Most young mums still schoolgirls

BANGKOK: -- Almost 78 per cent of young mothers in Bangkok became pregnant while they were school students, research has found.

Passanant Assawarak, of King Mongkut's University of Technology Thon Buri, carried out an in-depth study subsidised by the National Culture Commission of mothers in several emergency homes for girls in the capital.

It found 43 per cent were aged between 14 and 20 and got pregnant after sex with high-school boyfriends. A further 34.7 per cent were under 14 and in primary education, while others were
vocational students, university students, or uneducated.

Some 70 per cent were first-time mothers, while 14 per cent were victims of sexual assault.

Prisana Pongthadsirikul, secretary-general of the Commission, told a press conference yesterday that 34.7 per cent of their partners were high-school boys, 24 per cent were in primary education, 10 per cent were vocational students.

Most of the mothers said they did not dare to have an abortion, but 21 per cent admitted they had attempted to abort the babies but failed.

The poll also found 3,200 out of 10,373 people calling a Child Protection Foundation hotline were pregnant students. Some said they wanted to commit suicide.

-- The Nation 2006-08-31