The Voices of Pregnant Adolescents: the Gap between Reproductive Health
The Voices of Pregnant Adolescents: the Gap between Reproductive Health

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses pregnancy in adolescents in Mexico, as it is a matter of great concern for different social actors. Scant literature and studies include first-hand information about the needs and desires of adolescents concerning their sexuality and reproductive health. This paper gives account of these voices of urban marginal young women, allowing a better insight of the complexity and the meanings that has pregnancy and adolescent motherhood. Qualitative methodology has been used to gather important information about experience that pregnant adolescents had concerning issues related with their own development as pregnant young women. In order to develop posterior semi-structured interviews, and to avoid conceptual and wording misunderstandings, focus groups were carried out to explore the meanings of ‘official’ and ‘private’ language about pregnancy in adolescence. Pregnant adolescents’ voices revealed, and strongly stressed, the cultural shaping of the ‘feminine’ nature for reproduction and maternity, and therefore, pregnancy acquired particular values, more precious than other social activities. Pregnancy acts as a trigger for these adolescents to decide either to marry or to live in ‘free union’. In fact, pregnancy is a factor that strongly compels that decision. No matter what social and individual difficulties they have to face, they are widely justified by becoming ‘a mother’, that is considered and desired by them as the better status for a woman. Reproductive health policies fail in diminishing adolescent fertility rate. They need to address adolescent population based on, and including, gender contents and young women’s sexual and reproductive rights.

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