Briefing Paper 547 – Child Pregnancy by Lois Law

BP547 -Child Pregnancy by Lois LawThe issue of teenage pregnancy has been a matter of concern for some time. However, since the introduction of the COVID-19 lockdown and throughout the pandemic, it became increasingly clear that the age of children who became pregnant was becoming younger and younger. The girl children affected are as young as ten. One of the causes of unintended pregnancy is sexual violence. At least 10 million unintended pregnancies occur each year among adolescent girls aged 15–19 years in developing regions of the world, with more than a third of girls in some countries reporting that their first sexual encounter was coerced.[i]

[i] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy