Unplanned pregnancy among teenagers poses an enormous social, financial and public health challenge in developing and developed countries. In Britain, research from the Social Exclusion Unit1 shows a continuing rise in the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and a lowering of the age of first sexual intercourse. The British Teenage Pregnancy Strategy set a target of halving the conception rates among under-18-year-olds by 2010. To date there has been a decline of only 13.3%.2

In 2009 a review of the British National Strategy for Sexual Health and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus recommended statutory sex and relationship education for children between the ages of 5 and 14 years. However, the external …