§ 8. Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes)If he will make a statement on the level of teenage conception and pregnancy in the South Humber health authority area. [88244]
§ The Minister for Public Health (Ms Tessa Jowell)In 1997, the conception rate for under-20s in South Humber health authority area was 81 per 1,000, compared with an average for England of 61.9 per 1,000. South Humber has already identified prevention of teenage pregnancy as a local priority.
§ Shona McIsaacI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply, and warmly welcome the Government's recent initiatives on tackling teenage pregnancy. However, does she acknowledge that emergency contraception plays a vital role in tackling unwanted pregnancy and in reducing abortion rates among young women? To that end, will she seriously consider making emergency contraception more widely available—as has been called for by Cosmopolitan magazine and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service? The harsh reality is that, for young women who have 814 unprotected sex on a Friday or Saturday night, it is nigh on impossible to get to their doctor within 72 hours to get that prescription.
§ Ms JowellI thank my hon. Friend for her question, and her praise of the social exclusion unit's action plan to tackle teenage pregnancy. For a combination of reasons—such as low expectations, ignorance and the mixed messages on sex sent to our young people—the United Kingdom has Europe's highest teenage pregnancy rate. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that one reason why our teenage pregnancy rate is so high is the low rate of contraception use compared with that in other European countries. About 50 per cent. of young people use contraception the first time that they have sex. One of the intentions of the social exclusion unit action plan will be to ensure better access to contraception and to counselling about contraception, including emergency contraception.
§ Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West)Does the Minister consider that the best treatment for the condition to which the hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac) has drawn attention is education and self-discipline, or does she consider that it might be treated by adding something to the water in south Humber? If she favours the former, why does her Department retain a fondness for adding something to the water to treat other conditions?
§ Ms JowellThe hon. Gentleman's comments explain why the rate of teenage pregnancy under the Conservatives remained high—they believed that it had something to do with the water.