Friday, January 20, 2006
Canary Islands head the list for Unwanted Pregnancies
Political party Alternativa Popular Canaria is asking the Canarian Government to put a plan into action for the prevention of unwanted teenage pregnancies.
The Canary Islands head the list of statistics in on underage pregnancies, with more than 10 percent of all cases in the whole of Spain. According to official figures, around 1200 girls under the age of nineteen give birth each year.
This already alarming statistic is worsened by facts revealed in recent studies - that those numbers literally explode in certain neighborhoods at the margin of both capitals and in pockets of poverty in various parts of the Canary Islands.
The Canaries also head the list in numbers of premature births (7.8 per thousand in 2003) and more than 400 abortions yearly.
Alternativa Popular Canaria consider it a priority for the Canarian Government and Town Halls to invest in the prevention of unwanted, underage pregnancies and, in specific campaigns in the areas where there are the largest incidences, including giving access to free contraception.
Embarazos no deseados
