London: A 13-year-old boy is set to become one of the country's youngest fathers after his 14-year-old girlfriend became pregnant.
The two children, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, attend the same school. But the girl, who is several months pregnant, is in the year above the boy.
It is the latest in a history of under-age pregnancies in Poole, Dorset. In 1997, Jenny Teague became the country's youngest mother when she gave birth, aged 12, to daughter Sasha.
Two years later, sisters Charlene, 17, and Miranda Way, 15, from Poole gave birth within months of each other.
The local authority has obtained a court order to stop the children in the latest case being identified.
Sean Stewart became Britain's youngest known father when, in 1998, at the age of just 12, his nextdoor neighbour Emma Webster, 15, gave birth to their baby in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire.
Teenage pregnancies are now at their highest for a decade. And pregnancies among girls under 16 — below the age of consent — are also at their highest since 1998.
The government has tried to cut teenage pregnancies by handing out free contraceptives and expanding sex education.
Most pregnancies among girls under 18 end in abortion. Of about 40,000 pregnancies last year, more than 20,000 were terminated — the first time more had chosen this option than became mothers.
Abortions for teenagers have gone up by more than a quarter since Labour came to power in 1997.
Last year, the total number abortions in England and Wales topped 200,000 for the first time.
