Teens in dire need of sex education

Rina, (not her real name), is just 16. She used to be popular at her high school in Mataram. She is both beautiful and smart. She dreams of becoming a teacher someday.

The world seemed perfect for Rina, specially with the presence of Dudi, her senior, and boyfriend until her life was shattered a few months ago.

Rina got pregnant due to her relationship with Dudi which she described as "too intense". As she panicked, Dudi suggested to Rina that she have an abortion with a traditional midwife. Without telling their parents, the teenagers decided to go through with an unsafe abortion.

The midwife gave Rina a concoction of herbs and pineapple juice to drink as she lay on a wooden bench. A few hours later, she suffered a terrible stomach ache brought on by the herbal drink, one of the signs of imminent miscarriage.

The midwife pressed Rina's stomach harshly and inserted an unsterilized stick into her vagina to retract the fetus. Rina was bleeding heavily and unable to resist the pain she finally passed out.

Panicking, Dudi rushed her to the downtown Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) clinic where they met Dr. Lalu Sudirman and his staff.

"I was very angry at the boy and the midwife. This poor girl could have died due to serious bleeding and other complications," he said. Rina was lucky to receive prompt medical treatment from the clinic.

"There are perhaps thousands of girls like Rina who get pregnant and opt for unsafe abortion out of ignorance," said Sudirman, adding that at least 10 teenage patients come to his clinic every day.

Since its establishment in the early 1970s, PKBI's Mataram branch office has been active in promoting its family planning program and reproductive health among women in the province.

"In the past, we focused on encouraging married couples to join the national family planning program. Now we want to focus on teenagers," said Sudirman, who is also the office executive director.

The province is currently facing a massive problems with the youth, which was previously ignored by parents and teachers as well as the government and non-governmental organizations like PKBI and the Indonesian Family Planning Board (BKKBN).

Two years ago, the board began to include teenagers and young adults (aged between 14 and 24) as the target of the family planning program.

"Times have changed. Wide exposure to the media, Internet and movies has drastically changed young people's lifestyle," Sudirman said.

Most young people receive inadequate knowledge about reproductive health, proper social interaction and mental attitudes both at home and at schools.

"A large number of teenagers gain information about sex from TV, magazines, books and porn videos which are very misleading," he said.

The youth in urban Matraman are eager to imitate their fellows in Jakarta, Bandung and other big cities.

"The influence of sinetron (local TV drama) and porn videos has also been huge," he said.

The trend in unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion, early marriages and rapes cases among teenagers has increased sharply in the last five years.

PKBI has been working hand-in-hand with schools, NGOs and youth groups to increase teenagers' awareness of the issue.

Masnawati, coordinator of Bumi Gora's Youth Information and Counseling group, said the group has been doing lots of programs to give young people access to accurate information on various issues from education, sport and culture to reproductive health.

"Many school and university students join the programs. It's good as they can share their problems with their studies and personal problems with us."

Various seminars and discussions on reproductive health have been held in schools.

"They are very enthusiastic and ask various questions on the issue and the importance of taking care of their health," she said.

Some of them have no knowledge about how a woman gets pregnant.

"A girl came to me asking if she could get pregnant if her boyfriend kissed her on the mouth and touched her genitals," Masnawati said. "Another girl admitted having sex with several men without realizing the risk."

Problems lie ahead as formal sex education is prohibited at schools and madrasah (Islamic boarding schools). No specific youth programs are introduced by the administration and related agencies.

"Parents, teachers and religious leaders think sex education merely focuses on sexual intercourse and porn issues," Sudirman said.

"By gaining the right information, teenagers will stay out of trouble including having sex and unsafe abortion," he said.

"To establish a quality family, we must target the youth as they will become parents in the future. The health and welfare of this age group of society should be our first priority. Please don't ignore them." --JP