May 21, 2025
Vanguard
Mrs Roseline Akinlabi, Adolescent Desk Officer, Osun Primary Health Care Board, says that child marriage and peer pressure are some factors responsible for increase in teenage pregnancy in the country.
Akinlabi said this during an enlightenment programme organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), The Challenge Initiative (TCI), on Wednesday in Osogbo.
Continued: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/05/why-teenage-pregnancy-is-on-the-rise-in-nigeria-expert/
Young people call for all sexual and reproductive health services including safe abortion rights
SHOBHA SHUKLA – CNS
08 Feb 2025
Donald Trump’s presidency is likely to have far-reaching consequences for sexual and reproductive health, bodily autonomy and human rights worldwide. He has already withdrawn USA’s financial support to the UN health agency World Health Organization (WHO), and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer share its invaluable expertise with the WHO.
Also all ongoing (as well as future) projects funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been put on immediate hold. Many of these are lifesaving health programmes, including those directly related to sexual and reproductive health services.
January 20, 2025
The Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) and partners stand in strong solidarity with advocates, civil society organizations, stakeholders, and policymakers in the Philippines in supporting the passage of Senate Bill No. 1979, also known as the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill (PAP Bill).
We are deeply concerned that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has announced his intention to veto Senate Bill 1979 in ‘its current form,’ just days after emphasizing that ‘the teaching of sex education in our schools is very, very, very important.’ This contradiction to his position is disheartening, especially given the severity of the adolescent pregnancy crisis in the Philippines. Moreover, it is alarming that his decision seems to have been influenced by the spread of misinformation and disinformation about the bill.
Continued: https://wgnrr.org/wgnrr-calls-for-urgent-passage-of-prevention-of-adolescent-pregnancy-bill/
28 November 2023
UNFPA
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – No one seemed to mind when Noelia* got a boyfriend. Nobody in her family said a word, even though her boyfriend was 18 years old and she was just 13.
When Noelia went to see the cardiologist who had cared for her since birth through the public health service, the doctor explained the risk of pregnancy to her, but not how to prevent it. Although her mother accompanied her to medical appointments and knew about her daughter’s relationship, she did not express any concerns. Nor did anyone at school explain sexual abuse or birth control methods to her.
Soon, Noelia stopped going to school. Then she stopped going to the health service. She was pregnant.
Continued: https://www.unfpa.org/news/childhood-cut-short-three-stories-adolescent-pregnancy-paraguay
Human Rights Watch
August 31, 2023
The National Confederation of Rural Women (Confederación Nacional de Mujeres del Campo or CONAMUCA), Network of United Youth Voices (Red Juvenil Voces Unidas), the Coalition for Women’s Life and Dignity (Coalición por la Vida y la Dignidad de las mujeres), and Human Rights Watch write in advance of the 94th session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the “Committee”) and its review of the Dominican Republic. This submission addresses articles 3, 6, 24, 28, and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and covers access to abortion and specific aspects of the right to education.
The total abortion ban in the Dominican Republic, in effect since 1884, threatens the health and lives of girls, women, and pregnant people, and is incompatible with the country’s international human rights obligations.
Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/31/dominican-republic-submission-un-committee-rights-child
Interviews in rural Senegal suggest adolescents still can’t get information on sexual and reproductive health, even in healthcare settings
Hester Phillips
06 July 2023
A serious lack of information and services for adolescents with HIV in rural Senegal is leading to unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and more babies being born with HIV.
What is the research about? - What happens when adolescents who were born with HIV reach an age when they begin to think about sex, and possibly become sexually active. Researchers interviewed 21 adolescent girls and 19 adolescent boys with HIV (ages 12-19) in rural areas outside Dakar. They also interviewed their parents/guardians and local healthcare workers.
Continued: https://www.beintheknow.org/news-and-blogs/adolescents-hiv-face-silence-over-sex-and-contraception
by Sade Oguntola
June 22, 2023
UNINTENDED pregnancy and induced abortion is a common experience among the sexually active street-involved adolescents, with a history of school attendance significantly reducing the likelihood of being pregnant, a study has revealed.
It added that those aged between 15 and 19 years who became pregnant are significantly less likely to abort.
20-May-2023
According to Ghana Statistical Service data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census, about 79,733 girls in Ghana aged 12 to 17 have been in a union, either married or living together with a man. Out of this number, 25,999 are girls of junior high school-going age (12 to 14 years).
In the Volta Region, it states that one out of four girls are married or are in a union before 18 years. According to the GHS District Health Information Management System (DHIMS), over 6,000 girls got pregnant between 2020 and 2021 alone.
Continued: https://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/local/news/202305/487762.php
SGGP
February 21, 2023
Some medical experts believed that minors lack basic knowledge and skills on protection and care for reproductive and sexual health, so they easily become victims of sexual abuse, leading to bad consequences. Lack of parents' and relatives’ care and schooling also worsened the problem.
According to the World Health Organization, children entering adolescence are going through many physical and psychological changes like exploring their own capabilities and expanding many new relationships. Teenagers having early sexual intercourse have a higher risk of sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancy, and unsafe abortion.
Continued: https://www.sggpnews.org.vn/teenagers-lack-knowledge-about-reproductive-health-post100396.html
Hannah Lantos, Emma Pliskin, Elizabeth Wildsmith, Jennifer Manlove
October 20, 2022
In a major public health success, the teen pregnancy rate has declined substantially over the past several decades, as has the teen abortion rate. In 2017, teens accounted for only 6 percent of all pregnancies and 9 percent of all abortions, compared to 12 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in 2006 (see Figure 1). We expect, however, that the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe V. Wade will be harmful for teens, particularly for populations at higher risk of unintended pregnancy—including Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous teens; teens who are bisexual; teens who live in low-income families; and teens who live in the South—due to the many systemic hardships undergirding health disparities more broadly in the United States. These hardships drive lower access to high-quality sexual and reproductive health care, contraception, confidential care, unbiased and nondiscriminatory health care, and comprehensive sex education.
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