Choice, not shame

Submitted by Anon on 22 May, 2004 - 10:13

By Kate Ferguson

The American far right and their moral agenda have now made their way to Britain. With massive funding by the Bush administration, they are promoting their 'silver ring' thing as the saviour of our immoral permissive youth (wear this silver ring to remind you just to say no). That's why it is more important than ever for us to be clear about our attitude towards teenage pregnancy.
The Government has a two pronged approach to teenage pregnancy. The first strand of their strategy involves the inevitable target. They want to reduce the rate of conception among under-18s by 50% by 2010. This will be done in school through sex education classes, and outside school with the provision of services including family planning clinics and abortion clinics.

The sex education curriculum in schools focuses on marriage as the preferable institution in which to be sexually active. How realistic! Rational teaching is further undermined by the legal uncertainty that shrouds and inhibits the advice teachers give students under 16. And that serves to perpetuate the embarrassment and uncertainty young people encounter when seeking advice about sex within school.

Cut backs in funding have resulted in fewer family planning clinics, and clinics opening at increasingly irregular hours. Provision of an essential service - one that has been identified by young people as invaluable - is thus becoming more scarce.

Abortion services are also limited, impacting disproportionately on young pregnant women. In many regions a GP referral is necessary if a woman wants to book an abortion, and this often puts off young women. And teenagers are often reluctant to have a pregnancy test. All this results in young women coming to their doctor seeking help later in pregnancy. And many clinics, under financial pressure, won't perform an abortion above 12 weeks, despite the legal limit being 24 weeks.

The second strand of government policy is to reduce the social exclusion of young women. That is being implemented through the Sure Start programme. Here young mothers are told of the benefits, training and work opportunities available to them. However, because Government departments are fearful of being seen to encourage teenage pregnancy, this work is under resourced and stymied.

Many young women accuse the services they do receive of being unsympathetic. One young mother described her experience: "I lived in a mother and baby hospital by myself. I saw my baby's dad for a couple of hours a day because he wasn't allowed in the house."

Such a model of provision for young mothers - one we thought had died out sometime in the 70s - makes them feel stigmatised for seeking the state-provided assistance they are entitled to.

There are two main flaws in the government policy to tackle teenage pregnancy. First, the ideology. Teenage pregnancy is portrayed as if it is an epidemic similar to that of cholera that swept across Britain in the 19th century, and needs to be 'cured' in much the same way.

Whilst I would not want to underestimate the social and economic problems young women can encounter when pregnant and as young mothers, emphasis should be placed on providing uniform, user-friendly support for these women, and not on deterrents.

If we're pro choice, then that has to include the acceptance that some young women will choose to have a child and will feel confident in this decision. The state has a responsibility to support, not condemn.

Second, there is an urgent need to widen access to, and de-stigmatise, abortion. If abortion is not discussed in school, and is not readily available outside school, many young women end up believing "old wives' tales", that abortion leads to infertility, etc.

Young women need to know the facts: for example, that it is far safer for women to use barrier contraception such as the condom than hormonal alternatives such as the pill or hormonal injections. Education should be backed up by early access to safe abortion, eg, the abortion pill.

It is this kind of provision that sexually active teenagers need in reaching a decision that they will feel confident in. They certainly don't need a cheap ring on their finger that will only reinvigorate feelings of shame and uncertainty.

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