Welcome to Pregnancy Guide
The Effects Of Teenage Pregnancy Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
You may also listen to this article by using the following controls.
The Facts on Teenage Pregnancy in South Africa
from:As with many developing countries, the rate of teenage pregnancy in South Africa is high. Most people argue that this is a substantial problem for the country, and is an expression of a failure to help young girls deal with sexuality. This failure leads to not only pregnancies and abortions, but also to STDs and HIV and AIDS; many believe that adolescents in South Africa are in desperate need of adequate sex education and confidential contraceptive services.
There are many factors behind teenage pregnancy in South Africa. Often, adequate knowledge of contraception is lacking, due to negative attitudes regarding sexual activity before marriage. Young girls are not educated about contraceptive use because many believe there is no need to educate them; they must wait until they are married to have sex anyway.
Teenage pregnancy in South Africa is mainly a problem among women who live in rural, poverty-stricken areas; South Africa’s urban female adolescents, however, are also at a high risk of finding themselves pregnant at an early age. These urban girls have become addicted to drugs, alcohol, and expensive lifestyles; to ensure that they have the money for their desires, they sadly stumble onto the path of prostitution and often become pregnant and drop out of school.
Unfortunately, there are a number of myths, the most prominent being that sleeping with a virgin will cure HIV-AIDS, that actually promote the rape of young women. In many cases, these victims are left pregnant. Education regarding these myths and other issues relating to teenage pregnancy in South Africa are believed to be fundamental in dealing with the problem of adolescent pregnancy. Many education programs, however, are controversial, as is the practice of forcing a young girl who is visibly pregnant to drop out of school; furthermore, a consensus has not been reached as to what degree tradition should play in educating young girls.
One controversial practice that may be impacting teenage pregnancy in South Africa is that of virginity testing in rural KwaZulu-Natal, where girls on average between the ages of 7 and 26 allow a stranger to check if their hymens are intact. The girls are overjoyed when the test confirms they are virgins. People supporting this practice say that it is an effective tool in stopping the spread of teenage pregnancies and HIV, while opponents claim that the practice is unconstitutional, unhygienic and a violation of human rights. Advocates of the practice also agree that virginity testing is unhygienic at the moment, as the tester touches up to 600 girls a day, often with bare hands and without washing hands between girls; however, advocates claim that if the government supported the practice, there would be funding to purchase gloves, food, and areas where girls could be tested in private. Furthermore, many supporters of the practice argue that in a country where rape of young girls is prevalent, virginity testing is proving to be a useful method of uncovering sexual abuse on young girls who fear speaking out about it.
The Effects Of Teenage Pregnancy Specific links
The Effects Of Teenage Pregnancy News
Inject to avoid pregnancy - AsiaOne
 AsiaOne | Inject to avoid pregnancy AsiaOne, Singapore - SINGAPORE: To curb teenage pregnancies, the British government recently proposed to allow teen girls to be able to get contraceptive injections without ... |
Birth rate for young teens declines sharply in Milwaukee - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Birth rate for young teens declines sharply in Milwaukee Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI - ... Be Told" report spurred a citywide effort to treat teen pregnancy as a crisis that affects the entire community, not just the teen having the child. ... |
Talking to your kids about sex - Online Athens
Talking to your kids about sex Online Athens, GA - “The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Task Force was created not only to promote awareness about the far-reaching effects of teen pregnancy, but also to identify ... |
Study is first to link TV sex to teen parenthood - USA Today
 New York Times | Study is first to link TV sex to teen parenthood USA Today - Previous studies have linked sex on TV to earlier initiation of sex; this is the first to link TV sex to pregnancy. "I don't find it surprising," says Jane ... Sex on TV Increases Teen Pregnancy, Says Report Research study links racy TV shows to teen pregnancies Prop. 4 poses dangers |
Hawaii sticks with celibacy curriculum - Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Hawaii sticks with celibacy curriculum Honolulu Star-Bulletin, HI - But Stan Weed, a researcher on teen pregnancy prevention and abstinence at the Institute for Research and Evaluation, presented research to Congress in ... |
Teenage pregnancy rate on the increase in Alabama, nation - al.com
Teenage pregnancy rate on the increase in Alabama, nation al.com, AL - For the babies who survive, Tilly said, teen pregnancy can have long-term negative effects on the mothers and the children, predisposing both to a lifetime ... |
TV habits, risk of pregnancy linked - Boston Globe (registration)
 Boston Globe (registration) | TV habits, risk of pregnancy linked Boston Globe (registration), United States - (NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA) Despite recent successes in reducing teen pregnancy rates , the United States continues to have the ... |