The Catholic Church of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands has sounded the alarm over the growing problem of teenage pregnancies and the abandonment of unwanted children. This concerns nearly 15 % of the girls. The Bishops complain that they are left alone in the difficult task of education and prevention. «There are serious shortcomings in the education system, which cannot limit itself to representing the physiological structure of the human body as male and female, but should show the sexual union in an authentically human, cultural and spiritual context», we read in the note published by the Fides News Agency. «The massive distribution of contraceptives is preferred, rather than an education to responsible love as a treasure to be lived in a constructive and positive manner».

 

The early loss of adolescence is among the most wide-spread forms of violation of child rights. Among the primary causes are, for girls, especially in Africa and South Asia, teenage pregnancies and marriages, which lead to other negative consequences, such as dropping out of school, poverty, damage to the child’s health and life itself, abortion, infant mortality, and even infanticide.