Teen Mothers

Child promiscuity resulting in unwanted pregnancies is “the most pressing issue in our society at present,” says Dr. Charl Roux, head of family planning in the department of gynecology at Cape Town’s Tygerberg Hospital. In 1984, 20 percent of all births recorded at this hospital were to teenage mothers, two of whom, at 19 years of age, were pregnant for the ninth time. Dr. Roux said that by failing to teach their young children the facts of life and by not setting a good example, adults are responsible for a large part of the social problems that result. “It is the responsibility of parents to foster a climate which prevents the possibility of the child being too scared or inhibited to discuss matters of this kind with them,” he said.

‘Teen Pregnancy Epidemic’

“Teen pregnancy is so widespread throughout the world,” states psychologist Michael A. Carrera, professor of health sciences at New York’s Hunter College, “that to call attention to it by saying it is of epidemic proportions is fair, and it should harken us to action.” At a rate of about one million unwanted teenage pregnancies a year, the United States leads other developed nations by a wide margin. According to Carrera, sex-education programs for teenagers do not prove effective because they fail to take their religious, social, and cultural values into consideration.