Who Is To Blame For Increased Teen Pregnancy In Kenya?

By Lynnet Awino

Unplanned pregnancy and acquiring sexually transmitted infection at an early age can bend down a girl’s health, education, hopes, and dreams, especially at a time when she is full of possibilities, hence the use of family planning methods among these young girls.

The fact that girls become sexually active at an early age nowadays exposes them to a hostile environment where they can easily get early pregnancies.

Many parents are worried about this matter and in order to avoid embarrassment, they introduce these young girls to family planning without any consultation or even proper guidance. In their quest to block what they call headaches they put these youngsters in situations that will later shape and change their lives in ways they never expected.

It is even worse for those girls who are forced to do these because their parents are afraid there could be a reoccurrence of pregnancies because it happened to their elder sister(s)or to their friends.

So many girls are a victim of being subjected to using family planning even before they become sexually active because of their parent’s fears, a fact that expose them to start practicing sexual intercourse for revenge. Very strange.

I had an encounter with a thirteen-year-old girl in Homabay county who was subjected to using family planning specifically, a five-year implant on her arms. And she talks bitterly that she will now engage in sexual activity as much as she wants since that’s what her parent thought of her to be. I mean now that she will not get pregnant what’s the need pf keeping it tight. Okay, I was shocked to hear this but then I understand where she’s coming from. She added that there was no way shell be having an implant on her arm and not have sex.

This is the tenacity of introducing your girl to these methods without paying close attention and analyzing who she is. What if she gets pregnant? What if? You only work with assumptions.

So then it means as a girl your free to have as many boyfriends and play sex much as you want at thirteen or fifteen provided you won’t get pregnant. What a shame.

So you cannot sit down with your child as a parent, (especially this should be directed to mothers because they are directly responsible for this) and talk sense into her after digging deep to understand who she is and what she does. This can prevent a lot of regrets that will be hard to undo once done.

Parents have neglected their counseling duty to their children and in fact, some do not even know who their children are. They got no time for family issues anymore. These are now the instances where girls take advantage of the situations and do crazy things that the parents had never thought of especially girls. For example, they will go for the family planning methods without the knowledge of their parents because they want to keep up with the high expectations put on them by the parents.

It is very sad how young girls behave out there on the street and become a completely different people when at home with their parents. This is because she feels like the environment back at home does not offer the freedom to speak or act how she feels. So she’d rather hide her true self.

What pains are that family planning only caters to pregnancy? What about sexually transmitted infections? So you only care about the pregnancy and not the health of your girl.

If your daughter comes back home infected with HIV/AIDS or Syphilis and not pregnant will you take her in really?

The act of introducing them to family planning shows your telling them directly to engage in sexual activities but do not get pregnant.

In essence, the use of family planning among the adolescent has sparked and increased the act of immorality in the country because there is no fear of pregnancy.

These family planning methods such as implants and pills have effects on the bodies of these young girls. A thirteen-year-old girl subjected to using family planning looks like an eighteen-year-old because her body structure changes completely. The reason why they’ll feel “big” and therefore ready for sex and even marriage.

Family planning cannot be the solution parents if you’ve done your part and the child has not listened then let her be. If getting the child will calm her down then so be it. It is not worse than getting sexually transmitted infections.