Don't get it twisted - sex causes pregnancy

The highest rates of teen pregnancy in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa. A study done by Save the Children found that every year, 13 million children are born to women under the age of 20, worldwide.
Only 10% of these births occur in developed nations. Let that sink in for a moment.

The biggest factor, as I see it, affecting the teen pregnancy rate is a lack of ambition, in teenage girls -and the failing education system is a huge contributor to that. To put it another way, teenage girls get pregnant because they don't have any reason not to. They don't have real, achievable goals for themselves. Sound harsh? Think about it. I'll wait.
 
If you don't see a way out of your situation, nor the possibility of a better future, why should you give a second thought to anything but what you want now? What you want now is to be accepted, to fit in, to love and be loved, and sex 'will' give you all that. So sex might get you pregnant? Big deal.

It's not like you were going to go to university or anything, and you can always get the child support grant, so why are these 'N.G.O. people' lying about how your life will be better, overall, the longer you delay your sexual debut? And really, do they even know any virgins over the age of 12?

If the Children's Act says anybody over the age of 12 can get an abortion and/or be given contraceptives without parental consent, surely having sex isn't a big deal? And, who cares about the Sexual Offences act, really? How about the Termination of Pregnancy Act? Anyone? Who cares about these things and how they affect young people from disadvantaged backgrounds?

The country is burning. The continent is burning. Something is going to give, and soon. My fear is that black people from disadvantaged communities will suffer the most when things come to a head - our governments are failing us. I used to be of the opinion that if academics got involved in advocacy and policy-making, backed up by real research documenting real issues, that we would see policies put in place that would lead to real change. Not so much. Academics research an issue like absent fathers in Johannesburg and their recommendations include things like abolishing lobola, abolishing gender roles and creating support groups for fathers. Is lobola the real problem here? Er, since when does exorbitant lobola cause pregnancy? How about we stop with the bullshit and start telling the truth as it is: sex is the leading cause of pregnancy. How about we start having honest conversations regarding the links between responsible enjoyment of sex, and children? How about we start teaching young people to value themselves enough to protect themselves, and to only enter into committed relationships with partners who are committed to them and their future children? How about we stop giving credence to the notion that having children with a man is a means to 'keeping' him?

This isn't about policing women's, or anyone's, sexuality. One of the consequences of unprotected sex is pregnancy √¢‚Ǩ‚Äú so how about not having unprotected sex if you're not interested in being a parent? It really is that simple. Except, not really. We'd have to delve deeper into why some populations have higher rates of unintended pregnancy than others, and I believe the reasons are well-documented. While that is beyond the scope of what I intended to do today, it is worth mentioning that poverty, economic disparities and an extremely incompetent education system are not doing us any favours.  So how about we stop, just stop, with the bullshit studies and the subsequent bullshit recommendations and start addressing the actual problems? /end rant.