Plans Announced to Stem Rising Rate of Teen Pregnancies in Mexico Amy Guthrie - WSJ.com
go to original January 24, 2015

Insight: Mexico Leads in Teenage Pregnancy Rates (CCTV America)

Mexico has announced plans for a national campaign to prevent adolescent and teen pregnancy in a country where one in five live births are by mothers under the age of 20.

The strategy represents an about-face in the predominantly Catholic country, where sexual education remains a taboo in many communities and the federal government has long shied away from taking leadership on the issue. The current effort will center on education and health care, including greater access to birth control, government officials said.

Mexican government statistics show that mothers under the age of 20 accounted for 16.3% of births in 1997, with the rate rising to 19.4% in 2012. The World Health Organization estimates that around 16 million babies are born to teenage mothers each year in the world, and that teen girls in low-income countries are five times more likely to become mothers than in wealthier countries.

In presenting the plan, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto called on young men to on take more responsibility to prevent early pregnancies.

Read the rest at WSJ.com

Photo: Politic365.com

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