Sex crimes against juveniles are continuing to soar at an alarming rate, forcing police and social workers to repackage their anti-AIDS and teenage pregnancy messages. It is a fact that teens are continuing to engage in sexual acts among themselves and with adults at an alarming rate. And more and more adults are having sex with juveniles, a trend that has police and social workers worried.
Added to that, the number of teenage pregnancies occurring over the past several years is an indication that young girls are not heeding the abstinence warnings.
The latest Department of Statistics figures show that 539 teenagers became mothers in 2004. Of that number, eight were between the ages of 10 and 14. The remaining 531 babies were born to young girls between the ages of 15 and 19. Amazingly, officials said that 539 figure remains in line with that of previous years. “The numbers are consistent,” the Nassau Guardian was told.
In 2003, 603 teenagers, between the same age brackets gave birth. Now, a local physician is expressing concern over the high number of teenage pregnancies. “We are seeing a fair number of teenage girls who are coming in pregnant as young as 14, in several instances,” said Dr Carlos Thomas in a radio interview.
“And what is even more worrisome is that we are having 16, sometimes 17, 18-year-olds who are coming back with their” second or even third pregnancy,” he said on “Issues of the Day.” Interestingly, the paediatrician said that when these girls are interviewed, oftentimes their partners are men who are much older than they are. “I am talking about men in their 30s and even 4Os,” the pediatrician disclosed. It is understood that in cases of this nature, when the child is underage and partner is much older, doctors are duty bound to report the matter to the Social Services Department. [Often that is not done because the doctor is a friend or relative of the child molester.]
“The problem with these young girls, in addition to being ignorant about these babies, they are emotionally not ready for the whole responsibility of being a parent, so therein lies the problem. They are not ready for that at a young age.”
Some experts argue this is due to the fact that the messages of sexual abstinence and safe sex are still not effectively being conveyed to young persons.
By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE Guardian Senior Reporter
