Teenage Pregnancy in India: Challenges

Jamila is a shattered 17-year old teenager today. Sitting by the dining table, her head in her hands, she is despondent and contemplating suicide. Given the circumstances, she may be right in supposing that suicide and blissful death is an alternative better than social castigation and possible ostracism.

Until a few days ago, she was a vivacious and outgoing teenager with a yen for mischief. A student of the third year in Bombay University, Jamila had stars in her eyes when she chose to join the three-year Bachelor of Mass Media and Communications course a few months ago. Securing admission to the prestigious St. Xavier's college had been a cake-walk for her as she had done very well in the Entrance Tests, the group discussion and the personal interview.

Within a week of joining, she was swept off her feet by the charming Aniket, a fourth year student who was as known for his bacchanalian life-style as by his achievements in the Judo wing of the University. A light-weight expert with many awards under his third degree black belt, Aniket had begun to chase Jamila the moment he had seen her in the cafeteria.

Impressed by his macho looks and his "cool" demeanour, Jamila had begun to go out with him. One thing had led to another, and had culminated in this - she was pregnant - a teenager and an unmarried mother-to-be.

Coming from a conservative family whose parents had not even seen each other before taking their matrimonial vows, Jamila had done something that transgressed social norms by a mile. Afraid, she had not even spoken about Aniket to her parents or friends earlier. And now, this! When she spoke to Aniket about it, he simply shrugged his shoulders and advised her to visit an abortion clinic and end the matter. She had almost banged the phone down on him and had sat here, by the dining table, shedding tears - tears of denial, anger, and finally, self-pity. With her head between her hands, she had felt lonely and frightened. And was contemplating suicide.

Unfortunately, Jamila's case is not an isolated one. Substitute Jamila with Sophia, Rakhi, Sharmila or Dalbir Kaur, the story is more or less the same. On an average, about 25-30% of urban teenage girls have had the experience of premarital sex, with over 12-15% going all the way, more than 6% becoming repeat offenders, and nearly 1-3% seeking medical help for aborting an unwanted baby. This is because a teenager who is unmarried and pregnant is not something that is looked upon kindly by Indians. This attitude prevails among all religions, all communities and all social classes.

In a study carried out by India Today and AC Nielsen, it was found that 33% of college-going men had already enjoyed pre-marital sex, and almost half of the young men had had sex with a commercial sex worker. In the very same study, it was also reported that comparable figures for females were about 25% for the first category.

In an interview, Dr. Duru Shah, a reputed gynecologist from Mumbai, India, commented that the pregnant teen mother and the child who is born of such a mother are likely to suffer health, social, emotional and economic problems. Discussing this issue further, she said that the following subsets of girls in the adolescent age group were more likely to become pregnant: those with early dating behaviour or high-risk behaviours (smoking, alcohol and substance abuse); those with a lack of a support group or few friends; those with an unhealthy environment at home; those with stress and depression; those with delinquency/ criminal behaviour; those belonging to a community where early childbearing is common and viewed as the norm rather than as a cause for concern; those exposed to domestic or sexual violence; and, those from poor homes. (Ref: http://www.dancewithshadows.com/society/teenage-pregnancy-india.asp)

Health-wise, teenage mothers have a higher incidence of anemia (a low hemoglobin), pregnancy-induced high blood-pressure and all its attendant complications, premature delivery, cesarean delivery due to a small pelvis not allowing a normal delivery, problems related to simultaneous drug/alcohol/tobacco use during pregnancy (after all, this is the age when girls experiment with all these substances), low birth weight baby (due to poor maternal nutrition), and problems relating to maternal immaturity - young mothers are not psychologically strong enough to look after the baby day-in and day-out. The stress of being unable to enjoy one's own life plus the added burden of looking after the baby, with its nappy-changes, breastfeeding and so on is something the adolescent mother can hardly take up with ease.

In a study carried out by Bhalerao and others (see http://www.jpgmonline.com/text.asp?1990/36/3/136/846), it was found that the risk of low birth weight was 71% in the age group of 15-17 years and that of prematurity was 43% in the age group of 17-19 years (as compared to figures of 25% and 14% for the same two categories for women above the age of 19).

John Gillebaud, a WHO academic, said that binge drinking leading to occurrence of teenage pregnancies is one of the largest worries of mankind. According to him, each year, there are over 80 million unwanted pregnancies globally, and over 30 million are selectively aborted. (see this link for further details on this article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Teen_pregnancy_threat_to_mankind/articleshow/...

In yet another link, Zeba Smith, a counselor, says:

Teen pregnancies can also be attributed to the irresponsible behaviour of the media. Certain scenes and themes depicted in movies, music videos and even serials have led to an increase in teenagers being strayed. Teens have impressionable minds and tend to imitate on-screen actors and actresses. Also, the boon in technology and access to pornography is misleading children.

See here: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=126124

I would like to add the lack of formal sex education in India as one of the major contributing factors. As Namita Bhandare put it in Mint, a leading business daily published in conjunction with the Wall Street Journal, the only thing she could say about the sex education she received in school could be summarized in two words - "woefully inadequate".(Paper dated 5/13/2008, page 8, Looking Glass column.)

Knowing these challenges, the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of India (FOGSI) started a multi-pronged "Growing up" programme in which teenage girls receive education, counseling and telephonic help all the year around. They are sensitized to the various aspects of adolescence and its challenges, including education about contraception and the need to eat properly, avoid substance abuse and learning to say "No" to a sexual overture/adventure until they've turned into adults, which is at 18 years in India.

So, what options does Jamila have today? Presuming that better sense prevails, she can, if she agrees with Aniket, go for an abortion, which is no longer an illegal or shady activity; or, she can, after a counseling session, decide to tell her parents and then decide if she wants to go ahead with the pregnancy or not. Whatever she decides, the outcome is unlikely to be rosy for her. She is most likely to go in for an abortion illegally as I am afraid she may not have the courage to tell her parents or close friends about her mistake.

(Names of teens changed to protect their identities.)

Word Count: 1276

© Dr. Taher Kagalwala, May 2008

Author's Note: This item is "Team India" 's official entry for the May 2008 round of

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