Educate the boys

I write in response to your ­article about MSPs recommending that pupils as young as 13 could be given free contraception (19 June).

I worked in a deprived area for many years and I feel the problem is not so much the vulnerable young girls who often make a surprisingly good job in bringing up their children.

The problem is more often young men, often older than their partners, who refuse to use any contraception. These young men simply abandon these young, pregnant girls.

They go off looking for another partner and do not accept any responsibility for the pregnancy.

I think it is quite wrong to put all the blame on young girls, possibly from broken homes, who may often be looking for love and affection rather than sex.

It is also a fact that having a baby may be the only positive feature in some girls’ lives.

The Catholic Church’s attitude to sex education and contraception is hopelessly unrealistic and there is something almost laughable about elderly, single men pontificating about it.

In the Netherlands, education about sex and contraception is provided at an early age and they have a much lower level of teenage pregnancies.

Hugh M Mackenzie

Bonnethill Road

Pitlochry