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Health workers are routinely arranging for Scottish schoolgirls to receive emergency contraception despite a vow by First Minister Jack McConnell that the morning-after pill will not be handed out in schools. A Scotland on Sunday investigation has uncovered numerous ways in which health professionals bypass government policy to provide teenagers with the morning-after pill, all without parents ever being told. One health worker openly admitted she and colleagues personally ferried distraught youngsters from school to clinics where they received emergency contraception. In many parts of Scotland, school nurses work around the ban on morning-after pills in schools by referring underage girls to nearby clinics, again without parental consent or contact. Sex education groups in Scotland are also developing strategies to circumvent the legal obligation on health and education staff to report cases where they know underage sex has taken place. Draft guidelines from the controversial sex education pilot Healthy Respect, seen by Scotland on Sunday, encourage workers to discuss sexual issues with pupils hypothetically, rather than in the first person, to avoid having to report them. The revelations have angered the Catholic Church, which last week hit out against proposals for a new sexual health strategy in Scotland. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, warned that teenagers would be given the morning-after pill in schools without their parents’ knowledge, a claim that prompted a swift denial from the First Minister. But health workers dealing with sexually active teenagers have revealed the Catholic Church’s fears are already a reality. The Web Project in Angus runs a drop-in centre and employs outreach workers to visit school premises across the area. They work in classrooms and then spend time in the playground or in the streets near the schools where the children spend their lunchtimes. In the past year it had almost 4,000 ‘contacts’ with children aged 13-17, although some may have involved the same pupil. Youth worker Alison Myles said: “We try as much as we
can to make sure we are available at the drop-in and at schools. We can
carry out pregnancy tests at the drop-in but we can’t give them
emergency contraception, so a lot of our work is about getting them to
access those services. “Sometimes they don’t want to use the local
clinic because it’s such a small community they are afraid they might be
recognised, or they can’t use it because they would have to wait too
long, so we take them to clinics in other areas. If people need a
service, our job is to get them there. Sometimes it’s just a case of
jumping in the car and just taking them there.” She said: “We have concerns about the number of girls
asking for pregnancy tests. A lot of it is about trying to look cool by
being seen to be having sex. A lot of them don’t know enough about their
own menstrual cycles to understand whether or not they may be pregnant.
In Glasgow and Edinburgh, school workers bypass the Scottish Executive’s emergency contraception policies simply by referring pupils to local clinics. A spokeswoman for Glasgow Health Board admitted: “There is no contraception in schools. Young people are directed to services by school nurses.” In Lothian, Healthy Respect, a Scottish Executive sexual health pilot scheme, runs school-based drop-in sessions for general and sexual health information. Dona Milne, Healthy Respect project manager, said: “If necessary, young people may be signposted to other services that can provide them with more specific sexual health services, such as GPs or family planning clinics.” Although parents are not generally informed, the issue of child confidentiality and protection has become of concern to health and education workers, prompting Healthy Respect to draw up new guidelines as part of its remit as a national health demonstration project. Although these guidelines will not be published until November, a draft seen by Scotland on Sunday suggests staff can use ‘distancing techniques’ to encourage youngsters to talk about issues in the third person. Human rights laws prevent workers from breaching youngsters’ confidentiality except in the case of exploitation, abuse or crime. However, there is also an onus on local authority staff to report all knowledge of under-16s’ sexual activity to a senior member of staff who will decide on the subsequent procedure. The draft guidelines state: “Some education sector
professionals report using distancing techniques with young people in
the context of sex and relationships education. Cardinal O’Brien has warned McConnell to expect a battle which will dwarf the Section 28 row over a new sexual health strategy being drawn up by the Executive. The First Minister last week said there was “no suggestion” it was going to hand out the morning-after pill in schools. But last night a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "The fact that some of these project workers pick up children in and around schools to procure contraception, emergency contraception and abortions seems to utterly undermine the First Minster and the Health Minister’s recent reassurance that the morning-after pill will not be handed out in schools. “The real concern here is not whether or not it’s available in schools but whether it’s being made available in confidence to schoolchildren. The reality is, that’s happening. Encouraging children to talk in the third person is an underhand and deceptive way of circumventing the very guidelines that exist to protect children.” High School confidentiality
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