Girls as young as 10 have received contraceptive implants in Britain, it has been revealed.
According to a report carried by the Daily Mail three of the recipients were aged just 10 years. A further 53 girls, aged 12, also received an implant, as did 281 13-year-olds, 3,000 aged 14 and 6,300 aged 15. The contraceptive implant in question, the report states, has never been tested for use on those under the age of 18.
Having compiled its figures under Freedom of Information legislation from 61 National Health Trusts, the Mail pointed out that the number of implants is likely to be much higher as “dozens of Trusts did not or were unable to provide full figures”.
Both the figures and the young ages of girls receiving hormone implants, have been condemned by pro-family groups, who point to a clear contradiction in the availability of such implants before the legal age of consent of 16 years.
“Our concern is that the child taking contraceptives is much more vulnerable to pressure to have sex and to having an abortion,” said Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. “Doctors who do this think they are helping the young girls deal with their own sexually active lives but they are actually part of the problem, by encouraging their sexualisation and the sexualisation of the culture.”
Meanwhile, Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust said, “Fitting young girls with contraceptive implants is quite simply indefensible. It is giving them the green light to engage in illegal sexual activity and robbing them of the protection that age of consent law is intended to give.”
Mr Wells added: ‘The fact that the safety of these implants has not been established for girls under the age of 18 in itself means that health professionals are taking a massive risk with the immediate and long-term health of these girls.”