It is the latest shot in the soap ratings war with EastEnders following hot on the heels of Coronation Street.
On Thursday EastEnders' fans will see schoolgirl Sonia Jackson (Natalie Cassidy) burst into tears after losing her virginity to Martin Fowler (James Alexandrou) following a drunken night together.
And, in yet another sensational storyline to be screened soon, 15- year-old Nicky di Marco seduces a teacher 20 years her senior.
The two new EastEnders storylines come only days after Coronation Street viewers discovered that 13-year-old Sarah Louise Platt (Tina O'Brien) was pregnant.
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"It's totally irresponsible to show 13- and 14-year-olds having sex," said Valerie Riches of Family and Youth Concern. "They are glamorising it. These programmes give out the wrong message to young people, and programme-makers are only doing it to boost ratings."
But Dr David Bull, an expert on the problems of teenage sex, says the soaps are fulfilling a useful role by raising a subject many parents fail to discuss with their children. "We're too embarrassed to talk about sex, so we often don't even bother to try." says Dr Bull.
"But millions of children and their parents watch Coronation Street and EastEnders together. The latest goings-on could be a great starting point for them to start chatting about sex. If they can talk about it teens are more likely to wait and be more careful about using contraception."
A recent report found that half of Dutch teenagers - who have sex later than those in Britain - regularly talk about it with their parents. Yet only a quarter of British teenagers feel able to chat about sex with their mothers. The result is a quarter of all British teenagers have sex before they are 16 and we have the highest rate of teenage mothers in Europe.
But under-age sex on the soaps is still a controversial issue - and here experts from both sides put their views...
YES
ANN WIDDECOMBE Shadow Home Secretary
WE all accept that a good book or a moving film can uplift us or make us more thoughtful. A really powerful work can even change the way we think.
Yet we also run away from the simple truth that a bad work can corrupt, that a piece of literature or film or television soap can change our values.
The news that Coronation Street and EastEnders are portraying very young girls having sex and, in one case, getting pregnant, sets alarm bells ringing.
My only hope is that the aim of the writers will be to put young girls off any action which might result in them becoming mothers at an early age. But we are also faced here with the issue of underage sex - all at 7.30pm when young children are watching. It is senseless to think that children are not affected by what they see on television.
If the portrayal of a stable, united, family becomes the exception then that is the unsavoury message our children will absorb - that family life is the exception rather than the rule.
I am not suggesting that our screens should be filled with fairy- tales, but we do have record divorce rates, record teenage pregnancies, high rates of suicide and rampant crime.
Television drama does precious little to counter it. Yet it could - and it should.
NO
SIMON BLAKE of the Sex Education Forum
NOT talking about sex doesn't maintain a child's innocence, it simply supports their ignorance.
But, in every school, children talk about soap operas, and that gives shows like Coronation Street and EastEnders the perfect chance to raise the issues of sex, sexually- transmitted disease and pregnancy.
Some people say sex education encourages adolescent sex, but most of us who work in the area realise it has the opposite effect.
Effective sex education works if it includes information on how and where to get help and support about contraception and safer sex.
This type of sex education will help to delay first sex and increase the likelihood of young people using contraception when they do decide to have sex.
Young people tell us their sex knowledge is often too little, too late and too 'biological'.
While we argue about homosexuality and marriage in the media and in Parliament, our children turn to each other for information, much of which is incorrect and frightening.
One young man told me: "Parents always tell you about the consequences of sex, but never the fun." Another added: "So you just have to find out for yourself."
When the Government issues its guidance on sex education in schools, we hope it will stress the importance of working in partnerships with parents.
Copyright 2000 MGN LTD
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