Now, condom credit card for Brit boys

First came news (KHALIDOSCOPE, June 7) that schools in Kent, England, were blazing a trail by explaining homosexuality to children between five and 11 in its assembly.
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Now comes the revelation that, in a pioneering move, boys in the UK as young as 12 are to be issued with condom "credit cards" allowing them to pick up free contraception at football grounds, barber's shops and scout huts.

The move has been devised to help boys learn about safe sex and spare them embarrassment of visiting health clinics, general practitioners' surgeries or facing chemists.

Boys who have attended a safe-sex session will be able to collect the condoms by showing a plastic card issued to them.

Boys intending to take advantage of the scheme will not have to give their names or answer questions about their sex lives.

The objective of the scheme is to cut teenage pregnancies and persuade boys to take greater responsibility for contraception.

According to the Times newspaper, Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe and the government has failed in its pledge to halve rates of pregnancy in girls under the age of 18.

Some local authorities are already issuing plastic cards, but they will be available to all boys in Britain aged 13 after the guidelines are published later in the year.

However, councils will have discretion to offer the cards to younger boys who may already be sexually active, and to instill safe-sex attitudes at an early age in those who are not.
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There is concern that sex education in the country has been too focused on teenage girls, who already tend to take full responsibility for using contraception.

However, according to a spokesperson of a pressure group, "We are just facilitating and encouraging sexuality without any deeper understanding of the emotional side of relationships.

"We used to talk about recreational sex among 18-year olds now it is 13-year olds."

A 15-year-old girl who gave birth to a daughter earlier this year revived concern about teenage pregnancies in Britain.

The father was thought to have been a 12-year old at the time of conception, but turned out to be a 15-year old.