CENTRES AT RURAL SCHOOLS WILL ADVISE CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS 13

Clinics to give pupils access to condoms

By Joanna Skailes

Published:

Children as young as 13 are to be given access to condoms and pregnancy tests in Scottish schools, it has emerged.

Ministers have approved the creation of sexual health clinics for all rural secondary schools after the SNP accepted advice that teenagers in country areas struggled to gain access to GPs and family health clinics.

The clinics, which will be open to about 60,000 pupils, will also offer testing for chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases.

However, critics are wary that it will send out the wrong message to young people and encourage them to have sex.

The move follows a report by the Scottish Government’s national sexual health advisory committee and it is hoped the clinics will help combat the high rate of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies.

Mike Rumbles, Liberal Democrat MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, cautiously welcomed the plans.

“We have the worst record for teenage pregnancy in Europe,” he said. “We have to make sure our young people have help and advice available to them.

“In principle it is the right thing to do but it needs to be sensitively – and I mean very sensitively – done. I do have a caveat. I want to see the plans.”

Aberdeen South Labour MP Anne Begg said: “My view is that knowledge can never be a bad thing in matters of sexual health. All young people need to have access to that kind of information which they may be reluctant to ask their parents about.”

A north-east sexual health expert, who did not wish to be named, supported the plans.

He said: “There is always going to be a conflict between the parents who like to think their children are being sensible and the actual reality.

“We have been pushing for a while to have comprehensive sex education in schools.

“I think it would be great if condoms were made more readily available and every schoolchild could get access to appropriate information on all sorts of sexual health issues, as well as access to chlamydia tests.

“This would make it easier for them (rural teenagers), rather than getting the bus into Aberdeen to go to the family planning clinic on a Saturday or something.

“People always say that if teenagers have condoms they will have sex, but all it means is that they are more likely to use condoms if they do have sex.”

Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon welcomed the move to provide more sexual health education for schoolchildren but said providing condoms was taking it too far.

“I don’t think condoms should be handed out in schools as a matter of course,” she said. “I think that sends out the wrong message. I don’t think it is appropriate.”

However, she added: “We do want people to take a more mature approach to sexual health. It is absolutely essential in rural areas that information is made readily available. It can be very difficult for a young person to visit their GP in a rural area without having to be taken by their parents.

“I do think there is a critical need for sexual health education in schools, particularly with issues such as chlamydia.”

Bishop of Aberdeen Peter Moran said parents should be involved in any advice as they were responsible for the health of under-age children. However, he added that parents should also be careful to encourage openness and avoid creating taboo subjects.

He said: “Sexual health has a moral dimension, involving responsibility, respect for others and concepts of right and wrong.

“Sex education and sexual health advice should always include these dimensions. Giving someone a condom can give the message that responsibility and caution can be less.”

He added: “Safe-sex advice should include the option of abstinence.”

Scottish Catholic Education Service director Michael McGrath said: “To place them in the context of schools, where there should be a message about discouraging sexual activity, is contradictory and confusing for young people.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We would anticipate that these services would be available to the whole school population.

“The level of health service provided would depend entirely on the setting. A number of schools in Scotland already provide general health advice, including sexual health advice.

“No school in Scotland provides the morning-after pill and there are no plans for this to change.”