Posted on 08/19/2006 7:03:24 PM PDT by markomalley
GIRLS as young as 13 have been given controversial contraceptive implants that can make them infertile for up to three years.
Figures obtained by Scotland on Sunday reveal that at least 100 under 16-year-olds have been fitted with the matchstick sized hormone implants at NHS family planning clinics in the past year.
The implants have sparked concerns about the long-term health implications for adolescents. Campaigners also fear they could encourage casual underage sex, increasing the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.
Doctors admit the long-term side-effects of the implants, known as Implanon, are still largely unknown, and teenagers could be especially vulnerable as their bodies are still maturing. But health officials claim GPs will have given hundreds more youngsters the long-acting contraceptive, which is placed under the skin on the woman's arm and left in place for three years.
Dr James McLay, a clinical pharmacologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary said: "Only a quarter of all contraception is dispensed by family planning clinics, which means the figures for GPs could be four or five times higher."
A spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church said: "Society is failing its young if it thinks that contraceptive implants are progress. Indoctrinating young people into the 'contraception culture' is obviously counter-productive."
Family planning groups insist contraceptive implants are almost completely effective at preventing pregnancy and have fewer side-effects than the combined contraceptive pill. In Lothian, 21 children - the youngest aged only 13 had the devices surgically inserted under their skin. At the Sandyford Initiative in Glasgow, 24 under 16-year-olds were fitted with implants.
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the figure was likely to be twice that for the whole board area.
NHS Lanarkshire said its family planning services had fitted a total of 62 devices in teenage girls since 2001 - 12 in the last year.
In the Highlands, eight 15 and 16-year-olds were given implants, while Ayrshire and Arran said it had fitted nine.
NHS Grampian said since the start of 2005 it had fitted seven implants in 15-year-olds and one in a 14-year-old. Tayside reported fitting four implants and Forth Valley said it had only given one to a girl under 16.
Health officials in the Borders, Fife, Dumfries and Galloway, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles all failed to provide any figures, either failing to respond or claiming they could not obtain the information.
Contraceptive implants are plastic capsules that release small amounts of the hormone progesterone into the female's body, preventing ovulation and making it harder for sperm to enter the womb. They are inserted just below the skin, usually in the woman's upper arm, during a minor surgical procedure that can be carried out by GPs or family planning nurses.
Women often experience short-term side-effects, including heavy menstrual bleeding, weight gain and acne. But research has linked other kinds of progesterone contraception with a reduction in bone density that can lead to osteoporosis in later life.
There are fears that use of long acting forms of contraception can increase the risk of catching sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, as couples are less likely to use condoms.
But according to the NHS medicines watchdog NICE, there is no evidence of adverse effects from implants that vary with the age of the user.
Professor Philip Hannaford, a lecturer in reproductive health at Aberdeen University, said: "They are still relatively new and there has been much less research into the long-term effects of implants compared to contraceptive pills.
"When giving them to adolescents, it is at a time in a woman's life when she is not quite fully developed and there is always a concern about the effect this can have, like in all hormonal treatments."
Scotland has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Europe, with more than 706 girls aged between 13 and 15 falling pregnant in 2003/04. Earlier this year, a 12-year-old girl from West Lothian became Scotland's youngest mother. She told how she fell pregnant after getting drunk at the age of 11.
The Scottish Executive last year launched its Health Respect programme in a bid to tackle teenage pregnancies with a range of measures, including offering contraception to girls without their parents' knowledge.
Family planning campaigners claim contraceptive implants are more reliable than the pill, as they cut out the chance of girls missing a dose.
Tim Street, director of the Family Planning Association in Scotland, said: "We would like to see contraceptive implants being made far more available.
"Around a third of young people are having sex by the time they are 16 years old, and long-acting contraceptives are considered to be highly effective for young people."
He added: "There is no good medical evidence to show there are any adverse long-term health effects of using implants, and they have a very good safety record."
But their widespread use has also led to fears that it will legitimise under-age sex and increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases as teenagers take fewer precautions.
Nanette Milne, Tory health spokeswoman, said: "It is worrying that children as young as 13 require this sort of contraception. The Scottish Executive's sexual health message is clearly not getting through if such young people are sexually active enough to need implants."
A spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church said: "Society is failing its young if it thinks that contraceptive implants are progress. Indoctrinating young people into the 'contraception culture' is obviously counter-productive."
I think that pretty well says it all...
Catholic/Prolife pings?
In my day they called these girls sluts.
This is happening in Scotland? What are the parents thinking?!!!
THIRTEEN? What 13 year old needs birth control? I was 13 years old when I got my last baby doll for Christmas.
There comes a time when you have to wonder if you've lived too long. This sure isn't what I wanted to leave my little grandsons. God help us.
In my day (just turned 60) they called these girls, girls. At 13 they were more interested in dolls and such. Sex was not something of interest among those below the age of sixteen or so. Interest in boys was confined to “does he like me” type of exchange. How times have changed. The thought of sex at 13 was just not heard of in my day (nor tolerated.)
In today’s world, if you make it to 13 without sex you are considered a freak!
I attribute this to the media (e.g. mtv, movies, music. etc.) that we are exposed to in this “enlighten” age.
I notice the one girl was 11 !
Anyone else find the term "falling pregnant" a wee bit disconcerting?
I knew the parents of two different small town girls in the late 80's who had birth control implants. I believe it was called Norplant.
One set of parents was a regular part of the local downtown bar crowd and their daughter had pretty much grown up in that atmosphere. Her mom had gotten pregnant at 16 with the older sister of the girl in question, and didn't want to be a grandma at age 36. It would have cut into her beer time, you see.
The other set of parents were both upstanding, church-going, hard-working people with a nice home in a nice neighborhood. Their daughter was an early bloomer and she did look "13 going on 25". They got her the implant because she had an outgoing nature and was very popular with the boys. They felt they had raised her right, but they remembered their own teen years and knew how easily things can "happen". The thought of their daughter getting pregnant and messing up her future is what drove their decision.
I moved out of that town during that time period and lost touch with all of the people in question, so I don't know how either one turned out.
My point is that this is nothing new.
This is a relatively new concept (so to speak) for those of us over the age of 50!
On the other hand, the effects of having a baby at 13/14/15 are well known, and include permanent physical and psychological harm to the mother, often very low birthweight with long term implications for the baby (not to mention the effects of inadequate maternal nutrition and prenatal care, and lots of maternal smoking and alcohol use, all of which are virtually universal among girls having babies as these ages), and inevitably awful effects on society. They should be installing them in 10-11-12 year olds wherever there's reason to think they'd come in handy.
There are plenty of girls both here and in the UK having babies at 11 and 12 years of age, and even a sprinkling of 10 year olds. ANYTHING that will prevent this is good. A few years back, NYC newspapers carried the story of an 11 year old who turned up at an emergency room with her obviously dead 2-3 month old baby (which had been born in a hospital), apparently not even realizing it was already dead. It was quickly determined that the baby had died of starvation, and further investigation determined that the girl had been dutifully nursing the infant with all the milk that her 11 year old body could produce. Apparently neither the girl, nor any adults who were living with her (there had to be at least one, though we were spared the details of her home life) had enough of a clue to realize that a scrawny 11 year old girl wasn't likely to be producing much milk, nor that the amount of milk a mother produces is not necessarily enough to keep an infant alive. And yet we've got people wailing that we mustn't stick Norplants in girls like this. If you ask me, the wailers are as clueless as this girl and her family.
"In my day they called these girls sluts."
And what did they call the men who bedded them?
I'll admit I'm clueless, and did already.
I suppose you are a medical professional and can explain to all of us that you know for sure that these implants can have absolutely no long term effect on prepubescent girls? Hmmm?
susie
Cool.
How about abstinence?
How about shame?
How about eliminating sex education in school?
How about limiting pornography to the adult bookstores?
How about enforcing statutory rape laws?
These all help to prevent unwanted pregnancy, so they must be good.
I agree with your point. One of the biggest issues with these long-term contraceptives is that it does nothing to reduce disease transmission. In fact, some of the research has indicated that hormonal contraceptives make a woman more susceptible to disease, because they disrupt the natural immune-system defenses.
They're simply setting these girls up to be used by boys, not to mention older men, and surely nobody thinks anybody involved is going to have the slightest interest in "safe sex"!
"She told how she fell pregnant after getting drunk at the age of 11."
Drunk = pregnant?
Who knew! Guess I was lucky....
I don't. I call them sluts.
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