Cervical cancer jab for girls aged 12 can be given without parental consent



Family rights campaigners have called for a change in the law after it was revealed that girls as young as 12 can be given the cervical cancer vaccine without their parents’ consent.

Doctors and nurses have been told they are under no legal obligation to seek the permission of the parent or guardian.

The jab is being offered to girls between 12 and 18 as part of a nationwide programme designed to protect them against the sexually transmitted HPV virus, which causes 70 per cent of cervical tumours.

Anger: Doctors have been told there is no legal obligation to seek parental consent before giving girls aged 12 the cervical cancer vaccine

Opponents have argued that giving girls the jab and protecting them against a sexually transmitted infection before they are even teenagers is giving them the go-ahead to experiment sexually.



Norman Wells, director of Family and Youth Concern, said: ‘Giving the vaccination to girls without the consent of their parents is unethical and a recipe for disaster.

'It is sending out the message that girls under 16 have a right to a private sex life and is treating parents with contempt.’

The Department of Health confirmed that parental consent was desirable but not essential.