Contraception: African girls have the right to protection and choices, not stigma and silence!
Data by the Ministry of Health shows one in five adolescents aged 15 to 19 is a mother or is pregnant with her first child. Kenya does not allow access to contraceptives for those below 18 years.
What you need to know:
- Access to contraceptives and reproductive health information enables adolescents to make informed choices, reducing unintended pregnancies and safeguarding their health and dignity.
- Legal contradictions, stigma, and restrictive policies continue to block teenagers from essential services; experts stress urgent reforms to align with human rights standards.
Educating adolescents about reproductive health, including the availability and access to contraception, enables them to make informed choices. This reduces unintended pregnancies and improves both reproductive and mental health outcomes.
Adolescents are a heterogeneous group with diverse and evolving needs, which vary depending on their developmental stages and life circumstances. As they transition from childhood to adulthood, they must be equipped with the knowledge and skills to navigate challenges safely and thrive.
According to the Teenage Pregnancy in Africa: Status, Progress and Challenges report (2022), published by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child with support from the Centre for Reproductive Rights and other partners, several African states have reported progress in access to contraception and in ensuring that schools remain open to pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers.
However, with a teenage pregnancy prevalence of more than 25 per cent in 24 African countries, more interventions are needed, including wider access to reproductive health information and services.
The contraceptive needs of adolescents are diverse and evolving. While many may choose not to be sexually active, others may choose to be, and some may find themselves in situations where they are forced or coerced into sexual activity. Complementary strategies must, therefore, be applied to respond to these different needs.
Major barriers to adolescent access to reproductive health rights and services include the absence of enabling laws, the presence of contradictory laws (for example, a law obliging the Ministry of Health to provide contraceptive services to all individuals of reproductive age undermined by another law requiring mandatory parental consent for minors), and restrictive laws such as those limiting safe abortion care.
The rights of adolescents to sexual and reproductive services are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. States must align with these obligations. Without legal and policy reforms, adolescents remain trapped in silence, stigma, and systemic neglect.
Essential contraceptives and information
There is overwhelming evidence that access to contraceptives reduces maternal deaths, delays early childbearing, and increases educational attainment for girls and women. According to the WHO, meeting adolescents’ contraceptive needs could prevent up to 70 per cent of unintended teenage pregnancies in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Contrary to the views of those who oppose adolescent access to contraceptives, this is not about promoting promiscuity. It is about saving lives, protecting dignity, and ensuring a better future. Governments must remove legal and policy barriers, including age restrictions and parental consent laws, and adopt supportive policies. In addition, governments and donors must prioritise adolescent sexual and reproductive health in funding.
Respect for confidentiality and bodily autonomy
In many African contexts, girls are hesitant to talk to parents about sex or reproductive health. In matters related to reproduction and sexuality, bodily autonomy means that girls have the information, services, and means to determine their lives and future, free from discrimination, coercion, and violence.
Parental consent requirements and judgmental healthcare providers discourage adolescents from seeking information and services. The WHO recommends the provision of sexual and reproductive health services, including contraceptives, without mandatory parental or guardian authorisation or notification. These services should be free, confidential, adolescent-responsive, and non-discriminatory. Communities must also be engaged to challenge myths and misconceptions that silence young people and keep them uninformed and vulnerable.
Contraceptives as a rights and justice issue
States are obliged under human rights law to adopt legal and policy measures that ensure access to contraceptives for all, including adolescents. Ensuring such access is also critical to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5, which seeks to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” by guaranteeing universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The WHO provides recommendations on high-priority actions to integrate human rights into contraceptive information and service provision. These include ensuring availability, accessibility, acceptability, quality, and non-discrimination, as well as promoting participation and accountability. Every country should establish enabling legal and normative frameworks with provisions that go the last mile to advance reproductive rights and gender justice for all women and girls.
Read: Mother at 14: The urgent need for contraceptive knowledge to curb teen pregnancies, unsafe abortions
In conclusion, denying adolescents access to contraceptives is denying them health, education, and dignity. Every day of inaction pushes more girls out of school and costs more lives to preventable complications. Futures are stolen by systems that claim to protect but refuse to empower. Let’s listen. Let’s act.
The writer is a health professional and a child development expert, who works as an advocacy adviser at the Centre for Reproductive Rights, Africa.
