More stats needed on fathers of babies born to teenage mothers

I was disturbed and enraged when I received the news that more than 23 000 teenage pregnancies were reported in
Gauteng.

My immediate interpretation of this figure was that thousands of older boys and young men had taken advantage of
teenage girls.

The statistics sent shock throughout the country last week, while these young girls were often judged for either being too promiscuous, or even intentionally got pregnant to claim the monthly child grants.

A series of distasteful comments by men emerged on social media, who often passed the blame of pregnancy on the girls.

Comments such as: “Pregnancy is all about the women.

They must never give in to sexual advances unless it’s abuse, which then someone must be arrested for. The key is with the ladies… don’t give into these losers.”

Some of the comments also blamed the parents.

“So, are we going to look for blame elsewhere instead of condemning parents for lack of parental guidance? If you don’t warn your daughters of the outside world, expect to raise their daughters and sons.”

But I failed to believe that the majority of these pregnancies were a result of consensual sex.

Had it been consensual, I believe such a decision was not made by a mature mind, since some of these 23 000 pregnant girls were barely in their teens.

A portion of these young mothers were aged between 10 and 14, with 934 babies born to girls in that age group.

Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi revealed that 19 000 babies were delivered to those aged between 15 and 19.

A total of 3 000 girls aged between 10 and 19 terminated their pregnancies.

But where are the fathers? Society seems to place the onus of pregnancy on the girls, forgetting that a man or boy was involved in the conception of the child.

There are no statistics on how many men or teenage boys have impregnated young girls.

Mokgethi said her department did not have such information but that cases of statutory rape had been reported to the police and the social development department.

The department also did not collect information on statutory rape.

But in the US, statistics gathered by TeenMomNYC.com found that it was men aged between 20 and 29 who fathered 39% of children born to 15 year olds. On average, fathers were 9.8 years older than mothers aged 11 to 12.

Yet society has placed the issue of teenage pregnancies on awareness campaigns targeted solely at young girls on sex education and pregnancy prevention.

Teenage pregnancy is often marred with awareness campaigns for young girls on sex education and how to prevent pregnancy.

Very little emphasis, however, was on the fathers of these babies born to teenage mothers.

The health and social development departments and all relevant stakeholders should collect and release statistics of the men who have fathered babies born to teenage mothers.

This, along with assessing the psychology, family and socioeconomic circumstances of the pregnant teen, could assist greatly in putting an end to the phenomenon.