Scheme to fit girls with implants is branded medically and morally irresponsible

Solent NHS trust is being taken to task for a scheme in which girls as young as thirteen are being fitted with the contraceptive implant, a form of long acting reversible contraception (LARC), without parental knowledge.

The minor surgical procedure, which involves a 4cm device being fitted under the skin of the upper arm, was carried out in secondary schools in Southampton under a scheme introduced by the previous government to push LARCs in an attempt to reduce teenage pregnancies.  

Parents, however, are rightly shocked to find out that their young children are being fitted with contraceptive devices without their consent or knowledge, a move which has provoked criticism and concern from many quarters and is being branding as both medically and morally irresponsible.

Health officials have defended the scheme saying that they have seen a 22 percent decrease in the number of pregnancies in 13-15 year olds from 2001-2003 figures. However, Southampton's above average teenage pregnancy figures were already starting to decline with 127 pregnancies to 13-15 years old girls between 2002-2004 and 110 in 2003-2005. The important fact to note here is that this decrease started before LARC schemes had really got going. In fact, the national uptake of LARC in 2003/2004 was only 8 percent [1]. Calculated from the 2003-2005 figures, the post 2005 push for LARCs has only reduced the teenage pregnancy figures by a mere 3.6 percent.

Alarmingly though, STI rates for chlamydia, genital warts, genital herpes, and gonorrhoea in Southampton have shot up since 2005. These facts were published in the July 2010 Public Health briefing note, entitled ‘Sexual Health in Southampton City'. Why this surge in STI rates? Because LARCs offer absolutely no protection against STIs.

Interestingly, an online vote being conducted by The Telegraph  which reported the story today, shows that public opinion is overwhelmingly against the scheme, a sceme that is, in LIFE's opinion, nothing more than state sanctioned deception of parents, serving only to further sexualise vulnerable young girls, cause more sexual health problems and drive a wedge between children and their parents.

If you would like to cast your vote in The Telegraph, please follow this link.