Tuesday Topic, with Christine Nuttall

PREGNANCY is a worrying time for most women.

The thought of bringing a new life into the world and being directly responsible for its welfare is a daunting prospect for any parent.

But when the expectant mother is just 15 and carrying a baby whose father is a child himself, the nine month pregnancy can be a time of confusion, turmoil and bitter isolation.

Sean Stewart, 11, is set to become the youngest father in Britain after making 15-year-old Emma Webster pregnant.

The shocking news has prompted a nationwide debate on the issue of gymslip mums.

And while teenage pregnancies may be the source of a cheap snigger among bar-room bores, for the youngsters involved they are a real tragedy. In 1995 alone there were 270 such tragedies in East Lancashire.

The medical fraternity are constantly faced with the dilemma of the best way of preventing yet more girls becoming part of the official statistics.

According to the Government's Central Statistical Office, between 1993-5 nearly nine per cent of all conceptions in East Lancashire were to mothers aged 16 or under. Half of these went on to have the baby, the other half had abortions.

Actress Rebecca Loudonsack, who plays 13-year-old gymslip mum Emma Cairns in the TV soap Emmerdale, spoke about the traumatic problems faced by her character. A pupil at Westholme School, Blackburn, Rebecca, said: "Emma found it extremely hard to cope with having the baby. Various different factors led to her giving the baby away. It was no doubt the best move for her. She wanted to be a normal teenager but having the baby meant she unable to do this."

Rebecca added: "She isn't emotionally ready for the baby. She is too young. All the attention the baby needed meant that she wasn't getting any attention herself."

She talked of her difficulty in playing the part.

"I found it hard to put myself in that situation. I kept feeling I wanted to detach myself from it because it is not a situation by choice which I would find myself in in real life."

Sheila Shaw, centre manager for the Brook Advisory Centre, Blackburn, said that children may reach the age of puberty younger and be able to have sex but they are not ready to cope with it emotionally. The centre on Darwen Street, Blackburn, offers free advice on birth control and provides contraceptives for young people.

Sheila added: "We are not encouraging young people to have sex. Research shows the more information they get and the better educated they are, the more likely they are to wait until they are older to have sex."

Pregnant teenagers who are too late for sex education are offered a whole variety of services to help before and after the birth.

Pauline Quinn, maternity manager at Queen's Park Hospital in Blackburn, said: "If they were in full-time education there is the opportunity to continue their studies. A midwife and health visitor visit the classes and offer information to the teenage mums-to-be."

But despite such services a young girl having an unplanned pregnancy is facing a lot of problems.

"It is so very traumatic," said Sheila. "There are all kinds of difficulties such as confusion about what is happening to their body or inability to deal with the stigma about the pregnancy."

She added: "They also miss out on a lot of things that teenagers feel they are entitled to."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.