With 2,500 teenage girls in T&T getting pregnant every year, secretary of the Association of Psychiatrists, Varma Deyalsingh, is calling for adoption centres to be set up by the Catholic Church.
Speaking at the Rapidfire Kidz Foundation eyeglasses distribution function, held at the Macaulay Community Centre, Deyalsingh called on Archbishop Joseph Harris to open national dialogue on abortion and contraception, which were crucial to the debate on child marriage.
Harris has spoken out publicly against abortion and child marriage, saying it was legal statutory rape.
But Deyalsingh said despite the church’s stance, pregnant girls had few options.
“What are we to do with our pregnant females? We have three choices. We marry them. We abort the child or we allow them to deliver the child. All three scenarios put the pregnant teenager at a disadvantage,” Deyalsingh added.
He called on the Catholic Church to open adoption centres for the newborns of teenagers who are pregnant and cannot legally terminate, adding, “The church must encourage dialogue on abortion.”
“By not educating our children about sex, the Archbishop is encouraging teenage pregnancy and all the ills it may bring,” Deyalsingh contended.
Sending a message to secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Sat Maharaj, Deyalsingh said the rights of a child have to be considered.
“For Mr Sat Maharaj, times have changed, the expectations of females have changed. We are no longer living in times when females were expected to marry early and spend the rest of their lives taking care of their children,” he said.
Admitting that both of his grandmothers were teenage brides but did well to handle their families, Deyalsingh said a young female of today does not want to be tied down with the life of early marriage and minding house.
“It is against the human rights convention to force a child into marriage,” Deyalsingh said. However, he said, while it is not acceptable for an adult to have sexual relations with or marry a teenager, consideration must be given in cases where a teenager aged 16 or 17 becomes pregnant “and the families wanting to save face, with the consent of all parties can agree to a marriage and the teenagers can continue their education while their grandparents take care of the child.” He added that over 2,500 teenage girls get pregnant every year for men aged 25 to 40.
As such, Deyalsingh said, intellectuals must speak out about the social ills facing children.
“They need to speak about the gang leader who takes his neighbour’s teenage child as a sex object. They need to speak out about the maxi taxi drivers who use their maxi taxis as a bedroom to spoil our daughters, and the incest which occurs behind closed doors,” Deyalsingh added.
Saying child marriage is a miniscule problem when one looks at the broader ills, Deyalsingh called for the debate to “include the sexualisation of our children, the lack of sex education in schools, the resistance to the availability of contraception for teenagers and archaic abortion laws.”
He also noted that if the Marriage Act is changed, a pregnant teenager would now have no choice.
“She cannot get married, she cannot get a legal abortion, and if she goes to deliver her child at the hospital, both her family and the child’s father would be facing the hand of the law. A pregnant teenager is now caught between a rock and a hard place. We have to get solutions that would not further traumatise her,” Deyalsingh added.
He said pregnant teenagers must not be ostracized or punished by society.
“We have to let her see that we understand that children would make mistakes and we in society are not there to punish her but would be there to protect, educate and empower her,” Deyalsingh added.
A total of 75 children from the Macaulay Government Primary School, the Union Presbyterian Primary School and the St Margaret’s Government Primary School were given free eyeglasses. Also attending the function was president of the foundation Kevin Ratiram.