Source: Telegraph.co.uk
The number of girls aged 11 and 12 who have been prescribed the contraceptive pill has risen five-fold in a decade, according to new figures.
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
More than 1,000 girls aged 11 and 12 have been prescribed the pill by their GPs, while a further 200 girls between 11 and 13 have been given long-term injections and implanted contraceptive devices.
The figures come from the General Practice research database, which collects prescribing information from 500 GPs practices covering a sample of four million people.
The majority of such prescriptions are usually issued to girls without the consent of their parents. Doctors may prescribe the pill to such girls, even though the age of consent is 16.
The database also shows that at least 58,000 15-year-olds were on the pill last year, compared with 23,000 in 1999.
Trevor Stamners, a member of the British Medical Association’s expert panel on sexual health, said the figures demonstrated that the UK was “facilitating the sexualisation of young people at an ever younger age”.
He said he feared the situation would worsen, following proposals to introduce sex education for children as young as five.
Dr Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said doctors would only prescribe the pill to such young girls if they thought it was the best way forward.
“Every doctor would have a proper conversation with the girl,” he said.
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