NHS to build sexual health clinics near Catholic schools

CATHOLIC educationalists have clashed with NHS Scotland over plans to establish drop-in sexual health centres near denominational schools, writes Brian Morton.

Health chiefs in Lothian and Lanarkshire want a “much more proactive role” in providing sexual health advice, arguing that sex education in Catholic schools is not equipping young people with the information and access to services that they need.

They claim that Catholic pupils need access to clinics which can advise on avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

A submission from NHS Lanarkshire to the Scottish Government’s Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy states that “objective, non-judgemental information and support [in matters of contraception and STIs] is very difficult to achieve when we still have state-sponsored education on the basis of religious belief”.

In a response from the Scottish Catholic Education Service (SCES), director Michael McGrath said it was “most unfortunate” that Catholic education should be described in this way, “implying children are being forced to enrol against the wishes of their parents”.

Mr McGrath added that NHS Lanarkshire’s “biased view” was compounded by the “absurd claim that all mentions of sexual health were ‘vetoed’ in Catholic schools.”

The SCES believes that sex and relationship education does not need to be supplemented with mandatory access to sexual health services, including advice on abortion and contraception. Its submission to the consultation says the government proposal “smacks of an underhand strategy which appears determined to impose a moral standpoint in direct opposition to the moral perspectives proposed by Catholic schools and the wishes of parents who choose Catholic education for their children”.

Meanwhile, the Humanist Society Scotland (HSS) has called for an end to religious influence in Scottish schools. Written by a group of Glasgow University academics, the 350-page report argues that religious denominations exert more influence than ever in Scottish education.