The Prescription

The buzz on my friend's phone has just startled me back to the reality of teenage pregnancy. She received a text from an old friend requesting for a prescription of a drug for abortion. Will it surprise you to hear that my friend is neither a nurse nor a pharmacist? Yet her friend was really depending on her help to sort out her problem. I can imagine the person sitting at the other end waiting patiently or impatiently for an answer that will enable her evacuate the baby forming in her womb.
There is no denial that girls (not women) are getting pregnant. Perhaps you know someone who is struggling with the challenges of being a Teenage Mother. As you read this article, another young girl is going through depression while trying to figure out whether to tell or just opt for abortion, ignorant of the danger it holds in its clutches.
Most girls often take abortion as the easiest way to escape taking responsibility for their action. This article however is not to give statistics of the number of girls getting pregnant or start up another social debate on the right or wrong of abortion. The bottom line is, these things are happening, how can the government, you and I take charge and help tackle the issue in our society?
Tackling Teenage pregnancy should be central to government to prevent or reduce infant mortality, child poverty and other related issues in our society. Prioritize a comprehensive sex and relationship education in our school curriculum even at primary school level...catching them young is a vital key. Also, government at local level should create a welfare grant for poor teenage mothers to enable them support themselves, thus reducing poverty. Building a well resourced youth information center at all levels where well trained counselors will also be positioned to address social issues affecting the young people can easily be achieved by partnering with corporate bodies and other NGOs working with youths. Providing things to do and places to go for young people to develop themselves will keep them occupied and away from trouble!
Meanwhile, the Parents can also play their role by ensuring their home is being built on good moral values. There is also a need for modern parents to cut down on activities that compete with family time and get interested in what their children are doing in life because the fundamental development of every child has a lot to do with his family. The society also must stop the social exclusion of Teenage mothers since majority of teenagers who opt for abortion do so out of fear of what people will say! We as young people should learn to minimize activities that expose us to compromising position, in simple words... delete activities that add no value to you and avoid hanging out with the wrong crowd since all it brings is trouble.