Teenage Pregnancy: It Takes Two To Tango!

The issue of teenage pregnancy is most often approached from the angle of the female teenagers being blamed but you’d all agree with me that pregnancy is not magical, at least a sperm needs to fertilize an egg before a blastocyst is even formed.

Even if it’s just five minutes or she is as young as twelve years old, an egg cannot become a fetus without a sperm, something must get between someone's legs.

Anyways, I do not fully blame the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Advocates because more than often it is the females who suffer a bigger portion of the problems associated with teenage pregnancies which includes but not limited to stigmatisation, dropping out of school, abandonment by family and friends, ignorance on sexual reproductive health, abortion and it accompanying complications.

Males usually don’t worry about teenage pregnancies because after all it’s not them who get to carry baby bumps and push during labour. Some even get to still stay in school or go to the extent of denying being responsible for pregnancies they are responsible for. Some may face issues of earning a living if they man up enough to take responsibility for the pregnancy.

It is the female who might have to stay away from school depending on the environment she finds herself in, face stigmatisation and embarrassment from friends and family, and cope for herself if family turn their back on her.

Photo Credit: http://www.esquire.com
The issue has to be treated on both sides and should involve both sexes. After all, the issue doesn’t say “female teenage pregnancy” it says “teenage pregnancy”.

Male teenagers need to be educated on the effects of teenage pregnancies on themselves and the females they engage in pre marital sex with. Ghana YMCA’s National Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Campaign is right on track as both sexes are involved in discourse about the prevalence of teenage pregnancy.

Photo Credit: Ghana YMCA
We have to educate young guys on how to handle the young girls and educate them on how to live with girls, avoid unprotected sex to avoid teenage pregnancy until they are married and both ready to have kids.

If we keep on educating the females and leave out the boys we might be working in vain because we educate girls to protect or abstain but leave the guys to ruin all the effort that has been made to promote good sexual reproductive health practice.

I believe that if both sexes are equally educated, mobilized and engaged in a discourse on the issue of sexual reproductive health and teenage pregnancy, a lot of success can be achieved with respect to reducing teenage pregnancy which has become rampant in recent times.

A female teen can never impregnate herself, not even when she masturbates. It takes two to tango so it should take the same number to clean up the mess they are both responsible by for!

This post was inspired by the first edition of “All Men Summit” by Girls Talk Show/Org in Collaboration with HeForShe Gambia

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