage pregnancies in Haringey.
According to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, figures have shown a 25.8% drop between 2007/08 on the previous year which saw 248 girls fall pregnant aged between 15 and 17.
The borough previously had one [...]
Teenage contraception proposal discussed
A LAW Reform Commission proposal to allow teenagers aged 16-17 access to contraception and confidentiality would not have the desired effect of reducing pregnancy rates among minors, a British academic argued in Dublin last night. Prof David Patton, of the Nottingham University Business School, said that, based on experience of similar regulations in England and [...]
Top Yemeni clerics oppose ban on child brides
Some of Yemen’s most influential Islamic leaders, including one the U.S. says mentored Osama bin Laden, have declared supporters of a ban on child brides to be apostates. The religious decree, issued Sunday, deeply imperils efforts to salvage legislation that would make it illegal for those under the age of 17 to marry. The practice [...]
Teen contraception proposal discussed in Irish Republic
A LAW Reform Commission proposal to allow teenagers aged 16-17 access to contraception and confidentiality would not have the desired effect of reducing pregnancy rates among minors, a British academic argued in Dublin last night. Prof David Patton, of the Nottingham University Business School, said that, based on experience of similar regulations in England and [...]
Supporters of child bride ban called apostates
SAN’A, YEMEN — Some of Yemen’s most influential Islamic leaders, including one the U.S. says mentored Osama bin Laden, have declared supporters of a ban on child brides to be apostates. The religious decree, issued Sunday, deeply imperils efforts to salvage legislation that would make it illegal for those under the age of 17 to [...]
Reproductive health guide for mosque preachers [in Yemen]
Mosque preachers left a recent workshop held by the National Population Council for Population in Sana’a with manuals on reproductive health. Dr. Abdulkarim Al-Anisi, population expert at the Ministry of Endowments and Guidance, reviewed the contents of the manuals at the workshop as part of the ministry’s push to legitimize the country’s population policy. According [...]
Sex education needed for young adults with learning difficulties
People with learning difficulties have more rights, freedoms and are more integrated into society than ever. Yet a lack of basic sex education is leaving them embarrassed, vulnerable and confused. These are the findings of a three-year project by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds to examine the sexual experiences and [...]
At-home access to ‘morning after’ pill wouldn’t curb unwanted pregnancies
Providing women with an at-home supply of emergency contraceptives wouldn’t reduce overall rates of unwanted pregnancies, reports a new review of studies. Women in the studies were just as likely to become pregnant whether they had these contraceptives readily available or had to obtain them from a pharmacy or doctor.
Many women take a ‘morning after’ [...]
Abducted. Raped. Married. Can Ethiopia’s wives ever break free?
Every woman remembers her wedding day with a tear in her eye – but, here in Ethiopia, the tears are different, and darker, and do not stop. Nurame Abedo is sitting in her hut high in the clouds, remembering the day she became a wife. She lives hundreds of miles into the countryside, thousands of [...]
Pregnant teenagers in UK ‘forced out of education’
Pregnant teenagers are being forced out of education because of “spurious health and safety grounds”, a children’s charity claimed yesterday. Barnardo’s is calling for extra support for teenage mums to help them continue their studies during pregnancy and as young mothers.
In a report published by the charity entitled Not The End Of The Story, Barnardo’s [...]
New advertising code will relax rules on condom adverts
Advertising regulators have unveiled new rules that include fewer restrictions on condom ads on TV, but have delayed a decision on proposals that could allow abortion clinics to run adverts, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal. Changes to the advertising code also include a crackdown on TV ads that promote violent video games or making suspect environmental claims.
The [...]
‘STATE AID ENCOURAGES TEENAGE MUMS’
MORE than two-thirds of Brits believe state handouts encourage teenage girls to get pregnant, a poll revealed yesterday. Half think stories of casual sex by celebrities on TV and film contribute to the problem. But almost 40% also blame ignorance about birth control. A third think sex education in schools is now out of touch. [...]
Rome school criticised for installing condom machine for pupils
For its critics in the Vatican, it is a matter of “deep concern”. For its proponents, it is “evidence of great courage”. Amid national controversy, the Kepler scientific secondary school today became the first in the Italian education system to install condom vending machines for students. The machines, in the girls’ and boys’ toilets, will [...]
Zambia: stigma and bureaucracy drive maternal deaths
Parity Zulu, 17, constantly recited a Biblical verse asking God for protection from her persecutors while her mother ferried her to hospital following complications from the teenager’s illegal abortion. Her mother, Margaret, was unaware that her daughter had paid K350,000 (US$74) for a back-street abortion three days earlier. “All the way to the hospital I [...]
International Women’s Day call for labour deaths action
Pregnant women in developing countries face the same risk of death as women in the UK did 100 years ago, according to a coalition of campaign groups. They are using International Women’s Day to call for more action to reduce deaths among women during pregnancy. They say improving mothers’ health is “the most off-target” of [...]
Extra small condoms for 12 year-old boys go on sale in Switzerland
Called the Hotshot, the condom has been produced after government research showed 12 to14-year-olds did not use sufficient protection when having sex. The study, conducted on behalf of the Federal Commission for Children and Youth, interviewed 1,480 people aged 10 to 20. It showed more 12 to 14-year-olds were having sex, in comparison with the 1990s.
The [...]
UNICEF supports children in eastern India against early marriage
1 March 2010 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is supporting a new anti-child marriage movement in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, where nearly half of all girls become child brides and one-third become teenage mothers even though the legal marriage age is 18. “We need to have a zero-tolerance policy towards [...]
Pregnancy rates [in the UK] hit 10-year low
The number of women having babies has fallen for the first time in nearly 10 years, according to official figures. The drop in pregnancies follows a 10-year baby boom which saw the population pass 61 million, according to the Office of National Statistics. Pregnancy rates fell in all groups apart from those women aged over [...]
Teenage pregnancies fall, but not far enough
The government today announced an overhaul of its teenage pregnancy strategy after new figures showed conception rates among under 18s were not falling fast enough. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, 41,325 girls under 18 in England and Wales fell pregnant in 2008, a decline of 3.9% from 2007, while the number [...]
Ministers admit failure over cutting ‘shameful’ teenage pregnancies
A ten-year strategy costing millions of pounds to cut the “shameful” number of teenage pregnancies in Britain has failed to make any serious impact. Ministers accept that they cannot meet Tony Blair’s target, set in 1999, of halving pregnancies among under-18s by 2012. Figures today will show that Britain still has the highest teenage pregnancy [...]
After feminism: what are girls supposed to do?
Abbi Marper is too shy to speak above a whisper, but she wants to be a policewoman or a nurse. Her friend Becky Billing is studying to be a plumber. Charlotte Wilson, the most chatty of the group, is having a problem narrowing her options. “I want to be a firefighter, but I also want [...]
Claim of U-turn on sex education
Ministers are being accused of caving into pressure from faith schools over sex and relationships education.
The government is due to make sex and relationship lessons compulsory in England’s schools from 2011 through a bill in Parliament next week.
But pressure groups and the Liberal Democrats say a late amendment means faith [...]
Tories get their sums wrong in attack on teen pregnancy
The Tories were facing embarrassment last night over an errant decimal place, after a key statistic in a document issued to much fanfare turned out to be wrong by a multiple of 10.
The Conservatives launched the attack document, called Labour’s Two Nations, to try to show the rise in inequalities under the current government. It [...]
Video campaign to cut teenage pregnancies
NHS Peterborough, NHS Peterborough Community Services and the local council launched the Who’s the Daddy? campaign last week. The campaign, which is based on ideas from local young people, includes a short, light-hearted video on YouTube and Facebook.
More: http://www.nursingtimes.net/whats-new-in-nursing/primary-care/video-campaign-to-cut-teenage-pregnancies/5011429.article