SIR - A doctor knows an under-age girl to be on contraceptive treatment or seeking an abortion.
He dare not tell her parents for he might be struck off for breach of confidentiality. The girl in such circumstances is deemed to be old enough to know her own mind.
However, in stark contrast, the mother of a teenage youth is jailed because she did not ensure that the young man attended school. Admittedly, the authorities have now had the sense to release her. Clearly like a girl seeking an abortion, this young fellow has a mind of his own.
He has had enough of school and probably wants a remunerated job. This is understandable. Sixty years ago, the school leaving age was 14 - and 50 years before that, it was 13.
Parents are not allowed to physically chastise their children and, in any case these days, most teenage lads are twice the size of their diminutive over-worked mothers. So how could this persecuted mum have compelled the young man to go to school?
What a contrast between the attitudes of the authorities to the parents of a young pregnant woman and to those of a strapping young man who has decided he has had enough of school.
Is there any justice left in this country - is there any sanity left?
D E MARGRETT,
Worcester.
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