To fight against teenage pregnancy, the president of the Poitou-Charentes wants to help high school students to finance their contraception and regret that the Ministry has not yet approved.

Why is the area she decided to fund contraception to young girls?
In Poitou-Charentes, 455 underage girls were pregnant in 2007 and only 30 to 40% of these pregnancies were carried to term. Furthermore, if the regional rate of voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) is below the national average among women aged 15 to 49 years (11.1 per 1 000 women against 14.5 on the whole in France 2006), it is higher among girls 15 to 17 years.

The president of the Poitou-Charentes, Segolene Royal, who is responsible for access to emergency contraception in the schools, wanted to go further in preventing teenage pregnancy. “We conducted an in-depth work with associations, parents, teachers, school nurses and physicians to develop an intelligent tool,” says she Cross.

Specifically, the “check contraception,” an amount of 82 € must allow minor girls to finance a medical consultation, blood tests if needed and the purchase of contraceptives over a period of six months .

This should be implemented in schools by school nurses and training centers for apprentices or rural family homes and through associations. With a budget of 300 000 € by Regional Council, the scheme provides co-funding by the Academy of Poitiers for the mobilization and training of school nurses.

This arrangement aims to facilitate access to contraception for young girls in confidence. “If the prescribing and dispensing of contraceptives are no longer subject to parental authority since 2001, only planning centers and family education permit issued anonymously and free, while consultations with practitioners involve an advance of funding and support by the parents ’social security’, says one of the region, noting that demand for “morning after pill” is steadily increasing in schools. About 1 000 requests from school nurses have been recorded on three school years.

When this device will he put in place?
Voted in March by the standing committee of the region for entry into force in the autumn 2009, the check contraception has not yet been implemented in the schools of the Academy of Poitiers.

According to Segolene Royal, the Ministry of Education refuses to endorse the implementation of this device. “It is outrageous that the Ministry is blocking this issue,” says the president of the regional council, which claims to have conducted a “substantive work with multiple partners in education for many target things.”

Without agreement with the rectory, the Region said that checks and contraception information posters will still be sent to schools next week, “including vocational schools that are particularly affected by the phenomenon.

The education minister, Luc Chatel, expressed its strong opposition: “We’re dealing with juvenile students. Parental authority is something that matters. The National Education does not substitute for family planning, only allowed to prescribe contraceptives to a minor child. ”

“In each school, is a board of health education and citizenship, with our personal health of Education, provides advice to students regarding sexuality,” continued the Minister.

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