begin having sex before they wanted to. A third of the girls reported having relatively few 

partners (one or two) and long term relationships of between 4 and 10 years. Not infrequently, 

these early relationships led to long term child rearing unions over time. 

According to girls' reports, parents discouraged sexual activity most often when girls were still 

in school. However, while girls said their parents did not want them to become pregnant too 

young, according to girls' reports, about half of the parents accepted girls' sexual activities once 

the girls were past their mid teens. In addition, the parents advised or supervised the practice of 

serial monogamy, or  sticking to one guy at a time.   

Knowledge about the Body, Menstruation, and Contraceptive Practice: Participants displayed 

awareness of their own monthly menstrual cycle. They learned this partly through routine 

puberty instruction given by female caretakers as well as through friends and teachers. Girls 

described the majority of their pregnancies as accidental or not planned. This included first 

pregnancies and often, subsequent ones. Although some said they had a vague idea that they 

wanted one or two children, they were not actively trying to get pregnant at this point in their 

lives.  

The most common strategy the girls used to prevent pregnancy was periodic abstinence. Some 

parents and teachers encourage girls to practice periodic abstinence with boyfriends, but there 

was widespread belief that the fertile period occurs during and immediately before and after 

menstruation, and girls practiced periodic abstinence accordingly. The problem with this 

widespread belief and practice is that it is incompatible with the biological understanding of 

ovulation and would logically cause women to use periodic abstinence in ways that would 

promote pregnancy rather than prevent it. The second most common strategy was use of 

condoms, although only five girls reported ever using them consistently. Some used them during 

the nonbiological  fertile period.   The participants were hesitant to use other modern methods, 

including the hormonal methods, especially before they had at least one or two children.  

Finding out and negotiating whether to keep or terminate the pregnancy: The habitual 

monitoring of the menstrual cycle by girls led them to know or suspect, generally within one to 

two months, that they were pregnant. This advance knowledge gave girls enough time to 

negotiate within their social network a plan for coping with the pregnancy and still have time for 

a first trimester abortion. The decision whether to terminate or to continue the pregnancy 

depended on the social circumstances and people involved.  

Most commonly, girls and their boyfriends made the decision to keep or terminate the pregnancy 

together. If the couple decided to keep the child, a public acknowledgement of paternity was 

made. If they decided to terminate the pregnancy, the boyfriend often supplied the girl with 

money to have an abortion although this did not necessarily cause the relationship to end. In 

situations where the adolescent was dependent on parents or guardians or when the couple did 

not agree on a plan of action, parents and guardians made the decision. About a third of the time 

they opted for an abortion and two thirds of the time for a birth. They generally supplied some 

financial support for the birth of the child and/or the abortion procedure. There was also a 

substantial minority of girls whose boyfriends denied responsibility for the pregnancy when it 

occurred.  In such cases, responsibility for terminating the pregnancy fell to the girl or her 

family. These girls used their own resources entirely or borrowed money for the abortion on a 

pretext, rather than obtaining all of it or part of it from the boyfriend.  

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