Expectant teens, she went on to say, will “become an abomination in society; they’ll be punished for bearing children.”
The CitizenGo official said that while teen pregnancies are to be discouraged, punishing them by prohibiting their schooling will not solve the issue.
“Instead of having a law to punish these teenage mothers, first write a law on how to deal with teenage motherhood, which comes with introducing a good curriculum in schools that encourages chastity among teenagers,” the CitizenGo Campaigns Director in Africa said.
When pregnancy happens, she went on to say, “we can look at adoption for these babies, counselling for the mothers, and adopting them back to society by letting them continue with their education; we do not have to punish them.”
The Kenya Health Information Systems (KHIS) reportedly recorded 110,821 pregnancies among adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years in the first five months of 2023. Of the total number of pregnancies, KHIS says 6,110 occurred among girls aged 10 to 14 years while 104,711 were between the ages of 15 and 19.
In the January 16 interview, the Kenyan-born Catholic activist attributed the high number of teen pregnancies to multiple sources, including initiatives from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the media, and detached parenting, among others.
She said, “We have NGOs and organizations that are sneaking in the sexualization of children. We have the media that is normalizing fornication; there is a lack of values in the society; and parents are becoming less involved in their children’s lives leaving them in the hands of teachers.”
Ms. Kioko appealed for collective responsibility, saying, “Everybody needs to be responsible: the Church, parents, schools. We all have to work together to make sure that our children are well guided.”
“We need to control these organizations that promote contraception and sexualization of children,” she further said.
Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.
