A GROUP of clinics offering girls as young as 13 abortions without their parents’ knowledge is to be expanded under a Scottish executive plan to tackle teenage pregnancies.

Children will be offered free morning-after pills, flavoured condoms and tests for sexually transmitted diseases at the new clinics, the first of which opens in Falkirk this week.

A second centre will be launched in Aberdeen later this year as part of the plan to expand the number of sexual health clinics for young Scots, backed by at least £1.5m from the Scottish executive.

Caledonia Youth, which will operate both clinics, will be given £135,000 by the executive to run the Falkirk centre during the next year. The organisation, which already has clinics in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, is hopeful that ministers will support similar clinics planned for the Highlands and Argyll and Clyde.

However, Malcolm Chisholm, the Scottish health minister, is already facing a backlash from the Catholic church and campaigners for family values about the expansion of the sexual health centres.

The church has accused Chisholm of ignoring its concerns by pursuing a “failed” policy to tackle one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe and a rise in sexually transmitted diseases among young people.

Last week Archbishop Mario Conti criticised the executive’s proposed sexual health strategy — which could make morning-after pills and condoms more widely available to children — claiming that it focused on medical treatment rather than spiritual or social concerns.

“This was an opportunity for the executive to change tack but these openings seem to suggest that it is business as usual as far as sexual health is concerned — a biological, mechanical approach that has failed miserably for a generation,” said a spokesman for the church.

The expansion will almost double the number of clinics run by Caledonia Youth, a confidential sexual health support service formerly known as Brook Advisory Clinic.

As well as distributing free condoms and morning-after pills to children, it supplies postal testing kits for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease which can lead to infertility. Results are returned by post or e-mail.

Its literature advises young people: “You do not have to tell or get permission for an abortion from your parents or guardian.” The organisation, which offers “quick, free pregnancy tests”, does not carry out abortions at its clinics. Girls who want a termination are referred to hospitals.

The organisation has been targeted by anti-abortion campaigners in the past and Hawys Kilday, its chief executive, has been subjected to death threats.

Eileen McCloy of Not With My Child, a group campaigning for family values, said that her organisation intended to protest peacefully against the opening of the new clinics. “I would have to question the motives of any adult who wishes to keep the fact that a child has had an abortion from their parents who would love and support them,” she said.

However, a spokeswoman for Caledonia Youth said that nurses spoke at length with children before referring them for abortions and encouraged girls to discuss the idea with their parents before having a termination.

“It is very much a minority who are under 14 who use our services. Often a very young person feels they can’t talk to their parents. We would call for all of society to take an interest — parents, family or whoever to talk more openly about these issues,” she said.

A Scottish executive spokesman defended its support for the controversial services. “Feedback from young people showed a need for user-friendly and non-judgmental advice about sexual health and contraception,” he said.

“Organisations providing contraceptive advice to teenagers should accompany it with counselling aimed at encouraging them to consider whether they are yet ready for sexual relationships. That is the approach taken by Caledonia Youth.”

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