The number of 11 and 12-year-olds on the contraceptive pill has increased fivefold in the UK in the last 10 years, the Sunday Times reports.More than 1,000 girls aged 11 and 12 have been prescribed the pill by GPs, most without the knowledge of their parents. Although the age of consent is 16, doctors may prescribe for an under-age girl if they think she is mature enough to have sex. They are bound by a duty of confidentiality to the girl unless they believe she is being abused.
A further 200 girls between 11 and 13 have long-term contraceptive devices. At least 58,000 15-year-olds were on the pill last year, compared with 23,000 in 1999.
The figures come from a general practice research database, which collects information from 500 doctors' practices covering a representative sample of four million people.
"These figures illustrate the fact that the UK is facilitating the sexualisation of young people at an ever-younger age," said Dr Trevor Stammers, an expert on teenage sexuality.
The aim, says the Sunday Times in an editorial, has to be to change children's attitudes. "Smoking cigarettes used to be a rite of passage but that is slowly being educated out of youngsters. The same can happen with sex and the right kind of sex education. And so it should."
The powers-that-be in the UK have been educating children to have sex for long enough. A complete change in education on sexual matters would not be before time.
