Untold dangers of teen pregnancies

 When nominated Senator Judith Sijeny sponsored a bill in Parliament to allow children as young as 10 have access to reproductive health services without necessarily acquiring parental consent, her remarks were met with a lot of criticism.

Parents and guardians argued this would promote promiscuity among teens.

 That bill will encourage promiscuity! It is a way to legalise pre-marital sex! Children will now face-off with their parents! Even children will be taught how to have sex! These were the arguments advanced by many. Whether true or not, doctors warn that early pregnancies could be detrimental to the health of the young mothers.

 The youngest mother to have given birth in Kenya was only 11 years, and doctors claim she was lucky to have survived.

 A while back, I visited Suguta village in Samburu where I met a 12-year-old who had just been betrothed to marry a man old enough to be her father. What awaits the poor girl is a lifetime of hardship as a mother and a wife.

She will give birth before she is 13 and chances are that by the time she celebrates her 40th birthday, her womb will have grown weary.

“While they have reproductive potential, adolescent girls are not ready for pregnancy,” says Dr John Ong’ech, a reproductive health specialist at Kenyatta National Hospital. “Their system is not mature to handle the rigours of carrying a child as well as birth.”

Child bearing at adolescence can be catastrophic, Dr Ong’ech warns.

In many cases, obstruction is likely to occur, leading to fistula, a condition that ruins many women’s lives.

But there’s more.

Dr Ong’ech says early births increase the chances of a girl having cervical cancer, as opposed to those who remain virgin for a considerable duration of time.

Real trouble lurks in the pregnancy. The younger a girl is, the higher the risk that she will suffer pre-eclampsia, haemorrhage and a host of other conditions associated with pregnancy.

According to Dr Ong’ech, if and when they give birth, the likelihood that they will suffer from post-partum depression is really high.

He says, “Adolescents are emotionally weak and are not psychologically mature to deal with the demands and reality of motherhood. Caring for a newborn can be tiring and terrifying.”

The earliest a woman can give birth without any complication is at the age of 18. This is the time, according to the medic, that a woman’s reproductive health system is well-formed and ready for a child. The safe zone, however, is above 20 years. Early motherhood, adds Dr Ong’ech, ruins a girl’s life, and not just medically.

What more reason do we need to protect our daughters from early pregnancy?