Bishop Kenney, Auxiliary in Birmingham, has sensibly criticised a scheme which will allow underage girls to get the morning-after pill by text messaging a nurse. (See: Telegraph article).Bishop Kenney said of the scheme:
"It goes against the very central idea the Catholic church has on human life. It is sending out the message that it was better to deal with the aftermath of what people do, rather than the causes. I don't think this will help solve the teenage pregnancy rate and is taking away responsibility from parents."A striking feature in the Telegraph report is the assertion that the Primary Care Trust will get involved if any child aged between 11 and 13 asked for contraception.
It is early abortion, actually. But in any case I thought the age of consent in the UK was 16.
Well done Bishop Kenney! You can send messages of support to him at wk@sthughs.plus.com
4 comments:
I certainly sent my message to the Bishop, who is a voice of reason in an increasingly bizarre world.
I still cannot fathom the logic of requiring parental consent for an ear piercing or tattoo while allowing a minor child to risk the physical and psychological effects of what is essentially an early abortion.
May God have mercy on us.
In His love,
It doesn't just go against the teaching of the Church, it goes against common sense, too. How it prevents teenage pregnancies by creating the false sense of security inherent in the idea of an easy 'back-up' plan like this one is beyond me. Fact of the matter is, of course, that it will only diminish the number of registered teenage abortions, making it possible for the County Council to announce with fanfares, fully backed by statistics, that the project has reduced the number of teenage pregnancies. And I suspect the Council knows that perfectly well.
I don't quite get the idea about notifying authorities if girls aged 11 to 13 contacted the service, though. It seems that confidentiality is supposed to be the very foundation of it, so presumably this would discourage the very young from using it?
Many thanks for your blog, your work, and your faith, Father. I wish we had but one Priest of your stature in Denmark.
Although the "authorities" will be contacted if an 11 yr old asks for contraception, the parents won't be. They are not regarded as an authority by the authorities. That's how the confidentiality bit works. Neat, isn't it ? Mum and Dad need never know. Your secret's safe with us.
Have just received an acknowledgement from Bishop Kenney - '... I am writing to thank you for your email and to say how much I appreciate your support on this matter. I am sure that there are many in the clergy who feel as I do, and I was very happy to put forward the Catholic Church's stance on this important issue. ...'.
So well done, Father, in recommending that we write.
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