Teen pregnancies on the rise in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Gayatri was only 14, but she was pregnant after she had sex with her cousin. Without a mother to talk to about the changes in her body, Gayatri was well into the fifth month of pregnancy before her father took her for a check-up because she had been vomiting. At the hospital, he was shocked to discover she was pregnant. It was too late for an abortion, so she delivered a baby which she gave up for adoption. The physical and psychological trauma still keeps Gayatri awake at night years later. Her father thinks it has scarred her for life.

Gayatri is not the only teenager in the city who has had to deal with pregnancy. The third National Family Health Survey (NFHS) found that in 2005-06, 6.7 per cent of girls in the 15-19 years age group in Mumbai were or had been pregnant, or were already mothers. “I have an increasing number of unmarried teenagers coming to me for abortions,” says Anita Soni, gynaecologist, LH Hiranandani hospital.

Accurate figures on teenage pregnancies and abortions are hard to compile because young girls tend to go to quacks and shady clinics to keep the matter under wraps. But the NFHS says there were 36,700 teenage abortions in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai in 2005-06.

Experts attribute the rise in teenage pregnancies to sexual promiscuity at a younger age. “Teenagers today treat sex very casually. I get patients who come to me for abortions with their boyfriends, and after a couple of years they’re here again, with another boyfriend but for the same reason,” says Bela Kedia, gynaecologist at Wockhardt Hospital. “Teenagers are financially independent today; their lifestyles  make them adventurous,” adds Anita Soni.  

Ignorance about sex, pregnancy and contraception compounds the problem. Duru Shah, director of Gynaecworld, says first-time sex is most likely to be unsafe. “Four out of five women do not use contraception the first time they have sex. They depend on the male for protection.”

She recommends birth control pills to control pregnancies. “While condoms are good for preventing sexually transmitted diseases, they aren’t always effective protection against pregnancy.”

Many adolescents also have no knowledge of the morning-after pill. “The pill, if had within 72 hours after sex, can reduce the chances of unwanted pregnancy by 90 per cent,” points out Duru Shah. “A lot of girls who come to me for help ask for the best method of contraception only after having an abortion.”

Experts advocate the empowerment of young people with clear and accurate information about safe sex to prevent teen pregnancies.

When 18-year-old Radhika realised she was pregnant, she was shocked. Her boyfriend had always used a condom, and she learnt, too late, that a condom is not always effective. Still studying, and marriage not being a priority, Radhika had the baby aborted. But depression and anxiety followed. “I couldn’t sleep knowing that I had killed an unborn child.”

Radhika was at least lucky she had a safe abortion, unlike a lot of girls who go to quacks. Even at authorised abortion centres, adolescents suffer more pregnancy-related complications than older women, because their bodies are not yet fully formed to handle childbirth. The maternal mortality is almost 5 times higher among girls under 18.

Names of teenagers have been changed on request