Guardian

Tuesday September 12, 2000

News that the government is to launch a campaign aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies should be welcomed (Government to fill gaps in sex education, September 8).

The UK has the highest number of teenage pregnancies in western Europe, some 90,000 each year, 8,000 of whom are under 16. We live in a society of mixed messages, where sex is used in advertising to sell products from cars to ice cream, yet there is a lack of promotion for contraception and safe sex. In countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands, which offer comprehensive sex education, teenage pregnancy is low.

However, boys need to be targeted as well. Last month's statistics from the Public Health Laboratory Service showed that sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhoea and chlamydia increased dramatically last year, particularly among teenagers aged 16-19. These trends indicate that young people are not getting the information and services needed to protect their sexual health.
Christine McCafferty MP
Chair, All-party group on population, development and reproductive health

• The government's proposals for sex education communicate deep anxiety about teenage pregnancy, or at least the high rate of it in the UK, about which the government seems as embarrassed as fathers talking to their sons. Is not this a highly judgmental attitude for a government? It communicates a sense that teenage pregnancy is a bigger worry to adults than to teenagers. Are we all supposed to be convinced that teenage pregnancy is a bad thing? And have we a right to pressurise teenagers to agree with us?
Richard Wilkins
Association of Christian Teachers

• If health minister Yvette Cooper is serious about cutting teenage pregnancies, a good starting point would be to educate young people away from the idea that the only "real" and "good" sex involves intercourse. Oral sex and mutual masturbation can be equally satisfying, with no risk of conception. This would not only cut pregnancies and abortions, it would also reduce sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Peter Tatchell London
peter@tatchell.freeserve.co.uk