We must address crisis of teenage pregnancies now

As pupils sat the KCPE last week, there was a brief but attention-grasping article buried inside The Standard.

The story was about 13 girls in Belgut who sat for the exam while pregnant.

The pregnancies were blamed mostly on bodaboda operators who allegedly offer girls free rides for sex. We don’t have statistics of under-age pregnancies in other constituencies, but we can bet that they are equally alarming.

The fact is, we have a crisis of teenage pregnancies but no one is giving it the necessary attention. Most parents simply sit back and hope that everything is okay.

But things aren’t always okay. It is estimated that eight out of every ten girls in Kenya below age of 20 are sexually active.

Withdrawal

We can choose to bury our heads in the sand and assume that everything is alright or admit that premarital sex is alive and well and take action.

Teenagers must be told in no uncertain terms that they must abstain from sex or embrace contraceptives to keep unwanted pregnancies at bay. They must also be educated about the many health risks of engaging in unprotected sex such as HIV/Aids.