Teen pregnancy a growing concern

HITTING A BUMP: Moves to introduce sex education to younger teens is alarming family values groups.

NEARLY one-in-10 Kiwi babies are born to women aged under 20 years of age.

A parliamentary health committee found New Zealand has the third-highest teenage pregnancy rate among high-income OECD countries, trailing only the United States and Chile.

MPs on the committee say our record on teenage pregnancies is the result of "fragmented" sexual and reproductive health care and education, and are calling for sex education to be made mandatory at all schools.

But principals don't believe the burden of responsibility should be placed solely on schools, and say there are more insidious forces to blame for the apparent promiscuity of youth.

The committee is also recommending a wider range of long-acting contraceptives be made available free, or at low cost, to women in lower-income families.

But trials by some district health boards (DHBs) offering the morning-after pill and condoms to teens as young as 12 have been been slammed by conservative family values groups as simply promoting sex.

Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmund says there's no "one easy answer" to high teen pregnancy rates.

The problem with sex education in schools is the discrepancies in how it is taught - with many schools leaving out sections on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and contraception completely.

Better access to contraception, especially to long-acting options like the IUD Mirena, will give teenagers a real choice and a sense of "wanting something different" for their futures, she says.

Several DHBs have come under fire recently for controversial trials offering young people the morning-after pill free of charge.

Northland DHB is piloting a programme that offers women free long-acting reversible contraception such as a copper IUD if they get the morning-after pill twice.

But not everyone thinks contraception is the answer and the plans have been labelled "morally bankrupt" by Family First national director Bob McCoskrie.

"Sexually active teens need parental involvement - not emergency contraception - and pharmacies should not be handing out contraception like lollies," he warns. "It is folly to think that teenage girls can be trusted with a powerful hormone drug available over the counter without medical supervision."

Handing out condoms completely undermines parents, he says.

His comments follow a $300,000 Auckland DHB trial in 2009 that made emergency contraception free of charge, but failed to achieve the desired reduction in abortion rates.

Secondary Principals' Association president Tom Parsons says our abortion rates are "horrific", but expecting schools to be wholly responsible for sex education is unreasonable.

Schools aren't currently obligated to teach sex education - a programme for Years 9 and 10 which covers contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and how to deal with unwanted pregnancies.

Schools that do teach it are required by law to inform parents what they'll be teaching and parents are given the option of keeping their children out of the class. But schools aren't the "panacea for all ills" and shouldn't be held exclusively responsible for something that is traditionally a parent's domain, Mr Parsons says.

Making sex education compulsory won't fix the problem. What's missing in the sex education of today are healthy role models, he says.

And schools are an easy target when things go wrong, Mr Parsons says.

"Communities go knocking on [school] board members' doors and ask, 'Why aren't you teaching this better? My daughter's pregnant'. There's no censorship or good role modelling by mum and dad at home.

"There is a cancer in our society that's not being addressed, and that's the unrestricted use of electronic media.

"A lot of studies show early promiscuity is detrimental to academic achievement."

However, Teen Parent Units set up by the Ministry of Education to help young mothers complete NCEA are having some positive results.