Friday, 18th July, 2025
Hon Rachel Amma Owusuah
Dormaa East
I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Mr Speaker, I rise to talk about a serious issue that affects young girls and our society: teenage pregnancy. As a midwife and a Member of this House, I have seen how teenage pregnancy harms the health, education and future of young girls. This issue needs our urgent attention, especially since my constituency, Dormaa East, ranks second in Bono region for teenage pregnancy, abortion, and HIV infections.
Mr Speaker, over the past three years, teenage pregnancy in Dormaa East has been rising. In 2022, there were 292 reported cases. The number dropped to 218 in 2023 but increased to 227 in 2024. These numbers show that we must take action to reduce teenage pregnancy and support our young girls.
Mr Speaker, there are several reasons for this problem. Poverty is a key factor, as families with little money may push young girls into relationships for financial help. Family problems, including the lack of parental guidanceand unstable homes, can leave teenagers vulnerable. Many young people do not receive enough information about reproductive health, leading to risky choices. Peer pressure from friends can also lead to early sexual activity and some cultural practices, such as early marriage, add to the problem.
Mr Speaker, teenage pregnancy has serious effects. Young mothers face health risks, including problems during pregnancy and childbirth. Some may turn to unsafe abortions, which can lead to serious health problems and even death. Many teenage mothers drop out of school, which limits their future opportunities. Without education and essential skills, they often face financial struggles, which can lead to poverty and risky behaviour, including substances abuse and unprotected sex. Society often judges teenage mothers, which can lead to shame and isolation.
Mr Speaker, solving this issue requires teamwork from the Government, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), development partners and families, schools and the traditional authorities, which need to improve access to family planning services, including contraceptives like condoms and birth control for those who are sexually active and may not be able to abstain. Schools should teach young people about reproductive health, safe sex and the benefits of abstinence. Traditional leaders, especially queen mothers, should promote cultural practices that encourage responsible behaviour.
Mr Speaker, providing girls with sanitary pads can help prevent situations where they seek financial help from boys during their menstrual periods when their parents or guardians are unable to provide. Keeping girls in school and offering skills training will help them build better futures. Creating a girls’ club focused on reproductive health will give young girls a safe space to learn, share and receive guidance.
Mr Speaker, it will not be out of place for the Government and development partners to offer skills training programmes to these young girls who find themselves in this hapless situation; otherwise, the cycle will continue. Mr Speaker, teenage pregnancy harms both young girls and society as a whole. Families, schools, health workers and the Government must work together to solve this problem. By giving our young girls knowledge, support and opportunities, we can help them make better choices and create brighter futures.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Ernestina Ofori Dangbey
Agona West
Mr Speaker, I would also like to use this opportunity to commend my Hon Sister and Colleague, Hon Rachel Owusuah, for the Statement.
Mr Speaker, teenage pregnancy has become a significant issue in our various communities across the country. An urgent solution is needed to control the situation. The most painful aspect of it is that when the guy involved in this act is a student, he tends to go back to school while the teenage girl stays at home for about two or three years before re-entry and at times, some of them do not go back to school at all. If they do not get any support from anywhere, these teenage girls become a liability to society.
Mr Speaker, last year during my campaign, I visited a certain community and met a teenager who was pregnant. Looking at her age, I became so interested in her, so I drew closer to her just to have a discussion. Surprisingly, I realised she became pregnant because she could not afford to buy sanitary pads. Per her story, she was advised by friends to go in for a boyfriend and that when she takes a boyfriend, the guy will provide everything for her. So, she took the advice from her friends and that was the result: being pregnant and dropping out of school.
Mr Speaker, I was so glad when I heard one of the policies of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, One Girl, One Sanitary Pad because I believe this will go a long way to help our youth and curb the teenage pregnancy situation in our country.
Mr Speaker, I would like to use this opportunity to also advise the big men out there to allow our little girls to grow. They should allow them to continue with their education, so that they will become responsible people in future to help mother Ghana. Then to the girls, I will plead with them to concentrate on their books. The truth of the matter is that when they grow and become someone better in future and they get married, they can decide to do this thing twice in the morning, afternoon and evening. No one will question them. So, please, that is the advice I am giving to our little girls out there. Abstinence is the best key.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Lawrencia Dziwornu
Akuapem South
Mr Speaker, I rise to comment on the Statement ably delivered by my Colleague, Hon Racheal Owusuah. Mr Speaker, while her concerns are really valid, the situation is not isolated.
In Akuapem South alone, this situation is quite troubling. In 2023, we had over 100 cases in six months. In 2022, the situation doubled. This is a matter of urgent national attention and I think we all need to pay attention to this issue of teenage pregnancy. Mr Speaker, one major contributing factor I have come to realise is that parents nowadays do not protect their children or their girls as we used to in the past. Now we find young girls gallivanting on the streets at night and men take advantage of these young beautiful ones.
Mr Speaker, I find it very sad when I see young girls being robbed of their future and the men or the boys responsible for these pregnancies are left to walk on the streets freely. This situation is unfair and I think we really need to pay attention to the men who contribute to these teenage pregnancies in our society.
Mr Speaker, on this note, I call on the Government, faith-based organisations and our communities to increase education in our various schools to make sure that young girls are really educated, as well as the boys. Mr Speaker, I have four boys and I have already started schooling them on issues like this, so that they will not bring any teenage child into my house and impregnating them. They dare not try that in my house.
Mr Speaker, if we fail to act now on this issue, we will be trapped in a situation where young girls will be robbed of their future and trapped in cycles of poverty and social hardships. Thus, this situation must be addressed. I call upon the Government, traditional leaders, parents and all our communities to join hands in educating our children and to train the girl and boy child to both share the responsibility of issues on teenage pregnancy.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I want to commend my Colleague, Mrs Racheal Owusuah, Hon Member for the Dormaa East Constituency, for bringing such an important issue to the fore. Looking at the Hon Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection from here, I believe that she will take this matter up and we will all work and join hands on this.
I am also encouraging all female MPs to model our young girls in our constituencies, so that we can have a lot of young girls coming up, standing and representing us from our various constituencies in the few generations that lie ahead of us.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I am really grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this issue.
Hon Helen Adjoa Ntoso
Krachi West
Mr Speaker, I thank Hon Rachael Owusuah for this Statement that is very urgent, and as a nation, we have got to do something about it.
Mr Speaker, the issue of teenage pregnancy is a complex issue. It is a combination of factors, and that includes social and economic factors, which also includes lack of parental care, peer pressure, poverty, and inadequate knowledge about sexual health.
Mr Speaker, gone are the days where National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) were given the opportunity to educate children and the public about sexual health. These days, what do we see? Because of lack of resources, they are not able to do that. Also, our children, these girls and boys are involved in drug abuse. It is also a contributing factor to teenage pregnancy. Then, we also have lack of parental care. It is a responsibility of Government, parents, and the individual that have got to come together to make sure that we have a conducive environment for these children. Because if we have a conducive environment for these children, they will not be lured into picking petty sums of moneys from men who are so irresponsible, some of whom even go for these small girls. These things will, you know, be prevented.
Mr Speaker, also, if you go to the communities—Her community is not different from what happens in other communities. The Committee on Gender, Children and Social Welfare had the opportunity to go to the Central Region, and the Queen Mothers met with us, and they were so unhappy about the rate at which they were recording teenage pregnancy in the Central Region. It is also as a result of—I have to say that the computer placement that was being practiced where girls were posted to places far from where their parents are, and they were compelled to be day students. So these children, when they run out of their food items and they go to town, they are compelled to take GH₵20.00 from irresponsible guys, to be able to feed themselves.
I am happy that the new Minister for Education is asking the children to actually choose schools that they want to attend. I pray that the children will be sent to schools that will be closer to their parents, so that the parents will be able to monitor the children as to when they go out and come in.
Mr Speaker, I also pray that Government will also take responsibility of helping parents who are in poor areas, because poverty can lure one into doing what the person is not supposed to do. I also encourage District Assemblies to also come out with bylaws that will prevent these children from going out after 6.00 p.m. where at funerals, you see these children dancing and the parents are not there. Mr Speaker, the Majority Chief Whip is saying that I should wrap up. On this note, I pray that we all come together as one people to be able to help children in vulnerable areas.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity.
Hon Tweneboa Kodua Fokuo
Manso Nkwanta
Mr Speaker, on the Statement made by my Hon Lady, I believe the subject of teenage pregnancy is a major issue.
The major issue there is lack of education, and education not necessarily being formal education, going to learn whichever subject, but education in that particular subject of teenage pregnancy and what to know in order not to fall a victim or to fall into traps.
Mr Speaker, I believe that such education should not be limited to just the teenagers, but should be extended to parents, families, guardians and people that are close to said teenagers, to be able to share knowledge with said teenagers. Because they are young with all the exuberance, they want to try new things and so on. They see things on social media and they want to try and a whole lot of risks around them. So, I believe education is the way to go. Education, like I said, not only to them, but to the people around them who are moulding them. And I believe if we have this going out to them and the people around them, we will be halfway addressing the issue of teenage pregnancy.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe
Ada
I thank you, Mr Speaker for the opportunity to add my voice and I would like to thank the maker of the Statement and urge all Ghanaians to be careful when it comes to their baby girls.
Mr Speaker, the moment one gives birth to a baby girl, she will reach puberty age from 9 years upwards and she will start menstruating. Then quickly you should know you have a fine baby girl because the “bulbs” will start coming. From there, one has to start guiding his or her baby girl. Be honest with the baby girl and tell her that the “small thing” they see with the boys is dangerous, so they should not go close to it.
But we would not tell our baby girls and the men will lure them as if it is for fun. They do not know; some of the girls are naive and they do not even know that that thing can impregnate them. They do not even understand why women are pregnant. We should tell them the truth as to what get women get pregnant. We should tell that it is through that thing called penis that women get pregnant, so they should not joke with it. They should not go close to it. They should focus on their education.
Mr Speaker, when they get pregnant, we should do not ignore them. We should bring them closer. At times, we ignore them because they are pregnant and it is not a teenage boy who will make her pregnant. It is a full-grown man who will make her pregnant and the same man, as her father in the house, will start ignoring that baby girl. We are pleading that parents give them the real education. We should tell them what it is that that thing is not for fun and it is for baby making. So, if they go closer, they will get pregnant and will make babies. So, if they are not ready for babies, they should do not go closer. That is what my mother told me. So, when I see a man, I run—When I was young, my mother even told me that if a man touches me, I will get pregnant. So, I even thought if he touched me like this, I would get pregnant. So, if I see a man coming, I run and I kept running until I got to understand that it is not just touching, but they will lure you to their house and they will make you pregnant. Let us be fair to our baby girls.
Please, Mr Speaker, when they get pregnant, they have not ended their life; it is not a life sentence. They can still make it, so we should just allow them to have their peace, give birth, take that baby from them and allow them to go back to school. Education has no end.
Recently, when Mr Speaker announced a scholarship here, I have even been interested and I want to go back to school. I have been interested in education and
I want to go back and read. I am interested. So, if at my age, I still have interest in education, at that teenage age, parents should just take the baby and allow her back to the classroom or she could go and learn a trade. She can still make it. It does not end there. There is perception that if a girl is pregnant, it is a taboo. So, the stigmatisation that starts from there should stop. Let us help and educate them. We should catch them young. From nine years, we should start teaching the girls.
At 13 years, they will be growing big, so we should start teaching them that this is how things work, so that they do not fall victims. A lot of them are victims because they do not understand the whole thing. So they get pregnant before they realise that what they were playing with was not for fun, but it was something dangerous that can damage their future. So, parents, we are pleading. Be honest with your baby girls. They are growing big and they are growing nice. Guide them and let them have the right tutorial in the house so that they do not fall victim.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan
Cape Coast South
Mr Speaker, last but not least, on the teenage pregnancy, as many contributors have said, education is key.
I remember when you and I were in school, we were taught human biology, which obviously teaches some of these things, so that our kids will be aware of what the implications will be if they get into certain acts and that they would have kids and that sort of thing. So, Mr Speaker, it is the education and the awareness for our kids. Secondly, there is the issue of idleness. If kids are idle, do not continue their education and are not trained to be in a gainful employment, the idle hands will play into many things.
So, Mr Speaker, these are the things that we need to do. And then, of course, when our kids become pregnant, we do not abandon them that they have got themselves into that problem, so they should deal with it. We should remember first that they are kids and they need all the support they can get, so that if they have to have these babies, they can get the support from the parents and to get these kids back to school again, either to study or to be trained to do something.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I thank you very much and I thank the makers of this Statement.
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