Pregnancy in girls under 17: a preliminary study in a hospital district in south London

Abstract

Pregnancy occurring in girls under the age of 17 is of particular interest to those providing obstetric care and family planning services, as well as to the social welfare services in the community. Childbirth in girls of this age carries greater risk to mother and child than in the immediately older age groups and a young mother having a baby, whether married or not, may face social and economic difficulties. This study is designed to find out basic facts about girls having terminations of pregnancy or continuing to have a baby in this young age group, relating to: parents and family of origin, housing, education, religion, knowledge of sex and fertility, use of contraception and nature of the relationship with the father of the child.The findings suggest that there is an urgent need for improving the provision and effectiveness of sex education, that the provision of contraceptive advice to the very young should be reviewed and improved, and that the type of relationships between boys and girls leading to the pregnancies described in this study are neither casual nor ‘promiscuous’. The findings that those conceiving under the age of 15, and keeping the baby, made their first attendance at the antenatal clinic very late in the pregnancy suggests that these girls take an undue risk with their health, possibly due to the present state of the law regarding sexual intercourse in young people. The ideas of ‘wantedness’ and ‘planning’ in relation to conception are discussed.