Teenage births once more

In todays The Times the problem with teenage pregnancies is addressed again. In the article it is said that Angela Abela, a clinical psychologist and the director of the University’s Centre for Family Studies, not only is asking questions but also has the key which is education and early intervention. With early intervention she does not mean intervention as early as before conception; no, she means by early intervention the time when the teenager still is pregnant. In a more modern society that would be the right approach, because then it might still be time for abortion. That is, of course, not what Ms Abela had in mind. No, she wants to involve the young father. One can wonder if she really believes that a teenage father can mature in such a short time and be a responsible father. Of course he cannot. Ms Abela seems to mean that one of the keys to solve the problem is to give instructions on how best to deal with a situation where a teenager is still pregnant or have given birth. It is of course commendable, but it does not solve the problem that Malta has the highest rate of teenage mothers in the EU related to the population. The solution must be to strive to prevent teen pregnancy. This can only happen through sex education ( in which one might even strongly discourage adolescents to have sex outside marriage, this is, after all, Malta), contraception counseling, access to contraceptives and, something that is not the case for Malta in perhaps 20-30 years, free abortions. The problem with teenage mothers will persist as long as you do not introduce sex education and teaching about contraception and its use. It is as simple as that. Malta is, however, in many ways far behind the more modern EU states and the Catholic Church is in many ways responsible for this. See also The Observers article in this subject of March 14