GPs call for new law on underage birth control

DOCTORS have called for new laws regarding their rights to prescribe contraception to those below the age of consent.

The chairman of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Eamonn Shanahan, said he “genuinely has no idea” where GPs stand in the eyes of the law following the introduction of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006 in the wake of the A case.

Following the fallout from the A case, where a convicted sex offender was temporarily released from prison after the High Court struck down the statutory rape laws, the Government raised the age of consent to 17 for boys, while the age of consent for girls remained at 17. Controversially, under the new legislation if two teens under the age of consent have sex, only the boy will be guilty of an offence.