Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe.  Figures for the largest nations are as follows (number per 1,000 women aged 15-19):

- Italy                        6

- Spain                     6

- France                   9

- Germany             11

- UK                        24

(Source: Age Specific fertility Rate (15-19 years) 2000-2005, www.childinfo.org, quoted in Sex and Relationship Education, op cit, p. 23-24)

Amongst the 30 member OECD countries, Britain has the fourth highest teenage pregnancy rate, after Mexico, Turkey and the USA.  (Doing Better for Children, OECD, 2009).

In a 2007 Unicef comparison of 21 rich countries, 38.1% of British 15 year olds said they had had sexual intercourse - far more than for any other country and nearly twice the average (23.6%).

Other evidence that there is a major problem here includes:

• In 2006, 1,316 girls under 18 had their second abortion.  (The Times, 8 February 2007)
• Between 2000 and 2007, 15 girls aged 10 got pregnant.  Another 39 girls aged 11 got pregnant over the same period.  (The Times, 24 February 2010)
• In the ten years from 1998 to 2007, diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections has increased as follows:

- Syphilis, primary and secondary:              1,828%

- Gonorrhoea:                                                        42%

- Chlamydia:                                                        150%

- All STI diagnoses:                                              63%

(Source: Health Protection Agency, diagnoses made at GUM clinics in the UK

• From 1990 to 2000, the number of lifetime sexual partners had increased from 8.6 to 12.7 for men, and from 3.7 to 6.5 for women.  (Source: Johnson AM et al, The Lancet, 2001: 358; 1835-42, quoted in Sex and Relationship Education, Council for Health and Wholeness, September 2008, p 8).  Meanwhile, in a recent survey, homosexual men in the UK reported on average 27 sexual partners over the past five years, compared to an average 4 for men who reported having no homosexual sex.  (Source: Kevin A Fenton et al, Reported Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic Attendance and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Britain, Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2005, 191; S127-138).  Another recent study found that homosexual men were 46 times as likely to be diagnosed with HIV and 56 times as likely to be diagnosed with syphilis than heterosexual men.  (Macdonald, N et al, Recent Trends in Diagnoses of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in England and Wales among men who have sex with men; Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2004, 80; 492-7, quoted in Sex and Relationship Education, p. 41)
• “Teenagers are indulging in hedonistic lifestyles involving unprecedented levels of group and underage sex that risk an epidemic of health problems.  School nurses treating sexual infections and offering alcohol and drug addiction services said yesterday that many children have dangerously amoral attitudes to relationships”, said Judy McCrae, a sexual health nurse and London  regional officer for the RCN.  She also said “Colleagues are coming across reports of groups of young people having sex in large groups.  It is known as daisy chaining”.  (The Times, 28 April 2005)
• One in four children aged 11-14 admit to having sent pornographic images of themselves to friends by text message, a trend known as 'sexting' (survey published by internet safety expert Ken Corish, quoted in The Daily Mail, 28th March 2011).
• 14% of couples experience an unintended pregnancy during the first year of ‘typical’ use of condoms for contraception.  (Johnson AM et al, ibid).  In a University of Exeter analysis of 147 teenagers with unplanned pregnancies, 80% stated that they were using some form of contraception.  (Pearson VAH et al, Pregnant Teenagers’ knowledge and use of emergency contraception, British Medical Journal, 1995; 3130: 1644.)  A survey of 2,000 women who sought an abortion through the British Pregnancy Advisory Service found that 59% had taken some form of contraception, which had failed.  (The Guardian, 13 October 1999).
• The Department of Health’s “National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV” (2001) doesn’t mention marriage (or abstinence) once.