Opinion: Editorial - Truth behind teen pregnancy headlines

Last week's release of provisional teenage pregnancy figures for 2003-04 proved another case in point. They showed that under-18 conception rates had fallen by 11.1 per cent since 1998, thus the Government had missed its target to reduce the figure by 15 per cent by the end of 2004 (see p6). But under-16 conceptions had fallen by 15.2 per cent. Not an unqualified success, but progress towards achieving a tough target, and most youth organisations concerned with sexual health welcomed this.

The Daily Telegraph splashed with the headline "150m plan has failed to cut teenage pregnancies", claiming ministers were "under pressure to close the Teenage Pregnancy Unit". The "pressure" came from the guy the Telegraph routinely wheels out in these circumstances: David Paton, an economist from Nottingham University Business School. "The Government should look closely at the unit's future," he parroted.