Teen pregnancy appears to have gone wild in The Bahamas

The effects of teenage pregnancy
By ADRIAN GIBSON
ajbahama@hotmail.com



THE social issues we now face in the Bahamas are due, in part, to the large number of children who are having children. Teenage pregnancy appears to have gone wild!

Teenage pregnancy is a major contributing factor to the social disintegration our country now faces. In the Bahamas, we are shifting from one generation to another too speedily, and thus resulting in a nation of poorly socialized, ill-mannered brats who are disgruntled and intent on ruining any thread of public harmony.

The term teenage pregnancy refers to any teenage girl who falls pregnant during her adolescent years. Teenage pregnancies carry a social stigma, lead to poorly educated adults, increase poverty and harmfully affect the lives of the children being born. In a report by the Save the Children organization, it was found that every year, about 13 million children (worldwide) are born to teen mothers under age 20, primarily in developing countries. According to local statistics, the percentage of births to teenage mothers lingers around 13 per cent of the national total.

Just last week, as I left a law firm on Dowdeswell Street, there walked a contingent of young girls, wearing baby-blue outfits (presumably students of the PACE--Providing Access to Continued Education--programme) and speaking garishly, all with protruding bellies. These youngsters were on average between ages 13 to 16. I recall one of them telling the other how she couldn't wait to have her baby, leave the PACE programme and return to regular school.

According to the PACE Foundation website, the PACE programme was initiated by Nurse Andrea Elizabeth Archer in 1970 and "has sought to pioneer ways and means to address the problem of teen pregnancy, and, in its many years of existence, has certainly impacted the lives of numerous teens and their babies."

The website says: "Over the years, it would have provided assistance to more than 3000 teenage mothers, helping them to complete high school thus ensuring them a better chance of breaking the cycle of poverty and hopelessness. However, PACE continues to face numerous problems that affect its functionality. Entry into the PACE programme is voluntary and available only to first-time teen mothers. However, less than half of the nation's first-time mothers enter the programme yearly.

Parenting

"The aim is to intervene in the lives of more first-time teen mothers with a view to ensuring that such girls achieve a minimum of a high school diploma, and preventing further pregnancies until they have achieved independent means by which they can care adequately for all their offspring. At present, our children are at risk of growing up in economically disadvantaged circumstances and with mothers who are ill-prepared for parenting and, in fact, need parenting themselves. The cost of ignoring this problem is great; therefore it demands our immediate attention," the Foundation's website read.

It further stated that "(a) principals of government secondary schools are reluctant to allow teen mothers re-entry into regular school for fear that they will have a negative influence on fellow students, both female and male; (b) the programme remains fragmented, as services such as antenatal care and others are offered in different locations; (c) there are no facilities for emergency housing or for on-site childcare; and (d) the programme is generally under funded."

The PACE programme nobly states the view that in accordance with article 23 of the Education Act 1996 "school is compulsory age between the ages of 5 and 16, underscoring that no citizen is more entitled to education than the other." The programme asserts that "it is further understood that education is important for the purposes of nation building and directly improves the standard of living and full development of human beings. With the existing make up of the economy of our country, there is little possibility of economic survival of a young teen with a child to support."

Indeed, the government, and private sector entities and citizens, must see to it that worthwhile programmes such as PACE are properly subsidized.

How can values be taught when there are 20-year-old mothers with children in primary school?

Our national conscience is surely in smithereens when we now have 32-year-old grandparents and it is being viewed as relatively normal due to its growing prevalence!

Today, our country is plagued by a spree of abhorrent crimes and senseless murders, most likely due to an absence of role models, poor social skills and a lack of values. How can ethics be taught when many of the children born are being parented by boorish youngsters?

The spate of violence at our public schools is again another example of our society's failure to confront many of the underlying social problems, instead simply choosing to adopt a reactionary approach to problem solving while hardly ever proposing credible, tangible solutions. It appears that many Bahamians have become desensitized and are of the view that if an issue is not directly affecting them, why care? We must adopt a proactive approach confronting an issue before it mushrooms and/or arrives at our doorsteps.

The PACE Foundation holds even more compelling views about the impact of teenage pregnancy upon society, stating:

"Owing to the fact that the mothers are single and have limited education, their children are at increased risk of growing up in poverty. Inadequate education also correlates with diminished awareness of the importance of proper health care, regardless of the fact that prenatal care, delivery, and childcare are free at government health institutions. Failure to access this care translates into more complications of pregnancy, low birth rates and increased incidences of morbidity and mortality in children of adolescent mothers."

Societal issues such as teen pregnancies, gang-banging and any other misdeeds, stem from a breakdown in the family, a lack of supervision, external influences and an erosion of our moral code.

In the Bahamas, there is usually a considerable age gap between adolescent girls and the men who impregnate them, with such marauding chaps typically being lousy predators in their late 20s or much older. Many school girls from adverse family environments seek the affection of older men, who are usually sought to fill a void left by an absentee father. Locally, it's assumed that many of the men engaging in relationships with underage girls are those who interact with them daily, that is, persons such as bus drivers, neighbours and even some professionals who ensnare them with money or a joy ride in a posh vehicle or some pie-in-the-sky promise. Some Bahamians would be surprised by the number of young girls who are enticed by men driving cars with flashy rims and a loud sound system!

In his song "Brenda's Got a Baby," the late rap legend Tupac Shakur famously stated what has become the norm in the Bahamas when he said:

"Now Brenda's (and one can fit any other name here) belly is getting bigger

"But no one seems to notice any change in her figure

"She's 12 years old and she's having a baby

"In love with the molester, who's sexing her crazy..."

As it relates to the protection of teenage girls from predators, the legal protections against sexual abuse and indecent assault must be stiffened, a database of paedophiles and sex offenders must be established, ankle bracelets tracking these predators must be used and, moreover, some good old fashioned parental love would go a long way.

Teenage pregnancy is a social epidemic that, if not effectively addressed, could further ruin our already volatile society. Frankly, sex education and Planned Parenthood programmes must be developed and further promoted and there must be greater community and parental support to curb the incidences of teenage pregnancy.

In the United States, schools are encouraging abstinence while certain community and religious groups are promoting virginity pledges. In Holland, sex education is a part of every school's curriculum, the media advances public discourse and health-care professionals--at all levels--are prudent and discrete about such matters. Why can't the same approach be taken locally?

Further, the PACE Foundation also states that:

"For the period from 1996-2000, 72.1 per cent (2599 of 3604) of the total hospital discharge diagnoses for adolescent females were complications of pregnancy, hinting at the impact of the teen pregnancy on the national health care budget. Over this same time frame 331 abortions were recorded in this age group. The breakdown is as follows: 14.4 per cent spontaneous, 0.8 per cent legal and 84.9 per cent unspecified."

In the Bahamas, children born to teen mothers are often poor academic performers, social deviants and high school dropouts. Without positive influences and constructive intervention, it is very likely that the daughters of teen mothers will become adolescent parents themselves and that the sons of teen mothers will, more often than not, serve time in prison. Unfortunately, the children of teen mothers or households with absentee fathers, many times become societal miscreants, that is, the problematic, community menaces with behavioral issues that began during their formative years.

Our collapsing society will only be built up when children are once again cultured and taught that "manners and respect will take you throughout the world!"

February 25, 2011

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Bahamas Blog International