Should children as young as 10 be given contraception?

A teenage mother has appeared on This Morning to reveal why she thinks 10-year-old girls should be given the implant - but do you agree with her?

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by Kayleigh Dray |
Published on

Last year, nearly 200 girls aged between 10 and 15 asked to be prescribed the morning after pill.

And now Megan Oakley, who fell pregnant at the age of 13, explained to Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford why she believes that sexually active children, even if they are not of the age of consent, should be provided with contraception.

The (now) 19-year-old said: “I’m obviously not saying for ten year olds to go out and have sex, but if they are having sex before the age of consent they should be using contraceptives to avoid teen pregnancy.”

Megan was open about how she became a mother while she was still in school, insisting it was a lack of knowledge about the contraceptives available to her that led to the pregnancy.

“At 13 I didn’t have much sex education taught to me.

"All I got taught in school was about personal hygiene and head lice."

Via ITV's This Morning

“Both of us where so young we didn’t think it would happen to us.”

Unlike many other young girls in her situation, Megan was lucky enough to have the full support of her mother when she made the decision to keep her baby.

And, after a 'traumatic' labour, Megan welcomed baby son Aaron to the world.

However Megan decided that she wanted to go back to school and finish her education - starting with her GCSEs.

But it was not an easy experience.

She explained: “Walking about school everyone knew me as the girl who was pregnant or the girl who had a kid.

“I had a lot of negativity from it. It was really scary.

"At 13 you don’t really know how to deal with people’s comments.”

Via ITV's This Morning

Now Megan, who works as a voluntary peer educator, wants to help stop other young girls and boys from ending up in the same position she did.

She thinks contraception should be offered to even underage children, so that they have control over their futures.

But do you agree - should girls as young as 10 be offered birth control?

Let us know via the comments box below now.

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