Brits Push Contraceptives on Early-Teens

This is interesting.

From The Sunday Times:

THE National Health Service has been giving girls as young as 13 contraceptive injections and implants that make them infertile for up to three years, in an attempt to cut teenage pregnancies.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that in a sample of five primary care trusts, seven 13-year-old girls have received either an implant or an injection in the past year.

If, as thought likely by experts, this pattern is mirrored across England's 302 trusts, about 400 13-year-olds will have received long-lasting contraceptives.

The figures also show children as young as 12 have been given the morning-after pill. In the same five trusts, one 12-year-old girl and 40 13-year-old girls have been given the emergency contraception after unprotected sex in the past year.

The figures suggest that across England about 2,400 girls aged 13 received the morning-after pill in 2004.

This makes me wonder if a sterilization program is being contemplated. It's also notable that medical personnel do not routinely inform the parents without the child's consent.