Adolescent fecundity has become the most exact bio-demographic and health indicator of development. The ignorance about sexuality and reproduction both in parents, teachers, and adolescents increases the early initiation of coital relations and of unwanted pregnancies. Extreme poverty and being the son or daughter of an adolescent mother are risk factors of repeating the early pregnancy model. As per a research in Kanachanpur District on March 2018, 27 mothers who visited Pipladi health post were between the ages of 16 and 19 years. Similarly, a research carried out by the Journal of Nepal Medical Association (JNMA) in a tertiary hospital in the western region of Nepal on Aswin 2018 says about the increase in the teenage mothers. According to JNMA, the mean age of teenage mother was 18.16±0.99 years.
With all these reports and researches we got to analyze why the rate of teenage pregnancy is being increased in every research. There are various reasons for rising in the teen pregnancy rate. A common standpoint is that majority of the teenage mothers had not completed their secondary education and were of low socioeconomic strata. And many of them are from Dalit communities. Uterine-prolapse, the birth of stunted children and other reproductive problems are common among teenage mothers. And with this, the very major cause of teen pregnancy can be said as poverty. With no any source for livelihood, we can find parents pushing their children for commercial sex works. In the context of Nepal, teenage pregnancy is more likely to occur in rural areas and this is also because of a lack of knowledge of pregnancy. The uneducated are the most victims. They just enter into a relationship without any caution. And the rate that we get from urban areas can also be because of friends influence. Some teenagers get into sexual relationships because of lust. In adolescent stages, both males and females go through some psychological and physical sexual feelings and may put into reality or act on it and end up with pregnancy. Along with these causes rape victims also come under teen pregnancy.
These pregnancies can be life-threatening, and limit girls’ opportunities to complete higher education. The situation is not getting better over time. We don’t see a projected decline in the adolescent birth rate, so we must act now. Education and awareness in the form of campaign, advertisements, road shows, and television or radio programmers are suggested for a decline in the rate of teenage marriages and teenage pregnancies in Nepal in the days to come. The action taken by the government regarding banning pornography from social networks and TV is a step towards minimization of teen pregnancy. Along with this, students and teenagers must be taught about sex especially in rural areas. When and how to have legal sex, the consequences of indiscriminate and casual sex, and the effects of teenage pregnancy. This must be done by God-fearing medical persons.
With the increase and decrease in the rate of teen pregnancy, there can be an indication about the declination and development of a nation respectively as it includes education level both in rural and urban areas, morality, health condition, economic condition etc. So, Nepal in the phase of development should also consider the ratio regarding teen pregnancy.
Sabita Hyanju
Kathmandu School of Law
B. A. LLB 2nd year
