Teenage pregnancies come to suburbia

Briefing. Another great success for sex education. We're not joking: it is embedding a radical, anti-marriage sexual revolution accross society. Whereas in the past social conservatives could appeal to a shared understanding of marriage and family, these developments are being used by the government to argue that 'non-traditional families' are so numerous that they must simply be accepted as part of society. When they are the majority, they will be above criticism: they will simply be 'normal'.

From the BBC: Despite a Government campaign to cut teen pregnancy and birth rates, two out of three parliamentary constituencies have seen an increase in children born to mothers under 18, the numbers of which have almost tripled in some suburban areas.

In the two thirds of the worst affected areas, which the Government has targeted with increased sex education and contraception classes for children, teenage maternity is also still on the rise.
Experts blamed the increases on young women who see the morning-after pill as a contraceptive or want to have children young to copy their favourite celebrity mother. An aversion to abortion among affluent families may also be a factor, they said.

In December, official figures revealed a 2.7 per cent increase in teenage pregnancies in England and Wales last year - ensuring Britain's place at the top of the Europe's under-18 pregnancy league. The latest figures, obtained by the Conservatives. break down the number of teenagers giving birth by parliamentary seats and show that 42,300 babies were born to mothers under the age of 20 in 2006. Surprisingly, many with the highest rates are affluent suburbs, often presided over by Conservative MPs.

The seat with the biggest increase of teenagers giving birth - from 16 in 2002 to 44 in 2006 - was Rushcliffe, Nottingham, where the MP is former Conservative Health Secretary Ken Clarke. In Pudsey, West Yorkshire, the number rose from 26 to 60 and in Epsom and Ewell, in leafy Surrey, it rose from 15 to 32.

Conservative children spokesman Tim Loughton said that the situation was getting worse despite the Government's "smoke and mirrors" tactics to disguise it. "Most of the areas that are already experiencing the biggest problems are seeing the number of teenage pregnancies rise," he said.

Former Conservative frontbencher Ann Widdecombe added: "Girls are increasingly sexually active and nobody is willing to tell them that they should not be. We are all afraid of being judgemental."