U.S. teen birth furore

Press, 19 December 1986, Page 31

U.S. teen birth furore

By

TOM BRIDGMAN

NZPA staff correspondent Contraceptives should be distributed free or at low cost to teenagers, including in schools, to combat the problem of teenage pregnancy, according to a prestigious United States group. The National Research Council, the working arm of the United States National Academy of Sciences, called in a report for increasing adolescents’ access to contraceptives. It concluded after a two-year study that there was no convincing evidence for claims that availability of contraceptive services to teenagers encouraged early sexual activity. The birth control pill

was the “safest and most effective” contraceptive for sexually active teenagers, it said, and recommended “aggressive public education to dispel myths about health risks for young women” who use the pill. It also advocated that condoms should be widely distributed in places where teen-age boys congregated. The report called for greater public support of low-cost convenient and confidential birth control services to teenagers, including public and private clinics as well as additional efforts to develop “comprehensive schoolbased clinics.” Where prevention efforts fail, abortion should be available as an option

to teenagers, without mandatory parental consent. Adoption should also be a viable option.

Dr Daniel Federman, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the panel which produced the report, said a million teenage girls in the United States become pregnant each year and almost half of them give birth. A 15-year-old American girl was at least five times more likely to give birth than her foreign contemporaries, he said. The report’s findings have been roundly criticised. President Reagan’s spokesman, Mr Larry Speakes, said the President did not approve of

giving contraceptives to teenagers. “He strongly disapproves,” said Mr Speakes. Asked how the President expected teenagers to not get pregnant, Mr Speakes replied, “Just say no.” William Bennett, the Secretary of Education, denounced the recommendations for schoolbased clinics. “This is not the first time a prestigious sounding group has advocated a dumb policy, school-based birth control clinics, that will damage our schools and our children,” he said. “I’m sure this group had good intentions — I iust wish it had more wisdom and common