Boyfriend gets life for slaying of pregnant teen girlfriend

ANGLETON, Texas (AP) - An 18-year-old man faces life in prison after Southeast Texas jurors convicted him of killing his teenage girlfriend who was pregnant with twins.

Ryan Matthews was convicted of capital murder in the death of Arrijana Hill. Both Matthews and Hill were 16 when she was found dead last year in a pool of blood inside her family home in Pearland.

Prosecutors accused Matthews of killing Hill because he was worried children would ruin his future as an athlete.

Matthews admitted on the stand that he saw Hill the day of her death and that he threw away the shirt he was wearing that day.

He will be eligible for parole after 40 years.

Pearland is about 15 miles south of downtown Houston.

SOUTH AFRICA: Teenage pregnancy figures cause alarm

johannesburg, 6 March 2007 (IRIN) - Alarming figures released by a South African provincial education department indicate that schoolgirl pregnancies have doubled in the past year, despite a decade of spending on sex education and AIDS awareness. 

The number of pregnant schoolgirls jumped from 1,169 in 2005 to 2,336 in 2006 in Gauteng, the country's economic heartland and most populous province, according to statistics released in the provincial parliament. 

"South Africa has a huge teen pregnancy problem - one in three girls has had a baby by the age of 20," David Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of LoveLife, South Africa's largest youth-targeted HIV/AIDS campaign, told IRIN. 

In a country where HIV prevalence is 18.8 percent, the high level of teenage pregnancy has heightened concerns. According to the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), "The latest national survey into HIV prevalence recorded that 16 percent of pregnant women under the age of 20 tested HIV positive."

The problem is not equally serious in all parts of the country: on average, two to three girls fall pregnant in a typical school with 1,200 to 1,400 pupils. "But what is clear is that there are hotspots where things are horribly wrong," Harrison said. The Gauteng figures showed 71 percent of pupils pregnant at one school in Soweto, a huge township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. 

"Somehow there are schools where 60 to 70 percent of pupils were pregnant. There is no doubt that this is associated with things like gang activity, coercion and substance abuse," Harrison said, adding that according to a 2006 survey, 30 percent of girls in South Africa said "their first sexual experience was forced or under threat of force". 

But other factors are also driving the high teenage pregnancy rate in some areas. According to a recent MRC study, 'Blood Blockages and Scolding Nurses: Barriers to Adolescent Contraceptive Use in South Africa', "Nurses' attitudes were a major barrier to teenagers getting hold of contraception. The nurses were uncomfortable about providing teenagers with contraception, as they felt they should not be having sex. They responded to requests for contraception in a manner that was highly judgmental and unhelpful. The girls described it as 'harassment'". 

The study also found that social pressures often prevented young women from using contraception: "The girls felt they would only be accepted as women once they had proved their fertility - many mothers wanted their teenage daughters to become pregnant so they could have a baby at home again." 

Some observers have suggested that the child support grant provided by the state was an incentive to young girls to fall pregnant, but according to Harrison, "A recent survey of 1,500 girls aged between 15 and 24 indicated that only 2 percent cited the child-care grant as an incentive. About 25 percent just said they wanted to have a baby." Other influencing factors - accounting for 20 percent - were "social pressures and self-affirmation". 

Hassan Lorgat, coordinator of the South African chapter of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), said it was important to understand the causes of these "disappointing figures", and stressed the need for more research. "There are no studies about the role of males in the problem," he commented. 

Education is fundamental 

The MRC study recommended "sex education at school before the age of 14, when young people become sexually active". 

This should include "information for teenagers about avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, providing detailed information about contraception and its side effects; better management and training for nurses, so they can deal sympathetically with teenagers requiring contraception and provide the necessary information and education campaigns that take away the stigma of teenage sexuality, so that girls are not afraid to ask for contraception". 

LoveLife's Harrison stressed the role of schools in curbing adolescent pregnancy: "Schoolgoing is protective. [Teenagers] not at school are more likely to fall pregnant than those at school; surveys show girls are 1.7 times more likely to use condoms when in school." 

He said there was a need to determine whether teen pregnancies in Gauteng schools were "really spiraling out of control or whether the higher figures represented improvements in reporting, or [there was] less stigma associated with disclosing a pregnancy". 

Keeping children in school was essential, Harrison said. "We need to do a better job in anticipating school leaving - that's when they [schoolgirls] become hugely vulnerable." 

Sierra Leone News: As TIDEA launches report … 34% pregnancies are teenage girls

The Executive Director of Tricia Initiatives for the Development and Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Youths (TIDEA) Patricia Bah yesterday revealed that, recent data shows that 42% of girls have a child or are pregnant by age 18years, 26% of women aged 15-19 have already given birth, while 34% of all pregnancies occur amongst teenage girls.

This alarming statistics was revealed at the official launch of an assessment report of teenage and adolescent pregnancy, in the wake of the Ebola epidemic, at the Buxton Methodist Memorial Hall, on Charles Street in Freetown.

Further making her presentation, Madam Bah explained that the findings of the report reveal that the Ebola crisis has greatly affected adolescent and teenage pregnancy programming in Sierra Leone, and that there was an increase in adolescent and teenage pregnancy during the Ebola crisis.

She said analysis from key informants showed that key drivers of adolescent and teenage pregnancy were due to poverty, anti-social behaviours, and inattentive parenting.

Madam Bah called on all present, especially women advocate to continue to urge government to enforce laws, poor attitudes towards contraception, and the reduction in reproductive health services for pregnancy prevention.

During the assessment, she said that quality data control and analysis, helped field staff to overcome some of the many challenges, especially at rural level and an alarming figure of over 30,000 teenage and adolescent pregnancies were reported in the 44 health facilities across the Country for 2014.

The Executive Director disclosed that 58% of the pregnancies occurred during the Ebola crisis, and the overall teenage and adolescent pregnancies increased by 27% nationwide.

In almost all of the districts, Madam Bah noted that statistics show that the views among participants in the assessment were that teenage pregnancy has worsened during the Ebola crisis.

Despite this, there were isolated cases where people suggested that the Ebola situation has brought down teenage pregnancy.

Madam Bah explained that in the assessment, a family support unit officer (FSU) in Kono was of the view that teenage pregnancy has come down in the district as a result of the restriction of movement of people.

She noted that apart from the Western Area, Kenema, and Kailahun, teenage and adolescent pregnancy has not shown patterns that are significantly different from the period before the Ebola outbreak.

Launching the assessment report, the President of the West African College of Nurses (WACN), Amelia Gabba, commended the management of TIDEA for their initiative and commitment to carry out the assessment, which revealed that much more needs to be done to reduce teenage and adolescent pregnancy, nationwide.

She said TIDEA has chosen the right time to launch the report and go into action, which is in line with Government’s National Strategy on Teenage Pregnancy Reduction, which has a pillar on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

Madam Gabba, who is also a nursing sister of long years, called on government and other health partners to collaborate with TIDEA, as it is through effective collaboration, teenage and adolescent girls will be able to achieve their full potential.

Concluding the WACN President appealed that the Ebola disease should not make room for more girls to become pregnant.

As she put it “Let girls be girls, not mothers”.

By Ade Campbell

UK tops league of teenage pregnancy

Britain still has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe despite being one of the world's biggest users of contraceptives.

The figures, which emerged yesterday in a large- scale international study, appeared to explode claims by the sex education lobby that the UK's sky-high teenage birth rate is down to ignorance.

It showed that four out of five females between the ages of 15 and 44 in Britain - 80 per cent -use some form of contraception.

This compares to 76 per cent in the U.S., 75 per cent in France and 59 per cent in Japan.

Britain, nevertheless, has a sky-high level of teenage pregnancies, with 2.9 out of every 100 girls aged between 15 and 19 giving birth every year.

In France, where there is less contraceptive use, only 0.9 of every 100 girls aged 15 to 19 have babies, according to the survey.

The level in Germany is 1.1 per hundred girls while in Japan it is only 0.4 per hundred.

The findings suggest the huge growth in single parenthood in the UK in recent years - much of it a result of teenage pregnancy - has little to do with a lack of knowledge of sex and contraception among young people.

Recent research projects have contradicted the long-standing claim of the sex education lobby that more information and better distribution of contraceptives is needed, pointing away from ignorance as the cause of pregnancy among young girls.

Yesterday's report from the U.S. pressure group Population Action International surveyed health and reproduction statistics in developed countries and those in the Third World.

Alongside Britain the countries with the highest rate of contraceptive use are China, and, surprisingly for two Catholic nations, Spain and Italy.

The findings bear out research last year at Southampton University which found that teenage girls in Britain have a sophisticated knowledge of contraception.

For example, seven out of ten knew the morning-after pill was effective after more than 24 hours.

A report last month from Prince Charles's charity the Prince's Trust said teenage single girls on sink estates admire their peers who have given birth and often seek to copy their status and acquire the free flat they think having a baby usually brings.

The Family Planning Association insisted yesterday, however: 'Contraceptive use and teenage pregnancy are really two different issues and it doesn't help to lump them together.'

British rates of teenage pregnancy remain well behind those of the U.S. One in 20 girls there has babies each year compared to one in 34 in this country.

Last year more than 48,000 babies were born to teenage mothers in Britain.

They cost the taxpayer an estimated £125million in income support alone every year, apart from other costs such as assistance with rent and council tax.

The easy availability of contraception led to steep falls in the teenage birth rate across Europe in the early Seventies.

But while other countries continued to achieve dramatic falls Britain's has not changed since

According to a 1999 report by the Social Exclusion Unit the lack of education in sex and relationships was considered the main cause.

But the survey suggests the Prince's Trust may have been more accurate in its assumption that the attraction of financial benefits may be more to blame

Teen Pregnancies Have Hit an All-Time Low....

But teens still aren’t opting for the most effective forms of birth control

The United States has one of the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world, with up to seven times the rate of pregnancy of countries like Swit

zerland. But in recent years, that rate has been falling. Now, new data released from the CDC shows that in the U.S. teen pregnancies have hit an all-time low, falling from 61.8 births per 1,000 teens in 1991 to 26.5 births per 1,000 teens in 2013.

The data has some big implications for both the government and young women. The CDC estimates that the United States spends approximately $9.4 billion each year on teen moms, and studies have shown that teen moms face everything from poverty to domestic violence.

But the CDC’s report also shows that though 90 percent of teens are using contraception, most aren’t using the most effective types of birth control. Officials say that Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) like IUDs and implants, which can prevent pregnancy from three to 10 years, are only being used by a handful of teens. The two main methods of birth control used by teens—birth control pills and condoms—fail more often and are forgotten more frequently, meaning they’re a less effective option for sexually active teenagers.

But though use of LARC is on the rise (teens seeking birth control opted for LARC seven percent of the time in 2013, up from just one percent in 2005), there are plenty of barriers to its use. Not many teens know much about it, and many think it’s only for older women. (For many years, doctors only recommended IUDs to women who were done with child-bearing.) And when teens seek LARC at clinics, they can be stymied by high costs, uninformed clinicians and those who mistakenly believe that IUDs and implants are unsafe or inappropriate for teen use.

That needs to change, says Hal Lawrence, CEO and executive vice president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “Long-acting reversible contraceptive methods—including intrauterine devices and implants—are the most effective forms of reversible contraception available and are safe for use by almost all reproductive-age women.” In a statement, Lawrence noted that long-acting contraception options are just as safe in adolescents in adults…but though the recent reduction in pregnancy rates is “encouraging,” the medical profession must continue to play a role in reducing teen pregnancy.

So where’s the highest concentration of teens who choose contraception like IUDs? In Colorado, where tens of thousands of IUDs were provided to low-income women due to a private grant, the rate of IUD use in teens who seek contraception is the highest in the nation at 25.8 percent. That’s compared to just 0.7 percent of teens who seek birth control in Mississippi.

Help put girls’ rights on the political agenda

It’s under a month until the general election and we know some ways that you can make a difference. Help transform lives across the world by keeping girls’ rights on the agenda.

Christiana stands up fights for girls’ rights in Sierra Leone.

British aid has helped over ten million children, mostly girls, go to school in the past two years. This is a great achievement and shows what we can do through aid, but the task is far from over. There are still 62 million girls who are unable to access the basic right to education.

Keep girls’ rights on the agenda

Girls have a right to live free from violence, to go to school and to have a voice in decisions that affect them. Accessing these rights gives girls the chance to achieve their potential, and we also know it helps tackle poverty.

“Without the support of British aid, Plan’s work for girls would not be possible. Therefore it’s really important that you engage with political parties about what they are going to do to ensure girls’ rights are on the agenda,” says Daniel, 15, a member of Plan’s Youth Advisory Panel.

Christiana’s story

Christiana in Sierra Leone was forced to drop out of school because her family could not afford to pay for materials. She was selling food at the local market when a man older than her father approached her for marriage. She was coerced by her family to accept, and forced to undergo FGM before marrying. She escaped the marriage after five months and eventually managed to go back to school. She is now supported by Plan’s Girl Power Project and was selected by her peers to be their president because of her goal to be an advocate for girls’ education and to speak out against early marriage, teenage pregnancy and FGM.

Girls’ rights must be part of the UK international development agenda. Here’s how you can help make sure they are.

Help us spread the message to the next UK Parliament on social media

Share this image with all your followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and any other network you are a part of. Let them know what you want. Or tweet your MP directly. You can find your local MP’s Twitter handle using the Tweet Minister website. You may also want to print the image and keep it by the front door, for when candidates come around.

Write to your local newspaper

Use Plan’s letter template to write to your local newspaper. Contact details can usually be found on their websites – the easiest way is to search for them online. Be sure to include your own name and place, as letters will not be published without that info.

Support Because I am a Girl

Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign is the biggest girls' rights campaign in the world. The campaign tackles violence including abuse, FGM and child marriage by raising awareness and providing education.

Teen birth rate falls in US

MIAMI (US): The birth rate among United States (US) teenagers has continued to decline, but health authorities said Tuesday that even greater strides could be made if more teens used long-acting forms of contraception.

More than 273,000 babies were born to mothers aged 15 to 19 in 2013, the U

S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The teen birth rate in 2013, the most recent year in which data is available, was 26.5 births per 1,000 teenagers.

This was more than double that in 1991, when the birth rate was 61.8 births per 1,000 teens.

"Improved contraceptive use has contributed substantially to this decline," said the CDC Vital Signs report.

"A key strategy for further reducing teen pregnancy is increasing awareness, access and availability of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), specifically intrauterine devices."

Nearly 90% of sexually active teens surveyed said they used birth control the last time they had sex.

The most common forms of contraception were condoms and birth control pills.

However, relatively few teens are opting for implants and intrauterine devices, which are the most effective kinds of birth control.

Long-acting reversible contraception use among teens was 0.4% in 2005 to but rose to 7.1% in 2013.

Of the 616,148 female teens the CDC studied in 2013, 17,349 (2.8%) used IUDs, and 26,347 (4.3%) used implants.

"LARC is safe to use, does not require taking a pill every day or doing something every time before having sex, and, depending on the method, can be used to prevent pregnancy for three to 10 years," said the CDC report.

"Less than one percent of LARC users become pregnant during the first year of use."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have endorsed LARC as a first-line contraceptive choice for teens, the report added.

However, the CDC stressed that LARC does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

"The good news is that teens are taking responsibility for their reproductive health needs," said Lisa Romero, a health scientist in CDC's Division of Reproductive Health.

"We also know that teens using birth control do not often choose intrauterine devices and implants, the most effective types of birth control.

"Parents and teens are encouraged to talk with their health care professional to learn about the various types of birth control, including long-acting reversible contraception."