Blaming The Wrong Girl For Getting Pregnant

They are loose. They drink alcohol and use drugs and have sex with older men for money. They also have bad attitudes, are immoral, and dont listen to their parents. And thats why these wrong girls end up pregnant.

We found these deeply embedded beliefs about teenage pregnancy in our research in two communities in the North West and KwaZulu-Natal. Largely seen as a moral crisis, adolescent girls and young women are blamed and shamed and that ends up affecting how they are treated, the support they receive, and their ability to access critical health services .

But placing the burden of responsibility on teenage girls hasnt helped reduce the number of teenage pregnancies. In fact, rates increased significantly in all provinces between 2017 and 2021, with births increasing by 48.7 for girls aged 1014 and by 17.9 in girls aged 1519 researchers believe at least part of that is due to Covid-19s disruption in health services.

Studies have shown that having children too early can hurt their education and future work prospects as well as the overall mental and physical health of adolescent girls and their infants .

Our research was based in Moretele in North West and Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, which were chosen because of their high rates of poverty and unemployment, HIV and adolescent pregnancy.