It must either line up with the people who think sex is a problem or with those who provide family planning services and have the weight of evidence behind them who argue for more services. Sometimes going for the middle ground can be effective, but not on issues like this which are quite polarised. There needs to be an unambiguous approach. Home Office minister Paul Boateng told the BBC that the government was committed to a broad-based attack on teenage health problems. This would include attempts to make boys feel more responsible for contraception.
Young men are as much a part of the solution as they are a part of the problem.
The public health laboratory service says statistics show that British teenagers are no more likely to have sex than their European counterparts. They are just less likely to use protection, such as condoms. Conservative health spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that the problem was due to girls not having enough self-respect and not feeling able to say no to sex. Girls should have the right to say no. She said boys had always been interested in sex, but the promotion of contraception and teenage sex meant girls no longer felt able to say no to them.