Brook position statement - teenage pregnancy

Brook believes that in order to reduce teenage pregnancy rates we must tackle the negative culture about young people and sex, raise young people’s expectations and ensure they are provided with comprehensive relationships and sex education and access to all methods of contraception.

Brook's position on teenage pregnancy

If teenage pregnancy rates are to be reduced there must be open and accepting attitudes towards teenage sexuality, appropriate relationships and sex education, widely available information and easy access to confidential contraceptive services.   International research has found these factors to be present in countries with low rates of teenage pregnancy.(1)

Brook believes that young people should be able to make informed choices about their sexual health, including whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy.

Brook s committed to strategies and actions which aim both to reduce teenage conceptions and the risk of teenage parents experiencing long-term social exclusion by supporting them through education, training or employment.

It is clear what needs to be in place locally to have an impact on teenage conception rates; dedicated young people’s services, good quality relationships and sex education in school and the community and support for parents to talk to their children about relationships. It’s also important to have good local leadership to make sure all these elements are in place.

Poverty and deprivation, poor educational achievement and low expectations for the future have all been identified as key factors contributing to high rates of teenage pregnancy.     A coordinated effort across national and local government to reduce income inequality will be required to address these issues.

We need to shift our negative culture about young people and sex and raise the expectations and esteem of young women living in deprivation, too many of whom simply see no reason not to get pregnant as they cannot foresee a future for themselves in education or employment.  

Brook recognises the need to take a nuanced approach to teenage pregnancy and considers the needs of very young teenagers to be substantially different to those of older teenagers.
Brook believes that it is important that young women should be able to choose from the whole range of methods of contraception so that they can select the method which best suits their lifestyles and which they are happy to use.    Brook always encourages the use of condoms in addition to the chosen method to protect against sexually transmitted infections as well as prevent pregnancy.

Long-acting reversible methods can clearly be effective in reducing unwanted pregnancy because of their very low failure rates.     However, Brook would be concerned if the drive to reduce teenage conceptions undermined the contraceptive choices available to young people.

Young men, as the Social Exclusion Unit report on Teenage Pregnancy(2)  said, are half the solution to reducing teenage pregnancy.   They too need support and information and to be involved in decisions about relationships, contraception, sexual health and pregnancy.     Brook works with boys and young men to improve their sexual health and is constantly striving for more innovative and effective ways of reaching out to them.

Brook believes that the views and experiences of young people must be taken account of if programmes to reduce teenage pregnancy are to succeed.

Public perception

A MORI poll commissioned by Brook in 2008 showed that public opinion massively overestimates the rate of under 16s who become pregnant each year – imagining five times more teenage pregnancies than is the case.   Four in five also believed that teenage pregnancy rates have increased when in fact they have declined since 1998.(3)

This is particularly confusing for young people who may well think that teenage pregnancy is the norm. It also fuels the myth that teenage pregnancy is escalating and nothing can be done.

Key Figures(4)

• In 2009 57.3 in every 1,000 15-19 year old girls became pregnant in England and Wales
• In Scotland, in 2009, the rate per 1,000 15-19 year olds was 55.7.
• In 2009, 7.5 in every 1,000 13-15 year olds became pregnant in England and Wales
• In Scotland, in 2009, the rate for the same age group was 7.1.
• In Northern Ireland in 2009 the number of teenage mothers was 1,334 – a rate of 21.8 per 1,000 15-19 year olds

Teenagers are far less likely to get pregnant today than they were in the early 1970s. The conception rate in 1970 was 82.4 per 1,000 15-19 year olds compared with 57.3 in 2009.   The rate of very young girls becoming pregnant has been consistently very low at less than 1 per 1,000 for under 14s - that is under one-tenth of a percent.

Outcomes of teenage pregnancy

The younger the teenager the more likely it is that the pregnancy will be terminated.   In England and Wales, and Scotland around 60% of 13-15 year olds choose to have an abortion.   In the 15-19 age group the percentage who choose abortion falls to around 40%.(5)

International comparisons

The United Kingdom has the highest rate of teenage births in Western Europe.    In 1998, the latest year for which comparable data is available, the UK rate was double that of Germany, three times that of France and five times the birth rate of the Netherlands.(6) 

UK birth rates have fluctuated but have not fallen below those of the early 1980s while other Western European countries have had declining birth rates during the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's.(7) 

Countries with low rates of teenage births have a very different attitude to discussing sex and relationships with young people. They are more open and comfortable about having conversations with children from a very early age fostering a culture of openness around sexuality and sexual health which is still sadly not the case here in the United Kingdom. 

References

1 E Jones et al.  .Teenage Pregnancy in Developed Countries: Determinants and policy implications. Family Planning Perspectives, Vol 17,  Mar/Apr 1995
2 Social Exclusion Unit.  Teenage Pregnancy, Report, The Stationery Office, 1999
3 Brook Ipsos MORI Public Perception of Teenage Pregnancy Survey, 2008
4 Brook.  Teenage conceptions: Statistics and trends. 2009
5 Brook, ibid 
6 United Nations Children’s Fund Innocenti Research Centre.  A League Table of Teenage Births in Rich Nations,  2001
7 Social Exclusion Unit, op cit

Publication date: November 2011