Christians back just say No sex message

PUPILS should be encouraged to abstain from sexual intercourse as part of sex education classes, a Christian charity has told MSPs investigating ways to reduce teenage pregnancies.

Approaches which focus on “harm reduction” through contraception and preventing sexually transmitted disease “do not seem to be working”, claimed Christian education charity CARE for Scotland.

And its education officer Dr Alastair Noble told Holyrood’s health committee such approaches could be “inadvertently encouraging” teenagers to have sex.

Figures from last June showed a key target for reducing pregnancies among under-16s was missed. Ministers hoped to cut the rate to 6.8 pregnancies per 1,000 girls by 2010, but the actual rate stayed at 7.1 per cent.