A BROMSGROVE school has been earmarked as one of three in Worcestershire where on-the-spot emergency contraception will be available to teenage girls.

There are currently five schools in the county where the morning after pill can be dispensed. Now another three are due to start the service, with one of them in Bromsgrove. The Advertiser/Messenger understands the preferred choice is South Bromsgrove High but a final decision has not been made.

The pill, which has to be given within 72 hours of sex, will be available without the consent of parents, which is proving controversial. It is most effective if taken within the first 24 hours.

Worcestershire county councillor June Longmuir (Con-Bromsgrove South), cabinet member responsible for education, said the proposal, which is part of The Teenage Pregnancy Action Plan, had not been agreed by councillors but by unelected members of the Worcestershire Partnership.

"I find it extraordinary that at a time when we are saying parents must take a greater responsibility for their children, such an important issue is being taken out of the parents' hands," she said.

"This sends out confused messages and it seems that we want to pick and choose the issues in which parents can have a role in their children's lives. I think parents would expect to be involved in decisions of this kind."

She added: "I understand that there are problems with underage pregnancy but it is important to have a strategy that does not go against the principle of encouraging greater parental responsibility."

But Jennie Kimberley, Teenage Pregnancy co-ordinator, defended the move and said it was implementation of national government policy.

"Currently school nurses visit schools and offer young people advice, including advice on sexual matters. This is part of a package of support in which young women are encouraged to discuss any decision with parents but confidentiality would be respected if they did not want to," she said.

"This is exactly the same situation as applies if a young woman goes to the doctors or to a hospital contraception unit."

Levels of teenage pregnancies in Worcestershire are 36.4 per thousand, compared with a national rate of 47 per thousand but there are 'hot spots' in the county where rates are much higher.

Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Western Europe.

The morning after pill is available in schools in other European countries, including France, where teenage pregnancy levels are much lower than those in the UK.