TEENAGE PREGNANCIES-CAUSES, THREATS AND SOLUTIONS

Here and there, and in every corner, we chance upon underage girls bearing heavy abdominal fetal loads. Sadly, sometimes these teenagers do not carry only pregnancy weights. They are forced to fend for themselves and their unborn babies by doing menial physical works such as street hawking and selling of firewood. As explained above, teenage pregnancy refers to situations where teen girls prematurely get impregnated by males, usually adults. Majority of the victims of teenage pregnancy forcefully drop out of school to seek antenatal and postnatal care. The male accomplices of teenage pregnancies usually either deny having any carnal knowledge of such victims, or even if they claim responsibility for such pregnancies, they are economically helpless to the young mothers.  This article seeks to list the causes and dangers associated with teenage pregnancies.

Poverty plays a great role in causing teenage pregnancies. The lack of resources to cater for basic necessities such as food, water, clothing and shelter sometimes motivates young girls to enter into romantic relationships with adults or other teenage boys. These young girls request their boyfriends to buy them phones, foot wear, clothing, pampers and other things. However, nothing comes for free. In science, the law of conservation of energy states that, ‘energy is neither created nor destroyed, but can be converted from one form to another’. In other words, this refers to the first law of thermodynamics. What I am trying to drive across is that, after buying gifts for their young girlfriends, the male counterparts demand for sex. It’s more like, give and take. When unprotected sexual intercourse takes between these kids and their partners in crime, the end result can be unexpected pregnancies.

Rape and defilement also fairly contribute to the rampant occurrence of teenage pregnancies. Rape refers to forced sexual intercourse. On the other hand, defilement is a situation where an adult lures a sexually immature young person into sex. It’s normally grown up men who indulge in these unlawful sexual activities with young girls who haven’t attained the legal age of 18 years. When a teenage girl is raped or defiled by an adult male without contraceptive protection, pregnancy could possibly occur.

Another cause of teenage pregnancy is the organization of parties or social functions. Festivals, Xmas parties, and other social gatherings serve as fertile grounds for the breeding of illicit sexual activities. In our world today, entertainment programs involving live band performance of music from artists (musicians) are very common. Most of these programs are usually timed late in the night. When teenagers patronize these adult programs by defying parental advice, they could fall into inescapable sexual traps set by males. The end result here could be teenage pregnancy.

Access to electronic device such as television, mobile phones, and computers also expose teenagers to a high risk of sexual activities. Some television programs screen adult movies where kissing, romance and sometimes hardcore sexual intercourse is openly displayed. If teenagers aren’t properly monitored by parents, these youngsters can frequently watch such explicit programs. They could then be tempted to engage in sexual activities; the end result of which is teenage pregnancy. In other instances, teenagers use mobile phones to access the internet and download pornographic materials to view. After getting sexually excited by watching obscene content, teenagers become prone to accepting sexual advances from adult males. This can definitely lead to pregnancies.

Finally, I feel proud that I was able to list and explain some causes of teenage pregnancies in the country. The social ramifications from teenage pregnancies is so bad such that no one wishes to ever to have a teenage daughter go through that mess. Because the young bodies of teenagers aren’t fully mature to host a pregnancy, the pregnancies could unnaturally develop outside their wombs. This is termed as ectopic pregnancies. There are lot of dangers associated with ectopic pregnancies such as birth complications. Some other negative effects of teenage pregnancies include school dropout, stigmatization, vilification, child labour, illegitimate (fatherless) children, prostitution, overpopulation and other repercussions.

Sex education on adolescent reproductive health must be intensified in the basic school. This will create their awareness of the dangers associated with teenage pregnancies and also equip them with knowledge on contraceptive methods. Also, the adult male culprits who indiscriminately impregnate minors should be held responsible, and if possible, prosecuted. They should be made to know that they can’t go scot free after endangering girls with unwanted pregnancies. These solutions might help to bring down teenage pregnancy figures.

Thanks.

Writer: Robert Abalungo (Bob Bright)

BSc. Physics, KNUST

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