OK...so...we are here to debate why the teenage pregnancy rate in the UK is so high? Thats how I read the first post anyway.

I will give you the benefit of my experience, I work in this exact field and can tell you that it is rarely solely due to the financial remuneration offered by the government to support young girls in this situation.

I can tell you, it is about nothing more than sex.

Sex education in this country sucks big time. I have posted in a thread elsewhere about this and I said then, as I say now, sex is everywhere.

TV, Music, Newspapers, Clubs, you name it....everything is sold on it's intrinsic sexy value added appeal.

Teenage girls are no longer innocent. The generation their parents belong to have sealed their fate in opening the world up to being liberal and removing taboo's. We have all switched on our computers, tv's radios, opened our newspapers etc and invited sex into our lives. Our children no longer see sex as something adult.

Education in schools has pretty much irradicated the inclusion of anything other than basic sex education. Not enough time is given to focus on self repsect and relationships. We fill them full of the mechanics but fail to provide the complexities of life into it.

I joke you not...when my daughter became a woman, I told her in no uncertain terms she was now physically capable of bearing a child, she is 11. I also lightened the moment by telling her there should be no more sex!! It was a joke, She laughed rightly so, she is a mature young lady in the making and we speak freely about this subject because I truly believe to grow up understanding relationships is the key to making it past your teens without getting pregnant.

So...do we just let these girls get pregnant and not look after them? Do we let these innocent babies come into the world to be negelected, malnourished and to grow into carbon copies of their parents? I dont think so. I think we have the responsibility as a society to provide for them, both the mother and the child, who lets face it have no idea what they are getting into.

Do we not give them contraception and let them get pregnant repeatedly over time to repeat their own niaive mistakes? I agree that the injection may not be ideal, but it is the least forgettable type of contraception second to an IUD (coil) which is not recommended until a woman has had her first child. Until another form of contraception can be made available which is safe for young girls and which doesnt rely on the girl remebering everyday to take a pill, which itself isn't suitable to all women either, we have to concentrate on education.

http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/...egnancy/about/

You may find this document helpful.

Just to clarify, the current benefit paid to young girls who have babies is the same as that which is paid to anyone who has a child at any age. The extra benefits are in order to make sure she has a place to live that is safe and clean for her and her childs health. Such places in my experience are rarely up to the task. Social services will not separate a mother and child until there is significant concern for the childs wellbeing. But that is a whole other story.