A new contraceptive guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advises healthcare professionals that they can provide the abortion pill to children under 16 “without parental knowledge or consent.”
The Daily Mail points out,
“Schools have been told they should provide free morning-after pills and condoms to teenage girls, including those under the age of consent, to cut unwanted pregnancies.”
Part of the guidance reads,
“Ensure all health professionals providing oral emergency contraception are aware that they can provide this to young women aged under 16 without parental knowledge or consent, in accordance with best practice guidance. Also ensure they are aware that they have a duty of care and confidentiality to young people under the age of 16.”
A press release describing the guidance quotes the “Chair of the independent committee that developed the guidance,” Anne Weyman, who explains in part,
“The new guidance aims to reduce unwanted pregnancies by ensuring that young people have access to a full range of contraceptive methods, not just pills and condoms, but the longer acting methods, such as contraceptive injections and implants. We also need to make sure that young people get good contraceptive advice so that they can choose and use the right method for them.
“As well as the unnecessary heartache for these young women, unwanted pregnancies also have a financial cost, with abortions for young women under 25 costing the NHS approximately £53 million each year. Investing in contraceptive services is a good use of money. Not only could modest investment have health benefits for young people, it could also potentially result in reduced financial cost in the longer term.”
NICE is the division of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) that “provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care,” according to their website. As discussed at Liberty Unyielding, NICE is basically a rationing board, comparable to Obamacare’s controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).
Teens in America can also access the morning after pill without a prescription and without procuring parental consent, as reported at the New York Times. School students in New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland, Calif., and Colorado also have access to the drug.
