By Hilary White
LONDON, January 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A quarter of UK secondary school teachers have been asked for advice by students on how to obtain an abortion, a recent study has found. 24 percent of secondary school teachers said they had been asked for advice on abortion. 67 percent of those polled said they think information about abortion should be included in the national curriculum on sex education.
The Teachers TV poll of more than 800 teachers and others working in education found that although there was general support for providing students with abortion information, 82 percent believe that discussing the topic could offend parents, and 42 percent think it could offend students.
The legal age of sexual consent in Britain is set at 16. In the US, abortion-providing groups such as Planned Parenthood are facing multiple lawsuits and possible criminal charges after being caught regularly covering up felony rape cases and providing abortions to girls under the legal age of consent without informing authorities.
Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe. The government has responded to every increase in that rate by increasing “sex education” in schools and the availability of contraceptives to young people.
But the failure of these methods is starting to be understood by the public outside Westminster. In data published by the Office for National Statistics last week, 42 percent of those who were asked why Britain has a catastrophic rate of underage pregnancy blamed the breakdown of values in society. 19 percent said it was because of the sexualisation of young people and children and 16 percent blamed sex education.
Nonetheless, earlier this year, the UK’s Family Planning Association and Brook, both registered charities that are involved in contraceptive and abortion promotion, called for sex education to be extended to children as young as four in primary schools.
The Teachers TV poll supports a survey, taken in 2005, of 700 secondary school teachers in England and Wales, 69 percent of whom supported the idea of making abortion advice available in schools. On that same survey, more than 75 percent said that parents should be told if their child wanted an abortion and 98 percent favoured teaching about contraception in class.
At the same time, a bill has been introduced into Parliament that proposes to lower the age of consent for oral sex and other sexual practices from 16 to 13. A committee that has been scrutinizing the Scottish Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill has asked the government to review its plans for a ‘proximity of age’ defense which would effectively legalize a wide range of sexual activity between young adults and older children.
The Christian Institute’s Mike Judge said of the proposal, “Legalising oral sex for teens sends out completely the wrong message to a generation of young people crying out for some moral guidance, not more sexual licence.
“How can the Scottish Government give hard-hitting warnings to teenagers about smoking and drinking, but at the same time give the green light to oral sex?”
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Another Indiana Planned Parenthood Caught Covering up Felony Rape
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121602.html