THE Family Planning Service is concerned that teenage girls are using the morning-after pill as their only method of contraception. Eighteen girls under 16 contacted the service between January and March for the pill. A further 41 girls aged 16-19 and 20 women aged 20-24 also sought Levonelle during that period.

Service clinic manager Sue Le Page said she was concerned that 35 out of 94 clients assessed in the service’s audit used no other method of contraception.

‘There is a very fine line between promoting sex and educating people to think about it sensibly and use protection. More needs to be done to promote safe sex in the first place,’ said Mrs Le Page.

‘It also goes hand in hand with problems associated with alcohol – it is a whole culture that needs to be changed.’

She said the reason could be that younger women were becoming more sexually active, but was pleased they were contacting the service.

‘The more worrying factor is the number in the 20-24 bracket, which is when you thought they would have got their contraception sorted out,’ she said.

‘It is also a difficult group to target because they are not in any particular place. You can give them the information but they might not necessarily read it.’

The audit also highlighted the fact that alcohol was given by patients as the reason for needing the morning-after pill and having unprotected sex. One said it was because of drug use.

Seventy of the 94 women who took Levonelle were not taking the drug for the first time, compared with 24 who had not taken it before.

‘It is a concern, but the most worrying thing is that girls in the under-16 category are giving alcohol as the reason. Where are they getting it from and who is giving it to them?’

The audit found that condom failure was the most-cited reason for needing Levonelle.

Mrs Le Page said that reason could be being given because clients were unwilling to admit they had unprotected sex.

The audit also found that more women were willing to be screened for sexually transmitted diseases. The uptake was zero in January but rose to 24 women over a three-month period.

‘This is encouraging because it signifies that the message about sexually transmitted diseases may slowly be getting across to these clients, although there is little room for complacency.

‘There is still a big problem with sexually transmitted diseases coming into the island and we have to educate people.’

The clinic is also looking at introducing an updated, non-invasive method of screening for some diseases.