I am just shocked at the success of the campaign to usurp parental authority over (in particular) girls to the public health sector. Children who can’t receive aspirin without parental consent, receive abortions, birth control pills, and mental health counseling in many areas. And now the Isle of Wight plans to give the morning after pill and contraceptives to girls as young as 13 without parental consent, or even the need to see a doctor! From the story:
ISLAND girls as young as 13 will soon be given the contraceptive pill at pharmacies without first seeing a doctor, as part of a controversial new scheme being piloted on the Isle of Wight — and described by one critic as morally depraved. Ten Island pharmacies will take part in the trial, in which girls asking for emergency contraception — the morning-after pill — will also be able to obtain a month’s supply of the progesterone-only contraceptive pill without the need for a prescription.
When the scheme is launched in November, Island pharmacists will become the first in the country to give the pill to teenagers below 16 the age of consent. The Island’s health trust hopes it will improve engagement with young, possibly vulnerable girls in need of sexual health advice and support, as well as cut the number of underage and unwanted pregnancies, but critics this week slammed the scheme. Island MP Andrew Turner said it was an appalling idea and he would take the matter up with Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. “We expect parents to take responsibility for their children — they are undermined if the NHS hands out contraceptives to girls with no medical examination or consideration of their circumstances. Underage sex is illegal and dangerous,” he said.
These drugs involve powerful chemicals that will be injested by girls in puberty, without their doctors’ or parents’ knowledge. Moreover, girls who are sexually active at age 13 need adult supervision, particularly as the story notes, that it may well involve statutory rape. Why public health officials want girls to be treated like women—and why parents put up with this blatant interference with their rights to determine the health care of their children, is beyond me.
