Misty Media Sex Blog

November 8th 2005, 19:02 Jeff Sela

A 50 year old woman, Sue Axon, is continuing to pursue a case through a Judicial Review to have the law on abortions for children changed. She wants parents to be told if their child is under 16 and asks for an abortion. Her motivation seems to be that she was unhappy after she'd had an abortion herself, although she was 30 at the time.

Apparently Mrs Axon's own daughters are far from convinced that this is a good idea. But parents always know best, right? But according to Anne Weyman of the Family Planning Association, this change would go further than just restricting abortions:

This case seeks to compel health professionals to inform the parents of anyone aged under 16 that they have been approached by that young person for advice, information or treatment about any sexual health matter, not just abortion.

Young people worry a great deal about confidentiality and it is the single most important factor in their decision to visit a health service.

Compulsory parental notification of their visit will drive teenagers away from services and prevent many of them coming forward for help. This will only put them at greater risk of unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections, with potentially disastrous consequences to individuals, the public health and the NHS.

For children, discussing things like pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases with their parents is likely to be difficult at the best of times. If they know their parents have strong views about such things, or are likely to react badly when they find out their children are sexually active, it will only encourage kids to keep these things to themselves, placing them in danger.

Update: A more detailed article on this is available on Spiked.