Mariana Iglesias
09/20/2021 9:10 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 09/20/2021 9:19 AM
While the teenage pregnancy rate has dropped dramatically in recent decades, it is still very high in the country, and with disparate numbers across regions.
Even today, more than 70 thousand babies are born per year whose mothers are adolescents.
Seven out of ten of those pregnancies are unintended
.
Among girls under 15 years of age,
most pregnancies are the product of sexual abuse,
therefore unplanned and unwanted.
They are almost 2000 a year.
The Perinatal Information System (SIP), which relies on 80% of public maternity wards in the country, indicates that
three out of ten adolescents are mothers for the second or third time before the age of 20.
In the
Week for the Prevention of Unplanned Pregnancy in Adolescence
, the Foundation for the Study and Research of Women (FEIM) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), together with ten non-governmental organizations, and with the support of the Ministry of Health of La Nación launched this Monday the second edition of the #PuedoDecidir campaign.
#PuedoDecidir, a prevention campaign that speaks directly to adolescents.
The objective of the campaign is to
demolish false beliefs
and contribute to the prevention of unintentional pregnancy in adolescence, through virtual actions that speak directly to youth.
The information is still missing.
Boys and girls do not discuss sexuality with doctors.
Nor do they know all the contraceptive methods that exist and that they
can request them at any health center for free, without having to go with their parents.
What they usually do is pass data between pairs of information that they get from the Internet, which is not all quality information.
Comprehensive Sex Education in schools is very uneven in its application and
is a factor of inequality between those who receive it and those who do not
.
I can decide adolescent pregnancy prevention campaign
Information and contraceptives
" It
is very important to
follow
#PuedoDecidir
that still in Argentina 7 out
of 10 teenage pregnancies are unintended. This shows
a lack of access to sexual health and (no) reproductive
" he told
Clarin
Mariana Isasi, official UNFPA liaison.
"Either because they use a contraceptive method in the wrong way, because they know us or because the pregnancy was the consequence of a non-consensual relationship. All the reasons show us
the need to continue providing and expanding access to Comprehensive Sex Education, and the
Communication
campaigns
are one more tool to be able to reach adolescents with a message, "adds Isasi.
I can decide adolescent pregnancy prevention campaign
"The campaign is necessary because the number of births to adolescent mothers and especially those under 15 years of age is still important. Also, because it is
essential that pregnancies are consensual and not by accident
as it happens,"
doctor Mabel Bianco
tells
Clarín
, in front of
FEIM
.
"That's why
information is key,"
adds Bianco. "You can't take care of yourself if you don't know how, and for that there must be ESI, but there must also
be access to contraceptive methods, because knowing alone is not enough.
Health services must attend, but as many boys do not know, they do not ask. We are not opposed to teenage pregnancies, but we do oppose them to be consensual by both, and
information is needed to make decisions.
This is the central objective of the campaign ",
I can decide adolescent pregnancy prevention campaign
"
Every unintentional adolescent pregnancy is a clear manifestation of the violation of the reproductive rights
of adolescents. Hence, it becomes imperative to carry out actions and strengthen current public policies that contribute to reducing this problem, with the hope of reducing strongly in the future, "says Lucía Sucari, from Kaleidos.
"A campaign to prevent unintentional pregnancy in adolescence is a powerful instrument for promoting and
guaranteeing girls, boys and adolescents the right to information,
as well as providing them with tools to make informed decisions about ways to prevent non-chosen situations. ", he concludes.
The
#PuedoDecidir
campaign
has four key axes:
contraceptive
and care
methods
;
pleasure and consent
;
access to
information
to decide freely;
access to knowledge of rights on Legal and Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy and (ILE and IVE).
#PuedoDecidir 2021
is promoted by FEIM and UNFPA in conjunction with the National Network of Young People and Adolescents for Sexual and Reproductive Health (RedNac), Amnesty International Argentina, FUSA Civil Association, the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender (ELA), Fundación Host , Kaleidos Foundation, The Other Voices, Exchanges, Xango and Doncel.
