The contraception controversy isn’t limited to the United States. The United Kingdom is experiencing controversy too, along with a sexual health epidemic.

Teen pregnancies are increasing in England. In 2005, underage pregnancies went up 4%, the biggest increase in a decade. According to The Daily Mail, England and Wales have the highest-rate of teenage pregnancies in Europe, with the biggest recent increase for girls under age 16. A tenth of all 13-15 year old girls have gone to a community contraception clinic. Nearly a quarter of sexually active 13-year-olds have had four or more sexual partners, and their parents are clueless. Three in four parents thought their sexually active teens were still virgins.

In Dorset, health officials are responding by making it easier for teens to obtain emergency contraception. The Telegraph said instead of “having to answer embarrassing questions about their private lives,” girls can fill out a card requesting emergency contraception and then turn it in to the pharmacy. Keith Williams, health program advisor at Dorset Primary Care Trust, said this enables teens to avoid the stigma of admitting they’ve had unprotected sex: “These cards can be put on the counter rather than having to ask. It is almost adding a degree of confidentiality; people can do it almost without speaking.”

Britain’s Health Minister Lord Darzi just announced a plan that would allow pharmacists to dispense the pill to girls under age 16 without a prescription. The Daily Mail found that even a 12-year-old girl can easily obtain the morning after pill just by walking into a pharmacy, telling her age and doctor, when she had sex and whether she used protection. The law requires pharmacists to encourage girls under 16 to talk to their parents, but none of the pharmacists in Daily Mail’s investigation did so.