PETALING JAYA: Studies have shown that an average of 18,000 teenage girls get pregnant each year, according to Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah.
Maria said most of the pregnancies were unplanned and about half of them were likely to end with an abortion.
A social problem related to such pregnancies is baby dumping, she added in her speech during a “Love Yourself” programme at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Taman Medan here today.
She said an average of 100 cases of baby dumping was recorded each year, the equivalent of one baby found dead every three days. This, she said, underlined the importance of sex education.
Maria said the term “Sex Education” had been replaced with “Reproductive and Social Health Education” to remove any negative connotations.
“Many studies have found that comprehensive reproductive health education can reduce the statistics of teenagers involved in sexual misconduct,” she said.
She said parents and other responsible parties had become increasingly alarmed by the sexuality trends and behaviours among teenagers in the country.
“The percentage of sexual activity among teens increased drastically from 2.3% among 13 to 17–year–olds in 2014 to 7.3% in 2017.
“The increasing number of rape and pregnancy out of wedlock cases require special attention by all quarters to ensure the problem is addressed.” she added.
