PANAJI: With the state witnessing around 12 teenage pregnancies a year, and the numbers only likely to go up in future unless intervening measures are taken, health experts and those handling these cases are strongly advocating for sex education to be made part of the curriculum.

Presently, the only semblance of sex education in schools is teaching students about “good and bad” touch.

Stating that sex education must be imparted to adolescent girls and boys to make them aware how to take care of themselves, obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Shraddha Patil said, “We must teach them to be careful. Prevention is better than cure.”
Sex education is imperative among young boys and girls to educate them on the impact of unprotected sex on health of teenager, say experts.

“There can be reproductive tract infection as well as problems in future when a female may try conceiving in adulthood. The risk of infertility when a teenage girl undergoes an abortion can’t be ruled out. There is also the risk of contracting sexually transmitted disease,” said fertility expert Dr Gauri Gauns.

Patil feels that with sex being treated as a “taboo” subject, the issue of teenage pregnancies is being pushed under the carpet and that there is a likelyhood of them being under-reported, especially with medical abortion pills easily available over the counter in pharmacies.

“Many young girls don’t come to a doctor, but get an abortion done by taking an abortion pill bought directly from the pharmacy. It is very common and we see a lot of girls coming to us with complications after taking these pills. The pill has to be taken within a certain window period of getting pregnant. But when a girl buys it over the counter from a pharmacy, that fact is not considered by the pharmacist,” Gauns said.

Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Rini Naik said that besides sex education, schools should offer counselling so that girls can approach and discuss their problems without hesitation. “I think we need to make awareness about contraceptives essential in the society, schools and colleges included.”

Naik, who has conducted a study on teenage pregnancies in GMC, said that even 10 or 12 teenage pregnancies in a year is a big number for a small state like Goa.

A gynaecologist who did not want to be named said that in several cases, to avoid shame, families approaches a private clinic and have their underage girls undergo abortion as reporting the case will be termed as rape under the Goa Children’s Act.

“There is a tacit understanding between the family and doctor. In most cases, though there may not be use of force, under the law it is an offence. But with families wanting to hush the matter, it never gets reported,” he said.