British Medical Association Recommends Starting Sex Education In Primary Schools

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 13 Jul 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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At a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, 54.6% of British Medical Association members on Wednesday voted in favor of providing sex education in primary schools in the United Kingdom, Scotland's Herald reports. According to the Herald, the move is an attempt to reduce pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection rates among teens.

"It is obviously inappropriate to talk to six-year-olds about contraception" and STIs, conference delegate Emily Finnigan said, adding, "However, we should be encouraging them to grow up into individuals who respect themselves and others" (Puttick, Herald, 7/10). Finnigan said, "I feel it is preposterous that we do not adequately prepare our young people for" sex and relationships. She added, "Sex education needs to be comprehensive, covering everything from relationships to contraception and STIs."

Shreelata Datta of BMA's junior doctors' committee said, "Are we really calling for children as young as the age of four to have sex education as part of their curriculum, alongside the alphabet?" (Moss, Scotsman, 7/10). Datta added that in Germany -- which has one of the lowest teenage pregnancy rates -- sex education begins at age 10 or 11 (Herald, 7/10). A Scottish government spokesperson said, "While sex education is not a formal part of the early years' curriculum, a curriculum framework for children aged three to five places emotional, personal and social development at the center of children's development and learning" (Scotsman, 7/10).

Abortion, IVF Notification Decision

Delegates at the conference also narrowly rejected a measure that would have required physicians to inform patients in advance if they objected to abortion or in vitro fertilization through leaflets and posters, the Scotsman reports. Vivienne Nathan, head of science and ethics at BMA, said that some physicians at the conference had concerns about providing abortion information through leaflets and believed that "it should be up to individuals how they inform patients."

BMA member Paul Mills said he was concerned that the suggestion of leaflets would draw attention from antiabortion advocates. "My potential worry is that this could target doctors, particularly around the issue of abortion, and I don't think that is what we should be doing." However, Evan Harris, a BMA member and a Liberal Democrat member of the country's Parliament, said that physicians should make "every effort to inform patients in advance" if they are willing to perform abortions. Harris added, "It is about the duty of candor. You cannot disguise from patients something they are entitled to know" (Moss [2], Scotsman, 7/11).

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