In the Andean region of Latin America, over one million adolescent girls get pregnant every year. Ecuador in particular has the highest rates of teen pregnancy in South America, with 21% of girls giving birth before age 18. In addition, despite a substantial increase in the use of contraceptives, adolescent fertility rates throughout Ecuador have actually increased. And these high rates of teen pregnancy are especially problematic considering that late last month, officials in Colombia, El Salvador, Ecuador and Jamaica issued warnings for women to delay pregnancies until more is known about the Zika virus.
Most of the world has now heard of the Zika virus, a previously unfamiliar mosquito-borne illness that has sparked widespread media coverage and has now been designated a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” by the World Health Organization. Zika has not been a worldwide problem until now, as the symptoms are generally very mild and require no specific treatment. But suspicions that the virus can have an enormous impact on fetal development, in particular causing microcephaly (babies born with tiny brains), are causing waves of panic and travel warnings across continents.
Yet in a region where access to birth control is restricted, abortions are largely illegal, and 50-60% of pregnancies are unplanned or due to sexual abuse, how is asking women to delay pregnancy for eight months or longer a reasonable recommendation? And what are these governments doing, if anything, to assist women in delaying pregnancy, or to address that so many of these pregnancies are in minors and often due to assault?
