contraception pill given in schools

verysillyguy06

http://www.healthpromotionagency.org.uk/Resources/sexual/pdfs/contraception.pdf



The clearest info........

verysillyguy06

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (which came into force on 1 May 2004) continues to criminalize all sexual activity with a child under the age of 16 years. However, the final decision to prosecute will always lie with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Home Office and CPS guidance suggests that prosecutions are unlikely if the parties involved are close in age and the activity is consensual. Further information is available on the CPS website: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sexual_offences_act.

In relation to child sex offences, there are three age bands defined by the Act. Always check the exact date of birth of the teenager including month of birth.

Under 13 years of age—a child has no capacity to consent to any sexual activity. Sex with a child under 13 years, even though it may be consensual, is always a criminal offence

14–16 years of age—a child has limited capacity to consent to sexual activity

16–18 years of age— the young person has capacity to consent but there is specific protection under the Act for this age group in the case of offences relating to indecent photographs, prostitution, pornography, abuse of trust and familial offences or incest

For GPs and Primary Health Care Staff, it is important that in the context of the law if a health professional is acting in a young person's best interest, he or she is protected from prosecution by the clause:
‘Those who act with the purpose of protecting a child from a sexually transmitted infection, protecting the physical safety of a child, preventing a child from becoming pregnant or promoting the child's emotional well being by the giving of advice will not commit an offence. Section 14(2) and (3)’

When being asked to advise and prescribe to a minor who seeks contraceptive advice, it is vital to consider the following issues:

Consent—the minor can provide consent if ‘Fraser competent’, having sufficient maturity and understanding to make an informed decision about contraception

Confidentiality—the clinician is bound by patient confidentiality if the minor is Fraser competent and there does not appear to be any grounds for concern about the child's welfare. If there are child protection concerns, patient confidentiality is secondary to protection of the child's welfare, and consideration should be given to referral to social services and reporting to the police.



Just to be clear as there are many posters who sprout nonsense.....

http://intl-rcgp-innovait.oxfordjournals.org/content/1/11/729.full

DevilsAdvocate1

I don't think contraception is the whole answer. Quite a few girls in my year were pregnant by the time we left school. We had access to contraception, so this was not the problem.

It was more the idea of having a baby. Some thought this was the best way to keep their boyfriend, others thought having a baby would be like having a warm, cuddly lifelike doll. I remember one girl in my class saying that she wanted to have a baby because her parents would have to treat her as an adult then. She thought having a baby would give her freedom, when adults know that having baby takes your freedom away. An immature attitude certainly, but she was not a grown up, she was 14. Incidently, she had a baby boy when she was 15 and ended up leaving school.

More should be done to teach chiildren how hard it is to be a parent. How full on it is and how it actually takes your freedom away because you always have to be onhand.

KME91

There's a lot of bizarre opinions on this thread.

My personal experience; I went on the pill at the age of 14, I went to the GP to get it without my parent's knowledge. That doctor's appointment was the first time I'd met that particular GP, and frankly, apart from a brief concussion at the age of five (I fell of a bike) I had barely been to the doctor's as a child. So we didn't exactly have a relationship. He asked me a bunch of questions, gave me some info, took my blood pressure and sent me to the chemist for the prescription. I didn't dare ask this old guy, who was quite imposing, any questions, and was out of there as fast as I could be. I had absolutely no expectation that he would talk to my parents, I would have been livid if he had done so, my expectation was that doctor patient confidentiality extended to me. If I was mature enough to go see him in confidence he should respect that confidence.

I would have loved to be able to talk to a nurse at school, someone who knew about this stuff and wasn't scary, or a 60 year old bloke, or who would know about the various options available to me, especially since I had quite a poor time of it on the pill and never got any help with that from the doctor.

I wasn't sexually active when I went on the pill, but it was on the horizon, and in terms of avoiding pregnancy it was a sensible option for me at that age. I have a really good relationship with my mum, but this was not something I wanted to talk to her about, although we have talked about it since. I am quite a private person and just didn't feel comfortable having that discussion.

I think the pill should be available from competent well trained school nurses, and I think that those nurses should be able to dispense advice and support too, I'd have been much more prepared to go back to the nurse and chat about what I was unhappy about pill wise, and maybe I'd have had a better time of things, it might not have taken me 10+ years to find the right contraception for me. I have no reason to believe that school nurses are anything other than well trained and competent, we just didn't have one at my school. I also don't imagine that the pill is being handed out casually or like sweeties, if the nurse is a trained health professional then they know what they're doing, and the importance of making sure the medication is right for the patient.

I do believe that kids of 14 years old should have the easiest access to contraception and contraceptive advice as possible. Regardless of whether they are sexually active or not at that point, the more comfortable they are seeing, obtaining and knowing how to use these things, the better. I also believe that such advice and provision should be confidential if the child wishes it. Insisting that a parent will be notified if the child asks about or for contraception or for sexual health advice will put children off obtaining contraceptives, it will not put them off having sex though.

stir_crazy

It is sad to think that we have to go down the route of giving out contraception in schools, but like many other posters have said, a 14 y/o is going to have sex if they want to, regardless of whether they have contraception or not. Another angle is that we don't want teenagers thinking its fine to have unprotected sex because they can just take the morning after pill or have a termination.

I'm not sure whether the confidentiality agreement is a good thing or not though. If I was a parent I would want to know, but when I was 14 there was no way in hell that I could talk to my parents about it, so would be put off visiting the school nurse if there was a chance they would find out about it.

We had a lot of girls who ended up getting pregnant at 14/15/16 and leaving school early - not because they were badly educated about sex, throughout secondary school we had plenty of sex education - but because they decided it was worth the risk anyway and got caught out.

Personally, I don't think a 14 y/o is mature enough to remember to take the pill every day (god knows I wouldn't have been)- and missing one every now and then is enough to lower the efficiency, so its quite dangerous for a young girl to think its ok to miss one. Condoms are readily available from sexual health and family planning clinics and at 97% effective, are double protection from STI's and unwanted pregnancies.

verysillyguy06

It is suggested that knowledge may not be an important determinant, but that relationships with parents and school, as well as expectations for the future, may have important influences on teenage pregnancy. The analysis also provides new insights into risk factors for pregnancies among the partners of young men.


Just adding to show that the Health Professionals' solution does not seem to be the best

Speaks for itself really.....


http://jech.bmj.com/content/61/1/20.long

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4257039


From a previous thread on this subject