TEENAGE pregnancy has exploded across Merseyside and Cheshire, leaving a decade-long government drive to cut conceptions in tatters, new figures revealed yesterday.
The conception rate among under-18 girls soared in Liverpool (up 9.5%), in Knowsley (12.4%), in Sefton (5.8%), in St Helens (6.5%) and, most alarmingly, in Halton (21.5%) in just 12 months.
The increases were far higher than the 1% rise across England and Wales – a figure that, by itself, caused alarm because it followed years of falling teenage pregnancies.
Liverpool PCT described the rise as “disappointing”, and said more work needs to be done to prevent young people engaging in “risky behaviour.”
Dr Paula Grey, director of public health for Liverpool, said: “While there is a great deal of work under way in Liverpool to support the sexual health and teenage pregnancy agenda, it is clear that more work needs to be done to help young people look after their sexual health and prevent early pregnancy.”
It now appears certain the Government will badly miss its target to halve conception rates by 2010, despite millions thrown at trying to ditch Britain’s record as Europe’s teenage pregnancy capital.
The Conservatives blamed the rise on an obsession with sex-education in schools, instead of efforts to give every teenager a “supportive and responsible family”.
