I AM totally confused at recent guidelines, issued by the Government, which allow for teenagers -- some under the legal age for sex -- to have an abortion without the knowledge of their parents. Have these guidelines been thoroughly thought through?

On the one hand, parents can quite justifiably be prosecuted if their children persistently truant from school; yet those same parents could be denied access to information which could change the shape of their child's life for ever.

What happens should anything go wrong? Could parents who might otherwise be unaware of their daughter's sexual activity, find themselves being informed of her death as a result of an abortion carried out by a complete stranger without their knowledge or consent?

Despite sex education and advice about contraception being widely available in this country for some time, we still have one of the highest --perhaps the highest -- levels of teenage pregnancies in the whole of mainland Europe.

Perhaps it is time that we had a long, hard look at ourselves and, instead of worrying about whether it is safe for the Women's Institute to supply much-appreciated home-baked cakes to a hospital, we should concentrate on those elements in society which seek to influence our young people, robbing many of them of what should be the most carefree time of their lives.

COUNCILLOR

DOROTHY GUNTHER,

North Manor Ward.