In South Africa, Ipas builds broad commitment to tackle child marriage, teen pregnancy and school dropout

June 12, 2026
Ipas

Child marriage, teen pregnancy and school dropout remain persistent challenges in South Africa, with girls and young women disproportionately affected. UNICEF estimates that about 250,000 learners drop out of school each year. The Department of Social Development in the country links many of these dropouts to child marriage and teen pregnancy, reporting that 4% of girls are married before age 18.

Against this backdrop, we’ve been building momentum, leadership and partnerships to address the impacts of child marriage, teen pregnancy and school dropout in the country. In May 2025, we held a high level gathering in South Africa, bringing together nearly 40 members of parliament from G20 countries and Eastern and Southern Africa to discuss the economic benefits of investing in women’s health. The gathering was part of Ipas’s longer-term strategy to build legislative support for sexual and reproductive health and rights, following the 2024 launch of the Eastern and Southern Africa Parliamentary Caucus.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/south-africa-child-marriage-teen-pregnancy-school-dropout/

Malaysia – Teen Pregnancy Data Is Incomplete Without Abortion Figures — Dr SP Choong

Dr SP Choong argues teen pregnancy data cited in a Ministry of Health report is misleading because it counts only hospital births, not abortions. He says the issue must also address access to safe, legal abortion and accurate information.

By CodeBlue
5 March 2026

I would like to comment on The Star‘s excellent and timely cover story on teen pregnancy, published on March 1, 2026. However, I must point out that the figures on teen pregnancies as quoted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) only indicate the number of teens delivering in hospital. They exclude those teens who have had their pregnancies terminated as they have no data on this.

As MOH hospital policy usually provide abortions where there is risk of severe medical complications, so most abortions are provided by the private sector, but the MOH does not collect this data, unlike most other countries. Therefore, the figures can only be estimates.

continued: https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2026/03/teen-pregnancy-data-is-incomplete-without-abortion-figures-dr-sp-choong/

05.03.2026

Opinion

abortion stigma

National Population and Family Development Board

Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia

The Underground Network Fighting for Teen Abortion Access in Texas

How a group of nonprofits in Texas is working together to usher minors across state lines for crucial reproductive care

By Olivia Rockeman
Aug 28, 2024

Throughout their early teens, DakotaRei Frausto struggled with premenstrual dysphoric disorder, a severe form of premenstrual syndrome, as well as anemia and chronic nausea. In 2021, at age 16, Frausto went to a handful of clinics in their home state of Texas to seek out a birth control prescription, hoping it would help address their symptoms. But each of the clinics brushed off their pain or referred them to brochures rather than getting them in front of doctors, and Frausto, feeling defeated, gave up on trying to access birth control.

Soon after, when Frausto was 17, they started to experience more severe PMDD symptoms than usual. A pregnancy test confirmed they were eight weeks pregnant. “When I did test positive, I knew for a fact abortion in Texas wouldn’t be an option for me,” Frausto said, noting that the state’s six-week abortion ban went into effect in September 2021. “My immediate next thought was: How am I going to scrape together the resources to travel?”

Continued: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a61973788/the-underground-network-fighting-for-teen-abortion-access-in-texas/

How Dominican women fight child marriage and teen pregnancy while facing total abortion bans

BY MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ
January 2, 2024

AZUA, Dominican Republic (AP) — It was a busy Saturday morning at Marcia González’s church. A bishop was visiting, and normally she would have been there helping with logistics, but on this day she was teaching sex education at a local school.

“I coordinate activities at the church and my husband is a deacon,” González said. “The bishop comes once a year and children are being confirmed, but I am here because this is important for my community.”

For 40 years, González and her husband have pushed for broader sex education in the Dominican Republic, one of four Latin American nations that criminalizes abortion without exceptions. Women face up to 2 years in prison for having an abortion; penalties for doctors or midwives range from 5 to 20 years.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/dominican-republic-abortion-child-marriage-teen-pregnancy-45a2dd71fc006c413ae1386f601e912d

Teen Pregnancy Plateaued, Abortion Through the Roof: UK Sexual Health in 2023

11 SEPTEMBER 2023
Population Matters
Dr. Rebecca Foljambe (edited transcript of presentation at Population Matters’ World Population Day webinar on education)

Where it all started for me was that I was a jobbing GP in the Midlands. One day a week I went over to the school across the road. They have well over 3000 children across this big academy and they presented me with a list of girls, that they deemed to be ‘at risk’ – there were well over 200 girls on that list.

We took seven or eight girls for seven or eight weeks at a time, giving them the information and, we hoped, some more confidence in caring for themselves in terms of their relationships and sexual health. The sessions worked around the topics of STIs, sexual health, body health, wellbeing, gender-based violence and healthy relationships. Over the space of a couple of years, we worked with over 100 girls, and it was incredibly rewarding.

Continued: https://populationmatters.org/news/2023/09/teen-pregnancy-plateaued-abortion-through-the-roof-uk-sexual-health-in-2023/

11.09.2023

Improved levels of care for teen mothers in Thailand

Teen mothers in Thailand are now receiving postpartum treatments and less stigmatisation.

By Danielle Summer
08/14/23

For years, thousands of teens have been forced to feel shame or guilt after conceiving an unplanned pregnancy under the age of 18. But in 2023, pregnant teens and adolescent mothers are getting valuable support in Thailand.

Although in 2020, abortion was decriminalised in Thailand, many women and girls continue to be denied the service by medical professionals. Due to objections from medical staff and a lack of affordable and convenient access to abortions, many women are forced to take matters into their own hands.

Continued: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/improved-levels-care-teen-mothers-thailand-1718508

14.08.2023

News

Aids and Unwanted Pregnancies Access Foundation

belief-based care denial

care denials

Khon Wai Sai

Nanthakan Sungsuman Woodham

Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand

Undercover in US-Backed Anti-Abortion Clinics in Uganda

VICE News
Jan 25, 2023
17:06 minute video

VICE News goes undercover in Uganda to investigate misinformation and coercion inside the American-backed centers that are convincing teenagers to keep their pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCzqEXa2SrI

State-level Abortion Restrictions Will Negatively Impact Teens and Children

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.

Continued: https://www.childtrends.org/blog/state-level-abortion-restrictions-will-negatively-impact-teens-and-children

20.10.2022

Abortion Bans Skirt a Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is a Dangerous Undertaking

Oct 9, 2022
Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Maryanna’s eyes widened as the waitress delivered dessert, a plate-sized chocolate chip cookie topped with hot fudge and ice cream.

Sitting in a booth at a Cheddar’s in Little Rock, Maryanna, 16, wasn’t sure of the last time she’d been to a sit-down restaurant. With two children — a daughter she birthed at 14 and a 4-month-old son — and sharing rent with her mother and sister for a cramped apartment with a dwindling number of working lights, Maryanna rarely got out, let alone to devour a Cheddar’s Legendary Monster Cookie.

Continued: https://www.physiciansweekly.com/abortion-bans-skirt-a-medical-reality-for-many-teens-childbirth-is-a-dangerous-undertaking/

Moroccan Association Declares Day of Mourning for Minor Dead After Abortion

The tragic incident has triggered outrage among Moroccan activists and women’s rights groups.

Sara Zouiten
Sep. 20, 2022

Rabat - Moroccan Outlaws 490, a social change organization, has declared Tuesday, September 20 as a day of mourning in the memory of Meriem, a 14-year-old girl who recently lost her life after undergoing a clandestine and unsafe abortion.

The group said in a statement: “Time to grieve … Meriem, 14 years old, raped, died on September 6th following an unsafe abortion, due to the unjust system of law we all know and live under.”

Continued: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2022/09/351440/moroccan-association-declares-day-of-mourning-for-minor-dead-after-abortion