Groups want more done for unmarried and pregnant girls

PETALING JAYA: Although the number of teen pregnancies has steadily gone down over the years, women groups want authorities to provide comprehensive education and protection for unmarried pregnant girls.

Women’s Aid Organisation vice-president Meera Samanther said there are still unreported cases due to stigma and an insufficient support system.

“We still need comprehensive sexuality education and access to reproductive health services,” she said.

WOMEN:girls founder-president Low Ngai Yuen said there are concerns about teenage girls delivering babies under the radar with some involving incestuous relationships, she said.

Low said a holistic education syllabus which includes sexual education is important.

“It should not just involve abstinence.

“We want to educate teenagers about responsible sexual behaviour, relationships, contraception use and knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases,” she said.

According to the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, the number of pregnan- cies of girls between 10 and 19 have declined from 17,588 cases in 2013 to 16,528 cases in 2014, 13,831 cases in 2015 and 12,492 cases in 2016.

From the total, there were 4,127 cases of unmarried pregnant teens in 2013, 3,980 in 2014, 3,980 in 2015 and 3,938 cases in 2016.

Women and Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim dismissed claims that the reduction was because girls are afraid to come out and report such cases.

She said the Government had put in place laws, advocacy programmes as well as awareness campaigns to address the issue.

She believed these initiatives contributed to the drop in the number of teen pregnancies.

“In our programmes, we educate girls on the implication of getting pregnant as some are not physically or mentally prepared for it.

“We also received support from various non-governmental organisations who are working on the ground to help these young women,” she said.

We still need comprehensive sexuality education. Meera Samanther