Child Brides - Tradition or State Sanctioned Rape?

[Rufusboi]

Originally Posted by Words

The US, in spite of having laws that make having sex with a minor a criminal offence, has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the entire industrialized world with a not insignificant number of pregnancies involving girls as young as ten or eleven.

Perhaps, then, while we're expressing our outrage - again - at what happens in the Middle East, we could ask ourselves why it is that it's the 'state sanctioned' aspect of certain things that we find so abominable and worthy of discussion and not 'the things' themselves.

Words

Words, good questions. I think the US teen pregnancy rate has a lot to do with sex ed (or lack of it) in schools; with the fact that abortion is not covered by most health insurance companies, that millions in America have little access to either money for an abortion or an abortion clinic, and that teens sometimes choose to get pregnant for a variety of reasons. Abortion in the US is very stigmatized. It is framed primarily as a moral issue rather than a women's health issue.

The recent murder of an abortion doctor doesn't help the stigma.

Some states require teens to get parental consent for an abortion or require parental notification. Parents can then block access to the abortion. The religious right holds a lot of sway here and often controls the debate on abortion and contraception.

Its interesting though that the UK has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe [although still much lower than the US). What are some of the theories for this? Is abortion/contraception covered by the NHS?

Rufus