Amnesty International South Africa’s research consultant Cassandra Dorasamy says rape and sexual abuse are the driving factors behind South Africa’s soaring number of child pregnancies and it requires urgent intervention.
Statistics that the organisation recently released show that more than ninety thousand girls between the ages of ten and nineteen gave birth between April 2021 and March this year. The numbers do not factor in variables such as termination of pregnancy, home births, miscarriages and babies whose births are not registered.
Dorasamy says, ”We have seen a 48.7% increase in the number of births to young girls between the ages of ten (10) and fourteen (14). And then this year, we have seen the latest results showing there were at least 90 037 girls between the ages of ten (10) and nineteen (19) who have given birth and this is the between April 2021 and March 2022”.
She also added that cases of rape should automatically be registered for girls younger than twelve-years-old who get pregnant as they are below the age of consent.
Below is Dorasamy’s full interview on LotusFM’s Newsbreak programme:
