The ANCYL wants to make it mandatory to give birth control pills to 12-year-olds.
Calling teenage pregnancy a “perennial societal problem” that has reached alarming proportions in South Africa, the ANCYL has proposed a series of controversial remedies, including giving birth control pills to 12-year-olds.
South African tabloid City Press reports that in addition to “mandatory initiation into contraception for all adolescent girls from the age of 12 to curb teenage pregnancy,” the ANCYL also wants to look into “the pros and cons” of legalizing prostitution, and raising the age limit for alcohol from 18 to 21 years.
The proposals are included in the League’s education and health discussion paper, which will be presented at its 24th national congress in June.
The ANCYL proposal “smacks of an authoritarian approach which is contrary to promoting safe sex behaviour,” said Katharine Hall, senior researcher for the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town. Hall noted that statistics on teenage pregancy in South Africa show the phenomenon is on the decline.
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I think it will be a mistake… I’ve heard recently that birth control pills are more dangerous now! so it would be a great risk!