A SCHOOL was today accused of promoting under-age sex after it was revealed free morning after pills were on offer to teenage pupils.

Fearns High School, Bacup, is believed to be the first in the country to pilot the scheme, which is being run by the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust.

It was launched to help cut the number of teenage pregnancies in the area.

But the move has been fiercely criticised by the pro-life Society for the Protection of Unborn Children which says the project could be seen by youngsters as a licence to have sex.

The information and advice centre at Fearns is led by a GP, the school nurse and a youth worker.

The scheme was set up primarily to deal with contraception issues but offers advice on all health issues.

The Primary Care Trust said the GP leading the twice-weekly sessions has been given permission to hand out the morning after pill.

General Medical Council guidelines say the pill can only be given out if it is in the best interests of the patient and the GP is then bound by confidentiality rules not to tell the girl's parents.

Today Tony Mullet, the North West's spokesman for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, a pro-life group which campaigns for the rights of the unborn child, said: "The morning after pill will not reduce teenage pregnancy.

"It is merely promoting the notion of having irresponsible sexual relationships at an age which is far too young.

"There are also potential health hazards with the morning after pill, which has never been tested on youngsters, and there is the question of who is having sex with these young girls? Is the school promoting criminal activity?

"This sort of move is destroying young people's physical, spiritual and moral life."

The scheme started last term and will continue when pupils return after the summer break.

Government figures show girls in Hyndburn, Burnley and Pendle are also more likely to have abortions than anywhere else in the county -- with as many as eight under 16s per thousand having terminations.

In Rossendale, the average teenage pregnancies in 1999 for under 18s was 45.7 per thousand of the population.

The drive to cut the number of schoolgirl mums follows the publication of the NHS performance ratings which show that the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT is performing below average in the area of conception below age 18.

Burnley MP Peter Pike has also raised concerns about the number of teenage pregnancies.

Claire Jackson, the teenage pregnancy co-ordinator for East Lancashire, said all the initiatives were aimed at making sure young people were properly informed about sex and pregnancy and the choices they had.

She added: "We are trying to encourage young people to get the right information and make the right choices so that they do not have an unplanned pregnancy. But you also have to offer them support should they want to go through with a pregnancy."

Former Fearns headteacher Neil Thornley, who retired last term, said the scheme was "not and never has been" a free contraceptive service but had been set up to offer children advice on a full range of health issues and had been very successful.