Teenage sex
Sir: As medical officer to a Youth Advisory Family Planning Clinic I am very distressed by the action Mrs Victoria Gillick is trying to bring about. The vast majority of girls under 16 years old that we see have already entered a sexual relationship, often with a boy of a similar age. Fortunately the number who come with their parents' blessing appears to be increasing. However, there remains a hard core of those (not necessarily from unsatisfactory homes) who cannot or will not discuss the matter with their parents. If by new guide lines these girls are denied the right to obtain contraception, there will inevitably be a rise in their pregnancy rate. It will also deter them from coming to have a caring discussion with a responsible unbiased adult. Sometimes this enables them to get their lives more in proportion and they cease their sexual activity. In my opinion, whatever changes are made, whether one likes it or not, sexual activity amongst youngsters is here to stay. If these youngsters are unable to get contraception without their parents' consent there will be a recrudescence of back street abortion and the contraceptive pill could become a black marketable object.
Dr A. Penelope Wright
The Moor, Westfield, Hastings, Sussex
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