Warning for teenagers

Warning for teenagers

BOGOR (JP): Women who become pregnant between the ages of 15
and 19 are twice as vulnerable to death during childbirth as
women between the ages of 20 and 34, an obstetrician said.

Raditya Wratsangka of the Indonesian Family Planning Clinic
Association was speaking during a discussion here on Saturday on
the reproductive health of teenagers. He also said babies born to
teenage mothers were mostly weaker, especially in the first five
years of life, than those born to women between 20 and 29 years
of age.

Raditya, who also is a gynecologist, warned teenagers to be
more careful in their sexual activities.

He also warned teenagers of unplanned pregnancy, which could
lead to illegal abortion. "WHO (World Health Organization)
assumes there are 4.2 million women in Asia, including between
750,000 and 1.5 million Indonesians, who have abortions each
year."

High school students from Bogor and Jakarta took part in the
one-day discussion organized by the Population Council at Novotel
Bogor Hotel.

Ninuk Widyantoro, a psychologist at the Indonesian AIDS
Foundation, was among the keynote speakers.

She said most Indonesian teenagers received limited
information about sex. "Parents are worried that discussing
contraceptives with teenagers could cause the teenagers do
something improper ...." (21/sur)