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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sirajstc" data-source="post: 7077851" data-attributes="member: 91140">Schoolgirls as young as 11 to ask for morning-after-pill by text   Schoolgirls as young as 11 will be able to ask for the morning-after-pill via text message so they are not "embarrassed" into admitting they are having sex.                                                           By Caroline Gammell                      Published: 2:26PM GMT 24 Mar 2009  The pilot scheme is being launched in six schools across Oxfordshire from July to try and reduce the number of young girls becoming pregnant. But the initiative was condemned by family and religious groups who said it would encourage promiscuity and was a further example of the breakdown in society.                    Under the proposals, secondary school girls who want the morning after pill will be allowed to text their school nurse who will then give them the pill during break or lunch hour.   The texting service will also be available at weekends. It is being introduced by Oxfordshire County Council and Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust after the number of girls aged 18 and under getting pregnant rose by 10 per cent in the county.   The figures increased from 320 in 2006 to 350 the following year, according to the latest figures. Dr Andrew Fergusson, from the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the move demonstrated everything that was wrong about sexual education. "Where does one start?" he said. "Sexual intercourse at the age of 11 is a criminal offence and local authorities should not be turning a blind eye to that.  "The whole idea of removing of all face to face contact with a health professional is yet another sign of the trivialisation of sexual intercourse and the breakdown of trust between young people and adults. Father John Saward, a priest at SS Gregory and Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Oxford said: "I think it's horrendous.  "Presenting this as a programme will encourage promiscuity in children." Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said the scheme was misguided.  "Oxfordshire PCT is sadly mistaken if it thinks a text service to help teenage girls get the morning-after pill through the school nurse seven days a week and 52 weeks a year will reduce the teenage pregnancy rate.  "School staff should be encouraging young people to respect and confide in their parents, not undermining them."  Council officials refused to divulge the names of the six secondary schools in the county which are implementing the scheme, for fear of attracting "unhelpful attention", but they are understood to be based around Oxford and Banbury.  Oxfordshire PCT said child protection staff would become involved if any child aged between 11 and 13 asked for contraception. Sarah Breton, from Oxford County Council, said: "This will provide an extra level of contact for those young people who think they have taken a risk and don't want to approach a doctor or a pharmacist, but can text a health nurse and ask what they can do.  "Our commitment is to reduce the number of teenage conceptions in Oxfordshire so we're looking at the most effective ways of doing that." County councillor and mother-of-four Louise Chapman, cabinet member for children, young people and families, first fell pregnant when she was a teenager. She said: "There's no intention on our part to undermine parents, and we would encourage young people to speak to their parents about their situation.   "The nurses are not just there to give out contraception willy-nilly. "If you live in the real world this is happening and we'd be foolish to think there was something we could do to stop young people having sex."       <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5043560/Schoolgirls-as-young-as-11-to-ask-for-morning-after-pill-by-text.html" target="_blank">Schoolgirls as young as 11 to ask for morning-after-pill by text - Telegraph</a></blockquote>

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