From Mr S. M. Koumis, MRPharmS
SIR,—Successive governments have tried and failed miserably over the years to repress the problem of teenage pregnancies. So it was only a matter of time before we, as pharmacists, got involved in some bird-brained scheme to supply PC4 over the counter (PJ, January 8, p44).
It is a well known fact that teenage pregnancies have increased to such a level that we now have the highest incidence in Europe: about 9,000 underage pregnancies, of which 2,000 are aborted. This increase is, ironically, linked to the increase in sex education in schools, the media, etc.
Supplying PC4 over the counter will only intensify the problem. There is a distinct possibility that this service may be used as a first line "safety net" replacing common sense and contraception.
Of course, if this line of defence fails, there is the second safety net - social security benefits. This is a subject with which the average teenager is well acquainted.
The Dutch boast of having one of the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, not as a consequence of have a sex education policy that is more open and explicit than ours (after all how much information can you drum into someone about such a basic subject?) but because the Dutch do not believe in state hand-outs to support teenage pregnancies. The thought of having to bring up a baby in squalid conditions without financial support is enough to dishearten even the most fickle of teenagers.
There is no doubt that we are living in an increasingly violent and permissive society and that there is a direct link between this and the breakdown of the traditional family and family values, with absent fathers replaced by social security benefits. Pharmacists working in the community are at the front line of what appears to be a losing battle. There cannot be many of us who can claim they have not been threatened, assaulted or even held at gun point at some stage during our course of work.
Needless to say, it is in our best interest to dissuade this form of promiscuous behaviour. Pharmacy, unquestionably, needs to move in the direction of services, but this is one service we cannot morally afford to undertake.
S. M. Koumis Ilford, Essex