Heather Bellamy spoke with James Mildred, the Media and Communications Officer for CARE.

James Mildred

More than 33,000 girls under the legal age of consent have been provided with long-acting contraceptive implants or hormonal injections by NHS Sexual Health Clinics over the last four years. The figures were compiled by the Government's Health and Social Care Information Centre and show 5,400 under 16 year-olds were given the contraceptive implant and of those 1,800 were aged 14 or under. To find out more Heather Bellamy spoke with James Mildred, the Media and Communications Officer for CARE.

Heather: What is a long-acting contraceptive implant?

James: It's an implant that is given to an individual that is supposed to last for up to three years. It releases a chemical that will mean that the individual is very unlikely to fall pregnant.

Heather: We're talking about young people, so the first thing that comes to mind, outside of the fact that they're under-age, is that at that age you don't think long-term. So what are your thoughts on that?

James: Exactly. Not only do you not think long-term at that age and nor should you have to - we shouldn't be expecting children at that age, and they are children, we shouldn't be expecting children to be thinking that long-term. Not only that, there's also a question here about the emotional readiness, the maturity to exist in stable relationships. The vast majority of relationships do not begin and last forever-more from the age of say 14 or 15. The fact that they're so long-lasting really will only encourage young girls to continue to effectively have illegal sex.

Heather: So with them being under the age of consent, and that's against the law, why are so many under-age girls being given this?

James: I think the attitude is very much one that's a bit like this - people are having under-age sex, it's a reality, we can either pretend that it's not happening, or rather we can face up to it and if they're going to be having under-age sex lets at least make sure they're protected. That's one answer.

There's another answer to this as well. I've been led to believe that there are some girls who may ask for the long-term contraceptive device in order to relieve period pains. Now, the great problem here is simply this - yes under-age sex is happening, yes it is taking place, but the answer is not to simply as it were - shrug our shoulders and go, 'Well it's bad that it's happening, but at least they're having safe sex.' What we need to be doing is saying, 'This is unacceptable.' There is a reason why we have a legal age of consent in this country and it is to protect children. It is to provide desperately needed protection for vulnerable children so that they are not abused and exploited. And rather than just accepting the status quo, we should be focussing our energies and our efforts on improving the provision of sex and relationships education to inform young people so they can decide to pursue a better option, which is to wait until they're in a committed and stable relationship and wait above all until they're over the age of consent.

Heather: What about the whole thing of being at risk of abuse? What sort of questions are asked of these young people when they're put on this? Around the time '50 Shades of Grey' came out there were studies done and there were huge numbers of young girls that are in sexual relationships because they're forced into them or, they're pressured into them. So are questions asked of these young girls before they go on this, to make sure they're not being coerced?

James: Well my own view, is that given the numbers that have been reported over the last four years, I don't think questions are being asked effectively enough. I think that that's definitely a route that we need to be going down. I think the fact that they've just been handed out like this, and yes the girls have to approach the clinic; yes the girls have to ask for them before they're given them, but this is a real concern. There's another angle to this as well and that's you do not need parental consent if you want to get an implant, or a hormonal injection.

The great problem here is that it side-lines the very people who should be most involved in the sex education of children and that's parents. That's a huge and glaring weakness. We have a situation at the moment where we have a law, a legal age of consent that does protect children - that's why it is there, and yet it is being fatally undermined by the State. That is a huge problem. Parents should be empowered to take a more proactive role in educating their children about sex.

Heather: And what about the health of the young people? Have enough studies been done to show that it is safe for them going on this at such a young age?

James: I don't think enough studies have been done. I should add as well that this news comes in the context of a rising number of cases of STI's being prevalent among the UK population. So for example, even since last year, one sexually transmitted disease - gonorrhoea has gone up 9%. In fact, if you look back to 2005, I think it's right to say that the number of cases of gonorrhoea has gone up 68%. We need to be really smart about the way we respond to this. We need to be doing studies and looking at the evidence, but we need to be getting the message out that there is a legal age of consent that's there for a reason; it's there to protect children. We're talking about some of the youngest in our society actively practising sex and as it were, being encouraged to do so by being given long-acting implants. The great problem here, is that far from deterring them from having sex, it only encourages them to have more sex, at precisely the age when that's not what we want young people to be doing. It's an age where they should be protected from having sex. They should be encouraged from not having sex and this handing out of implants is completely the wrong approach.

Heather: I presume part of the logic must be to try and reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Have these implants done that at all?