Almost 8000 people have signed a petition that is urging the Department of Health to force health care workers to report teenage pregnancy. The petition was started by Kekeletso Khena, wishes that the health department mirrors the actions of the Department of Education, which forces them to report such cases to authorities. Statistics reveal that in the 2021/2022 financial year, 90,037 births were by girls aged between 10 and 19 years, of which 660 were aged under 13 years.

DON’T HIDE IT

Khena said the Education Department’s Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy in Schools Act has made teen pregnancy a reportable act which forces schools to report cases to the police. "This has resulted in a number of cases being reported to the police and enabled better collection of data. However, this is not enough as many of the pregnant minors are quickly pulled out of school and hidden from society before the pregnancy can show or the school can find out and report the matter to authorities, Khena said, adding that, "Introducing this policy will make it compulsory for medical personnel to report pregnancies in minors to police for criminal investigations to curb the ever-increasing statutory rape of minors."

NOT ALL PREGNANCIES ARE CRIME

Independent child rights and protection consultant Joan van Niekerk said when the girl and the father are between 12 and 16-years of age the pregnancy cannot be considered a crime. She said this move would cause panic to some minors and they will desist from seeking health care. "I think that if we really want to make things better for young people, we need sex education to be given properly because the way it’s given in schools is not very helpful. The issue of childhood sexuality is not well understood and educators are not trained properly.

Secondly, we need to make sure every clinic is child friendly and understands the importance of confidentiality because that’s another reason children won’t go to clinics for contraception," said Van Niekerk.