At Issue : Teenage Pregnancy : [2]

The second common cause of teenage pregnancy is unprotected sexual inter course amongst adolescents or between an adolescent and an older person with the consent of both parties for emotional, psychological or socio economic reasons.

For the unprepared adolescent the impact of the physical and hormonal changes may mar their ability to take good decisions as regards their sexual health. This is usually worse in situations where the word sex is considered a taboo and little or no information is made available to the teenagers.

The outcome of pregnancies in unmarried teenagers may vary from in different family/societal settings, however many of these girls end up having unsafe abortions which may lead to sub fertility or infertility later in life or even ultimately death from complications of the procedure which is usually performed by quacks in many developing nations.

In order to deliver our girls from this menace, proper and adequate sex education should be made available in various homes, schools, religious and social gatherings and in the society at large.

Abstinence, faithfulness to a partner and protection from sexually transmitted diseases with the use of condoms (if the teenager must engage in sexual intercourse) should be emphasized.

Parents and especially mothers need to be educated in order that they may serve as effective vehicles of change in their homes and in the community at large.

Pamphlets and tracts with simple messages on the impact of teenage pregnancy and contact addresses of support groups should be made available in the schools, churches, mosques and other religious gatherings and public places at large this will help improve awareness and curb this menace.

The promotion of female education and lucrative ventures such as small scale businesses, handiwork : tailoring, hairdressing etc; will also keep the girls too busy to look for sexual excitement that may culminate in teenage pregnancy.

Location based support groups for teenage mothers or pregnant teens should be established, this will also help the teenagers to make better choices on making progress given their current situation.
Homes for such teenagers may also be established, especially for those whom their families have not been supportive and the man involved is not ready to take responsibility for the unborn child.

Evening schools may also be organized for these adolescents so that this situation will not  mark the end of their education and hence promote the cycle of poverty and teenage pregnancy in the child to be born.