Teen Pregnancy

The UK has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world, in fact, we are second only to the United States with 31 births per 1,000 for teens ages 15-19, whilst the US has 51 per 1,000. I have been aware of the fact that the UK has such a high teen pregnancy rate since my mum first had 'that' chat with me way back when boys were still an unknown oddity that shared the playground. However, until recent months I have never really had contact with teen mums, none of my friends have fallen pregnant and considering I have spent most of my teenage life in Torbay, (which has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the South West, and in fact outside of London is the only place in the country to have pregnancy levels rise by nearly 16% between 1998-2008) this is quite surprising. The current statistics suggest that 44 girls in 1,000 in Torbay have been pregnant.
Yet in the last 6 months two of my friends have had babies, and a further two have told me that they are expecting, and although they are all over 18 it is still quite a shock to think that some of my peers are now parents. There are thousands of reports into the reasons for the UK's rising pregnancy levels in teens, and they hardly ever contain oppinions from teenagers.
Paignton Community School has come under the closest scrutiny over teen mums in recent years since a 13 year old became pregnant and was even thrown out of her sex ed class for interruptions. A recent report said that many 14 year old girls in Torbay thought having a baby was like getting a new handbag. Kizzy Neal is one such example, and her father has blamed the growing 'gang culture', saying all teenagers now drink, do drugs and have sex. But as a teen growing up in Torbay I cannot agree with this, yes in the winter there is very little to keep teens occupied, but we do not all resort to drink, drugs and sex thank-you. As for the comments that it is seen as fashionable to have a baby I do not agree with this either, sometimes it is a complete accident, and no contraception is 100% safe.
In my personal opinion the schools need to rethink their sexual education classes because that is where the true failing is occurring. My own school had an appalling sexual education class, the only thing I can remember is being told aged 14 that if I had unprotected sex I would get cervical cancer. Not really an adequate education in the country with the second highest teenage pregnancy in the world, would you agree?