Correspondence with Mrs Gill Frances, chairwoman of the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group.

                                                                                                                               17 December 2009.

Mrs G. Frances OBE
Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT.

Dear Mrs Frances,

I have just read the Sixth Report of your Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group.  I almost wept.

I have followed the development of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy from its inception.  Back then, I claimed that it would never work, and indeed, nine years and some £300m later, I have been proved right – that gives me no comfort.

Your Report states that, ‘The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy is excellent and works very effectively when it is implemented properly.’  I cannot believe that a decrease in conception rates of just 11% (or at best, 26%) after all these years, can ever be described as either ‘excellent’ or ‘effective’.

One of my main criticisms of the Strategy has been that it expects teenagers will have sexual intercourse.  To counter this (false) assumption, the Strategy relies on the promotion of explicit sex education, free pills (contraceptive and morning-after) and condoms.  In other words, it equips our children with everything they need to start a disastrous life of multiple relationships, unplanned pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections.

I see virtually nothing in the Strategy about delay, respect, or, least of all, abstinence.  I know the Government sneers at abstinence, yet, in theory, it must work.  Surely, by now, it is time to conduct a proper trial of abstinence.  Merely continuing to fund the failed old Strategy, with a few novel additions, is never going to halve that conception rate. It is a counsel of despair.

So here is my proposition.  I know enough sensible people, who are currently working with teenagers and who deliver a radically different approach to sex education, teenage pregnancy and abortion.  Is it not worthwhile (even, about time) for us to get together and present you with our alternatives?