Two underage pregnancies a week as figures show welcome decline

Published on Monday 6 July 2009 10:09

ALMOST two underage girls a week get pregnant in the Lothians.

New figures show that 94 of the women who conceived in the Lothians during 2007 were under the age of 16.

Teenage pregnancies – women aged 19 and under – make up 16 per cent of the total number of births in the area.

While the number of underage pregnancies remains higher than health chiefs would like, the figure compares favourably with the national average and has fallen slightly since the previous year when 110 underage girls got pregnant.

The slight fall has been credited to increased awareness, with NHS Lothian launching a number of strategies to encourage better protection and abstinence among youngsters.

Jamie Megaw, NHS Lothian's strategic programme manager, said: "The ISD figures for teenage pregnancies show that rates for the under-16s have fallen since 2005 and that current rates in Lothian are below the Scottish average.

"However, the figures show that fluctuations in rates tend to be small and the overall position has remained relatively steady in recent years.

"We are doing a great deal of work among young people to promote respectful and responsible relationships and to ensure that our services are readily accessible to them.

"NHS Lothian also works closely with organisations supporting young people to encourage and enable them to make positive and informed choices about sexual health issues."

Each year there are around 600 girls under 18 who get pregnant, many of them while still at school, and the most recent annual count for pregnancies among under 20s was 1400.

This means that around seven per cent of these teen Lothians pregnancies were girls under 16 who conceived illegally.

In spite of the numbers of underage pregnancies remaining stable, some health chiefs argue that the total rise in births means the rate has actually dropped in real terms.

There has been a 10 per cent rise in the total number of births over the last decade, resulting in expansion plans for the Simpson's maternity unit at the ERI and improvement proposals for maternity facilities at St John's Hospital in Livingston.

While underage pregnancies are a concern, the larger problem remains sexual health among promiscuous teens.

Infections like chlamydia, gonorrhoea and herpes are all creeping up among all age groups, despite many campaigns about protection.

The popularity of the contraceptive pill and the morning-after pill also helps keep unwanted pregnancy levels down, but can breed complacency in the battle against STDs.

The new data released by the official compiler of health statistics in Scotland, ISD Scotland, which covers the most recent recorded period for conceptions, did not take into account the rising number of abortions.

In May the Evening News revealed how one schoolgirl a week has an abortion in the Lothians.