Mexico has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Latin America & our state of Jalisco has the fourth highest rate in Mexico. In our own municipality of La Huerta, 22% of babies born in 2020 were born to adolescent mothers (10-19 years old), an increase of over 5% from the previous year.
“Besides representing a high-risk pregnancy for the mother and baby, teenage pregnancy widens social and gender gaps because it alter the life plan and psychosocial development especially of girls who have to drop out of school.”
Teenage pregnancies most often occur in poorer and marginalized communities and increase when girls lack information about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Given this, we launched a pilot program in sexual education for middle and high school students in our local communities, with the support of Sonic Sunset and the Careyes community. In July 2022, we partnered with Fundación México Vivo to deliver five workshops reaching 154 teens. Through this pilot initiative, we realized only 22% of participants had previously received sexual education.
Click here to read our full report on the results of our Sex Education pilot workshop.
We will continue to address this topic so as to prevent teenage pregnancy and thus decrease the gender gap. In 2023, we have planned an entire month dedicated to sexual education in the 12 rural villages that we serve. During this period, we will work with specialists to deliver workshops in elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as open talks for adults and parents in each community. We aim to increase possibilities for local teenagers to expand, pursue, and accomplish their life goals.