WUNRN
NICARAGUA - PREGNANT GIRLS REPRODUCE
THE CYCLE OF POVERTY
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Girls at a rural school in
- Carla
lost everything when she got pregnant at the age of 13: her first year of secondary
school, her family, her boyfriend, and her happiness. She spent a year
panhandling on the streets of the Nicaraguan capital before she was taken in by
a shelter for young mothers.
Her life
fell apart in December 2006, when her mother discovered that she was three
months pregnant as a result of being raped by one of her primary school
teachers. Her mother gave her a savage beating with a belt and threw her out of
the house, saying she couldn’t afford another mouth to feed.
Carla’s* baby died at birth due
to respiratory problems. During the pregnancy, a neighbour let her sleep in her
house, but did not give her meals. So she sold homemade sweets and begged for
small change at bus stops, where she suffered continuous sexual harassment from
men who offered her money, drugs or food in exchange for sex.
She was initially taken in by
Casa Alianza, the
The case of Carla, with whom
IPS was put in touch by a non-governmental organisation that works with at-risk
children and adolescents, illustrates a phenomenon that takes on alarming
proportions in this Central American nation, one of the few countries in the
world where abortion is illegal under all circumstances.
In this country of 5.8 million
people, one of the poorest in
That means girls and teenagers
accounted for 27 percent of all births in public health institutions. And 47
percent of these youngsters were between the ages of 10 and 14 – representing
13 percent of the pregnancies attended in the public health services.
Dr. Osmany Altamirano, an
adviser on sexual and reproductive rights with the Nicaraguan office of the
global children’s charity Plan International, told IPS that the problem was
serious but improving.
“In the year 2000, adolescent
mothers were 31 percent of the total. The teen pregnancy rate has gone down,
although it is still the highest in
A 2007 study by the Latin
American and Caribbean Demographic Centre reported that
Nicaraguans of child-bearing
age (10 to 49) represent 65 percent of the total female population, and 37
percent of that portion are between the ages of 10 and 19.
Altamirano said the phenomenon
of teenage pregnancy in
“Pregnant girls reproduce the
cycle of poverty, because they become mothers before they are biologically
mature – in other words, they are underweight mothers who suffer from chronic
malnutrition and give birth to low birth-weight, short-stature babies,” he
said.
He also said that 47 percent of
pregnant girls and teenagers do not complete primary school, effectively losing
their right to an education.
“Many are forced to look for
work in disadvantageous conditions, because they don’t have experience or
training in a profession or trade, others are thrown out on the streets, and
many end up as the victims of sexual exploitation,” he said.
According to World Health
Organisation (WHO) statistics from 2009, 16 million girls between the ages of
15 and 19 years old give birth every year, accounting for 11 percent of all
births worldwide.
Karla Nicaragua, with the
Quincho Barrilete Association, told IPS that in a study carried out in 2011
among teenage girls in
The phenomenon is explained,
among other things, by a social fabric “that sees pregnancy as something
normal” and “by a legal system that forces women to give birth, even under
conditions of medical risk,” said
Since 2006, this Central
American nation has been one of the few countries in the world where abortion
is illegal in any circumstances, and is punishable by prison – even if the
pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or the mother’s life is in danger.
“The lack of scientific,
accurate sex education in school and in the family, sexual harassment and
abuse, peer pressure among adolescents, poverty and overcrowding, along with a
permissive justice system, are all factors that influence the high teen
pregnancy rate,” she said.
Lorna Norori with the Movement
Against Sexual Abuse (Mcas) said that sexual violence is hidden behind the
statistics on teenage pregnancy.
Norori accused the state of
Nicaragua of complicity in the public policy of forcing young pregnant girls to
give birth, despite the fact that the law clearly states that they are victims
of rape.
Around 40 percent of victims of
rape in
For the study, the organisation
compared the records of the government forensic institute (IML) and of the
National Police office of women and children (the Comisaría de la Mujer y la
Niñez).
The study points out that while
the IML reported a total of 4,409 forensic medical examinations of rape victims
in 2011, the Comisaría de la Mujer y la Niñez only recorded 3,047 cases handled
by the office of the public prosecutor.
The IML records show that more
than 85 percent of the forensic exams were carried out on underage girls. Of
them, 36.5 percent were adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 and 49
percent were girls under the age of 12.
* Not her real name.