Soaring tide of teenage pregnancies (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Soaring tide of teenage pregnancies

5:30pm Sunday 9th May 2010 in News By Rachel Masker

Soaring tide of teenage pregnancies

TEENAGE pregnancies in Hampshire have gone up despite concerted efforts to increase sex education and contraception, according to the latest figures.

Figures show the number of pregnancies among girls aged between 15 and 17 leapt by as much as 12 per cent in some parts of the county since 1998.

The number of pregnant girls having abortions is also on the rise. More than half of teenage pregnancies — 53 per cent – are terminated.

The county picture has sparked dismay among Church leaders, who believe that increasing sex education and the distribution of free condoms encourages under-age sex.

The number of teenage pregnancies has risen in eight out of 11 county council districts, with Gosport and Eastleigh among the worst hot spots.

Although teenage pregnancy rates in Hampshire are lower overall than the national average, they have been on the increase recently.

The 31.6 in every 1,000 under-18 girls who became pregnant in 2005-7 went up to 32.7 in 2006-8, the latest figures available.

This means around 2,293 girls became pregnant in Hampshire, excluding Southampton and Portsmouth.

Rates in both Eastleigh and Gosport rose by 12 per cent since 1998, Winchester by 1.9 per cent, and the Test Valley by six per cent, while in Fareham there was no change and the New Forest saw a seven per cent fall.

Meanwhile, the picture in Southampton is bleak, with increases far above the Hampshire average. The city has been dubbed the teenage pregnancy capital.

Winchester has among the lowest teenage conception rates in Hampshire, at 21.2 in every 1,000 girls, compared to 56.7 in Gosport – the highest. The national figure is 41.2 in every 1,000 girls who became pregnant in 2005-7.

However, pregnant under-18s in Winchester and Fareham are more likely than girls in other districts to have abortions, at 61 per cent and 64 per cent respectively.

Jayne Shelbourn-Barrow, manager of the county council-backed Hampshire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, who compiled the figures, said the aim was to reduce teenage conceptions.

In a council report, she said: “Teenage parents tend to do less well academically, are more likely to become NEET (not in education, employment or training) and face a future of low-paid jobs or unemployment.

The children of teenage parents are more likely to live in poverty and become teenage parents themselves.”

The council officer said research showed that the most effective way to reduce teenage pregnancies was better information and advice from parents, schools and other professionals on sex and relationships, as well as accessible contraception.

But the Reverend Dave Fenton, associate minister of the 600-strong Christ Church in Winchester, said preaching abstinence was a better approach.

The Church of England vicar said: “Contraception comes from a view that sex before marriage is a given, whereas we would argue against that.

“We would encourage young people to abstain from sex until they are in a committed, lifelong relationship.”

Ali Thompson, of Caring in Crisis, a Winchester-based pregnancy advice service, explained that middle- class areas such as Winchester tended to have higher teenage abortion rates.

She said: “There is a higher expectation that girls get an education before they have a family. So there is more pressure on them to do things in that order.

“Our main concern is always looking after the girl who is considering an abortion and making sure that she gets long-term support and is not pressured into one or other option.

Either route is very hard when you are so young.”

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