Best Practice in Abortion Education

Why?

Education For Choice believes that all young people are entitled to make and act on informed choices about issues affecting their own lives. For young people to make informed choices about pregnancy and abortion they need to have: 

• Access to accurate, impartial information.
• An opportunity to explore the issues for themselves.
• Advice on the services available to them and how to access them.

Education For Choice’s experience of working with more than 5,000 young people a year indicates that they welcome the opportunity to discuss abortion. The topic of abortion is surrounded by myths and misinformation and for many, discussion within the classroom is a welcome and unique opportunity to untangle mixed messages and clarify the facts.

What?

Ensuring the delivery of non-directive education is essential if young people are to make informed choices. Teachers inviting an outside agency into school to complement their programme of work around Sex and Relationships or Religious Education should ensure that visitors work to the same good practice standards as school staff. 

How?

Exploring the issues unintended pregnancy and abortion raise can be done in a safe, non-judgmental way which neither promotes nor stigmatises particular choices. A good practice approach to abortion education and to working with outside agencies around it, will ensure that the school and/or agency:    

• Provides a safe learning environment in which individuals are respected and able to explore and express their views.
• Adopts an inclusive approach - for example, working from the assumption that a student in the group has direct experience of unintended pregnancy helps to ensure that language and activities do not alienate vulnerable young people.
• Utilises appropriate teaching materials and images.
• Discusses risk taking behaviour and how to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
• Values all pregnancy choices equally so as not to stigmatise particular options.
• Gives accurate, impartial information about abortion in relation to health and the law.
• Helps to dispel fear, shame and guilt, which are obstacles to young people’s learning.
• Values diversity and recognises that there is a spectrum of religious and secular views on abortion.
• Explores the ethical dilemmas abortion can present and enables students to form their own beliefs and opinions.
• Considers outside pressures and sources of influence in decision-making.
• Signposts young people to impartial sources of advice and support.
• Emphasises young people’s rights to make and act on informed choices.

Independent Guidelines

There is an anxiety shared by many teachers around the need to present a balanced picture of abortion. Education For Choice believes that the best way to achieve this balance is to value all pregnancy choices equally, so that none are distorted or stigmatised. Exploring and valuing a range of secular and religious viewpoints also achieves balance. Independent guidelines and recommendations about the teaching of abortion education echo these views:

‘It is all too easy to create a classroom debate in which views become polarised and miss the purpose of sex and relationships education in preparing pupils for the responsibilities and challenges of adult life. The challenge is to offer young people the opportunity to explore the dilemmas, enable them to know and understand about abortion, and develop the communication skills to discuss it with parents and health professionals.’ DfEE Sex and Relationship Education Guidance, 2000

‘The SRE elements of PSHE should include education about choice, and awareness campaigns on sexual health should address issues of abortion as a choice. Only in this way will we begin to change the culture of taboo and silence which surrounds abortion.’ The Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV, 2004

Though abortion is often perceived as a ‘sensitive’ topic, it is in fact something experienced by more than one in four women in the UK[1]. Abortion knows no cultural or religious bounds and women of every faith and from all walks of life access abortion services. Abortion education, therefore, is a necessary entitlement for all:

‘Sensitivity is subjective and therefore no topic should be deemed sensitive or non-sensitive. Assumptions may restrict learning opportunities or alienate sections of the audience.’ The Quality Assurance Framework, Healthy Schools & Healthier School Partnership, 2004

‘It is important that all schools enable children and young people to explore and understand that people have different values and beliefs…It is important to include a range of both religious and secular perspectives, and to ensure that children and young people know about their legal rights.’ Faith, Values & SRE, Sex Education Forum, 2002

A commitment to providing education for all is a value enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which likewise states that every child and young person has the right to: 

• Information that will allow them to make decisions about their health (Article 17).
• Reproductive health education and services (Article 24).
• The highest attainable health and access to health facilities (Article 24).
• Education which will help them learn, develop and reach their full potential and prepare them to be understanding and tolerant of others (Article 29).

A young person-centred approach to abortion education within both Sex and Relationships and Religious Education recognises that unintended pregnancy and abortion is likely to affect everyone at some point in their lives. Providing non-directive education equips young people with the attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable them to make and act on informed choices.

[1] The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortions, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 2004