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Teenage Pregnancy: Causes, Risks, and Realities

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This time, we’d like to talk about teenage pregnancy’s causes, effects, and what options exist for those who don’t wish to continue with a pregnancy.

The Silent Side of Young Parenthood: Untold Challenges

Adolescence is defined as the period between the ages of 10 and 19. “Early adolescence” includes those aged 10 to 14 (“young adolescents”), while “late adolescence” covers ages 15 to 19 (“older adolescents”).1

Each year, around 15 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth, a phenomenon known as teen pregnancy. In Mexico, this same age group accounts for about 400,000 births per year, with 20% occurring in girls under 20.2

Teenage Pregnancy: Common Reasons

We often hear about preventing teenage pregnancy, but it’s also crucial to address the root causes and understand the cultural context in which it occurs.

Teenager pregnancies are often the result of gender inequality, mainly affecting girls and teenagers living in rural or marginalized urban areas, as the results of  contributing factors such as:3

  • Limited access to quality education helps young people envision ambitious life plans where reproductive desire is delayed until the later stages of life.
  • Cultural and social norms that place higher value on motherhood than on academic, professional, or personal achievements.
  • Lack of real access to contraceptive methods that young women can use and to evidence-based knowledge about them, including the latest generation of long-acting reversible methods designed for nulliparous women, meaning women who have never given birth, according to the RAE.
  • Generational cycles of poverty, where behaviors and expectations are often passed down from mothers to daughters.
  • Reproductive coercion, which includes gender-based violence and everyday sexual harassment or abuse that teenagers can be targeted to, particularly in their homes and communities, limits young people’s ability to negotiate safe sex.
  • Early reproductive age is often associated with shorter spacing between children and more partners expected to contribute to family income.

As you can see, there are multiple reasons why adolescents may become parents at an early age, many of which are unrelated to desire or hormones, as some may assume.

It’s just as important to discuss pregnancy prevention as it is to ensure access to healthcare services like contraception and abortion, especially when the pregnancy is unwanted since the consequences can have a greater impact on a young person’s life than a voluntary termination.

Being able to seek care in a nonjudgmental environment for making choices like abortion is part of recognizing the right to reproductive autonomy with well-being and health. Telefem offers remote medical care provided by professionals who respect your decisions.

Do teenagers have legal access to contraception and abortion services?

Absolutely; this is possible, and it’s a human right. In sexual and reproductive rights, these three areas matter most:4

– Access to sexual information
– Comprehensive sex education
– Access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services

The right to sexual information helps people better understand life changes and embrace sexuality without shame. Comprehensive sex education (CSE) teaches about contraceptive methods and abortion, assisting individuals to make informed, free choices, and how to take care of their bodies. The right to healthcare includes requesting contraceptives and abortion without needing parental permission. In abortion procedures, an adult must accompany the minor not to authorize the procedure but to provide care and support; this adult can be a friend, relative, or any trusted person.

Reproductive healthcare is available for teens in public or private health services. In Mexico, there are “youth-friendly services” specifically designed to provide medical care for sexual health and reproductive well-being for teens, depending on their particular needs. These services are found at the Clinics of the Secretaría de Salud and will give you information, orientation, counseling, medical care, psychological care, and free anti-contraceptive methods. To women and men aged 10 to 19 years old.5

If you’re underage and want to have a safe abortion, at Telefem, we offer you medical guidance with a signed consent form from any adult. This doesn’t have to be a parent; it can be any trusted adult.

According to Mexican law, healthcare providers are obligated to offer safe abortion services to girls and adolescents who request them. These services must respect the best interests of the child, good faith, and progressive autonomy while acknowledging each young person’s capacity.6

You’re Not Alone

Keeping in touch with trained professionals makes all the difference. That’s why Telefem is here — to guide and support you.  With Telefem, you’ll be safe.

Send us a WhatsApp today — we’re ready to help.

 * This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional medical advice and applies only to Mexico’s law and context.

References:

  1. Organización Mundial de la Salud. Aceleración mundial de las medidas para promover la salud de los adolescentes (Guía AA-HA!). Orientación para la aplicación en los países. Organización Panamericana de la Salud. 2018. [Internet]. [Visit January 2025]. Available at: https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/49181
  2. Mora-Cancino AM, et al. Embarazo en la adolescencia. Ginecología y Obstetricia de México. [Internet]. 2015;83(5):294-301. [Visit January 2025].  Available at: https://www.medigraphic.com/pdfs/ginobsmex/gom-2015/gom155e.pdf
  3. Kuri-Morales P, et al. Panorama nacional del embarazo precoz en México: lecciones aprendidas en un sexenio. Gac Méd Méx. 2020;156(2):151-156. [Internet]. [Visit January 2025]. Available at: https://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/gmm/v156n2/0016-3813-gmm-156-2-151.pdf
  4. IPAS CAM. Los Derechos Sexuales y Derechos Reproductivos de las y los adolescentes. En:  De la teoría a la acción en Salud Sexual y Salud Reproductiva de Adolescentes Tomo 4. 2021. [Internet]. [Visit January 2025].  Available at: https://ipasmexico.org/pdf/DeLaTeoriaAccionSSyRAdolescentes/IpasCAM2021-Tomo4-Digital.pdf
  5. Centro Nacional de Equidad de Género y Salud Reproductiva. Servicios Amigables para Adolescentes. 2024. [Internet]. [Visit January 2025].  Available at: https://www.gob.mx/salud%7Ccnegsr/articulos/servicios-amigables
  6. SEGOB. Lineamiento Técnico para el aborto seguro en México. 2022. [Internet]. [Visit January 2025].  Available at: https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/779301/V2-FINAL_Interactivo_22NOV_22-Lineamiento_te_cnico_aborto.pdf