ABERDEEN, Scotland May 10, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Scottish doctors have been prescribing abortifacient hormonal birth-control pills to girls as young as 10 years old, a new study has revealed. Researchers at the University of Aberdeen who conducted a study into the prescribing of oral contraceptives found that doctors there had prescribed the pill to 23 girls younger than 13, including 2 girls under ten.
Doctors in Scotland are expected to report instances of underage sex in girls less than 13 years of age to police or social workers. Having sex with a girl under 13 is considered statutory rape according to Scottish law.
Collaborators in the study, Professor Peter Helms and Dr James McLay, found 1,376 girls under 16 who were prescribed the oral contraceptive. Dr McLay said, “One of the worries we have is that people who are under 13 on the oral contraceptive should be reported to social workers because they are being subjected to rape,” according to a BBC report.
Shadow Scottish health Minister Shona Robison agreed. She said, “I think there are huge ethical, moral and legal issues involved here, given that it is essentially statutory rape for anyone to be having sex with girls that age.” She called on doctors to act responsibly and cease the practice. “I would hope they would put a stop to it through the reissuing of clear guidelines.”
A spokesman for LIFE, a pro-life UK charity, said, “Giving the Pill to ten-year- olds (without, of course, parents’ knowledge) may seem to be a sensible ‘quick fix’ but in reality will make very immature children yet more vulnerable to sexual exploitation and encourage self-destructive behaviour.” They said that, if they heard of an instance of doctors prescribing the pill to under 13s, they would report it to police immediately.
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