Empower teenage mothers!

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Policies to combat adolescent pregnancy have focused on prevention, leaving without tools those who are already mothers

According to a report published in 2018, called 'The power to decide,' there are 62 out of every thousand young people who have children or who have been pregnant between the ages of 15 and 19 in the countries of Latin America. This places adolescent pregnancy in the spotlight and presents a challenge for public policies in these countries.

Leer en español: ¡Empoderemos a las madres adolescentes!

This is why states have tried to create public policies to reduce these high numbers of teenage pregnancies. Taking into account the main reasons why this happens, the systems created seek to prevent these situations, starting with sex education in schools and facilitating access to effective contraceptive methods.

For example, some of them, like in Chile, mean that medical institutions, both public and private, not only deliver contraceptives free of charge but must be accompanied by guidance. Likewise, education in schools is encouraged.

However, the discussion has focused on prevention and education. While those who are already mothers are left adrift of a country without possibilities, and, least of all, for a teenage mother.

Only prevention?

While the States look for ways to prevent girls from becoming pregnant, there are 62 out of every thousand, in Latin America, who already are pregnant. These girls, who decide to have their children, are slowly closing doors to their future. For example, when the case occurs in an environment of poverty, generally the mother's labor panorama becomes invisible, and she must dedicate herself exclusively to the home.

Although the focus is on public prevention policies, there are those who point you a step further. Women who are already mothers need the opportunity to be able to get ahead, emotionally and professionally.

The World Bank has a program in Cartagena, Colombia that seeks to empower those who have been very young mothers so that they can face the challenges that come to be. According to the page of the program, "the initiative provides adolescent mothers with the necessary tools to facilitate their entry into the labor market and to receive stable incomes that allow them to improve their quality of life and that of their families."

Right there, he affirms that the challenge with these women is very high, not only because of the conditions of poverty in which many are but because the culture of that region of the country turns out to be very macho, which makes it impossible to formalize them. However, the program has a comprehensive approach that allows not only to assist them in working terms but also to help them in the maternity process. That is, it seeks to help them both in the long term and in the short term.

Paraguay also has a program that helps teenage mothers to return to their studies to be able to move forward in the future. The School Reintegration Program of Girls and Adolescents in Situation of Pregnancy and Maternity allows creating environments in which they can be mothers without neglecting education, although in many cases their families or couples want them to dedicate themselves only to be mothers, for the same previous macho principle. Besides, they give them the tools to enter a productive and competitive world.

According to El Comercio, the leaders of this program "recognized the absence of public policies on the part of the Paraguayan State to care for pregnant girls and adolescents, and requested that educational institutions flexibilize the conditions so that minors can continue their studies in spite of to have been mothers. "

Read also: The drama of child maternity and forced pregnancy in Latin America

Teen pregnancy…

Most of these cases are due to lack of education or access to contraceptive methods and guidance when initiating sexual relations. However, countries aim to provide tools to prevent. According to El Tiempo, "sexist violence, lack of education, mainly in schools, and marriages or mating at an early age also play a role."

Having children, in many cases, has become a mistake, rather than a desire. This, not to mention also, that pregnant girls are not prepared, physically or emotionally to bring a baby to the world. An article in the Cuban Journal of Psychology says that the main risks of being a teenage mother are: "failure of the functions of adolescence, failure in the continuation of their studies or in their preparation for adult life, failure to build a stable family and failure to sustain herself, depending on her family ", thus precluding the experience of being a mother in an integral way.

In addition to the lack of preparation, being a mother at a young age presents health risks. When your body is not fully developed, the chances of mortality are high, both for them and for babies. According to El Punto newspaper, "they are not anatomically or physically or sentimentally prepared (…) they are not aware of what birth is and that it can lead to complications".

LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Suárez

Translated from "¡Empoderemos a las madres adolescentes!"