Bermuda should start a campaign to urge teens to abstain from sex to curb the rise in under-age pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and crime, a Government Senator urged yesterday.

Sen. Patrice Parris said she was horrified to hear stories of 12-year-old girls having illegal sexual relationships with men in their twenties.

She said the answer was to urge abstinence to improve self-esteem among teens rather than simply offering them condoms and the pill.

United Bermuda Party Sen. Mark Pettingill said a curfew should be imposed on children under 16 and said Government should introduce a Parental Responsibility Act so adults would be held responsible for the criminal behaviour of their offspring.

But Senate Leader Milton Scott said a Parental Responsibility Act would result in reckless parents abandoning their children to the care of the state.

Sen. Parris said the problem was prevalent in public and private schools and could lead young girls into prostitution.

"That does not mean standing in corners. They are exchanging sexual favours for monetary things and because we are so caught up in materialism that leads to a lack of self-respect for themselves,'' she said.

"Sexual abuse and substance abuse can all stem from this premature sexual activity.

"It is normal for teenagers to want to explore sex and people may say teenagers have been becoming parents for years and it's nothing, but we are living in a completely different environment from our grandparents.

"A 15-minute talk or half hour lecture on teenage sex won't work, and neither will distribution of packets of condoms or birth control pills. I call on the community in Bermuda to start a campaign of abstinence among young people.'' She said at a recent conference on population in the Bahamas she was impressed by the young delegates who said they didn't simply want condoms, and they had asked why they didn't discuss abstinence.

Parents also had to set an example. It was no use a single mother getting angry with her teenage daughter for becoming pregnant if she was living with a boyfriend and not setting an example.

Neither was a man who complains about becoming a grandfather when he has fathered a host of children to different women setting a proper example.

"This is not acceptable and we can't preach what we don't live,'' she said.

"The churches and the Government and everyone here has a role to play. It must be a joint effort.

"If we are truly concerned about the health of our young people we must take a stand and promote vigorously the issue of abstinence among young people.'' Sen. Pettingill said it was alarming the number of clients he had to defend who were as young as eight.

"The answer may lie in some kind of Parental Responsibility Act that lays the onus strongly on the parent. Parents should know what their children under the age of 16 are doing at 11 p.m.

"We could hit them in the pocket book or (order) supervision and making it a criminal offence (not) to be responsible for their children.

Senator calls for `abstain from sex' campaign "If a young 14-year-old girl is out driving at night with a 30-year-old man and going to clubs, you are not being a responsible parent.

"We should consider a curfew for young people under 16. We see it in the US and other places where the young are getting into trouble and they impose a curfew. If a teenager is clubbing until 1 a.m., they can't do that if there's a curfew.

"A curfew would encompass parental responsibility. Some people, no matter what you say, are not going to be interested. They have children and they are not being responsible and so it is time that if they are not doing it voluntarily we should make laws to ensure people take responsibility for their children.'' Sen. Milton Scott said it would take more than a Parental Responsibility Act to tackle the problem. "If you had a parental responsibility act, parents would say `take my child, now its the responsibility of the state'.'' He said there were "lots of parents'' out there who would gladly like to see the state take over responsibility for their children, and "we would need a facility half the size of Westgate to handle the children who are experiencing difficulties''.

Sen. Scott said Bermuda since the 1940s had failed to provide proper services to help teens make the transition into adulthood.

He said he was concerned that there were "sinister and mean-spirited'' teens in Bermuda today that there had never been before.

But he was encouraged by the number of teens striving to do the best for themselves.