News

Yvonne Roberts says trials of the "abortion pill" must lead to an honest debate about teenage pregnancy.

"Abortion Pill for Teenagers" read a front-page headline in the Daily Mail last week, as if Armageddon is nigh. The truth is that a small-scale pilot project, supervised by doctors, will make medical terminations available in family planning clinics by the administration of two doses of separate drugs, during the first nine weeks of pregnancy.

Although the technique has been available for a number of years, many women are not aware that it exists as an option. Pro-life spokespersons are quoted as saying that abortion figures (one in three women is likely to have a termination) are bound to rise. One sincerely hopes so - if this means fewer unwanted children and lives locked into poverty.

However, what also matters, if the pilot project becomes public policy, is that thought is given as to how its benefits can be extended to that most vulnerable group, the teenager with poor life chances.

The social exclusion unit's 'Teenage Pregnancy', published in 1999, refers to the "mixed messages" given to young people. They live in a culture that is full of explicit messages yet silence and embarrassment often marks adult reaction to personal discussions about sex.

That is even more the case on the issue of abortion. Research by Louie Burghes and Mark Brown conducted in the 1990s on single mothers indicated how abortion is difficult because it requires a decision. Pretending the pregnancy isn't happening is easier, particularly when there is a fear of how parents will react.

Projects exist that send teenage mothers into schools to warn of the difficulties of premature motherhood. What is also required is a bold move to tackle the stigma attached to having a termination. Why not recruit and dispatch young women who have opted for a termination and who have the bravery to talk about it? Acting as advocates, they could advise that intercourse is delayed for as long as possible, contraception used, but also that abortion is seriously considered in the event of pregnancy.

Britain has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Europe. The result, often, is that children are reared with too little material and emotional support.

Openness about abortion, including its difficulties, has been a long time coming. Perhaps the young will drag this particular skeleton out of our national cupboard and show the courage that many of we older women have lacked.