The number of teenage pregnancies in England and Wales fell by almost 10 per cent in 2010, according to new figures.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that 34,633 under-18s fell pregnant in 2010 – the lowest figure since the 1960s.
Norman Wells, from the Family Education Trust, said the reduction came at the expense of “spiralling rates of sexually-transmitted infections”.
Contraception
Professor David Paton, from Nottingham University Business School, welcomed the drop but argued that it was not down to greater provision of contraception.
He said, “there appears to be no correlation at all between changes to contraceptive services for young people and changes in the conception rate”.
Adding, “the number of contraceptive clinic sessions offered specifically for young people was static in 2010 following increases in previous years.
Abortion
“Despite this, the teenage conception rate continued to fall in 2010.”
The ONS figures also showed that half of all teenage pregnancies now end in abortion.