Parents, however, were not always happy about the news of pregnancy and the decision 

to give birth. Ariel explained the reaction of her parents and that of her boyfriend as follows: 

When he told his parents, they complained. They said I was not grown and he was also 

not grown and we were going to give birth. I told my parents and they also agreed, so I 

kept the pregnancy. [Ariel] 

According to the participants' reports, their parents did not want to see them begin 

families during their teens. Sometimes this was expressed as the girl or a boyfriend  not being 

grown enough.  Most of the time, this seemed to refer to the girl's maturity as an income 

generator rather than her physical development. For example, when Eve was asked to clarify 

what she meant by  not grown,  she said,  I have no job or any skills.  In most cases, however, 

where parents objected to their children giving birth  too young,  according to the girls' reports, 

they eventually accepted the situation if the couple decided to give birth. All the participants said 

that they gave birth either at a hospital or a government run clinic. No one reported giving birth 

at home.  

Planning to carry a child to term did not always result in a baby. Three of the participants 

who had prepared to give birth and performed the knocking ceremony had miscarriages; one 

miscarriage was at seven months. The participants who had miscarriages reported going to the 

hospital when they started to miscarry.  

5.2.2  Agreeing to Terminate a Pregnancy  

Abortion was used by participants both to delay childbearing and to space children. The 

reasons for deciding to have an abortion were usually multiple, including financial problems, the 

couple's lack of interest in staying together, and/or the girl being in school. Getting an abortion 

for financial reasons did not necessarily cause the couple to break up. Some of the couples who 

had had an abortion went on to have a child or two together later.  

The most common reason given by participants for having an abortion to delay 

childbearing was to maintain or improve their sources of financial support and to improve their 

moneymaking or vocational potential. Sometimes this reasoning was applied to the boyfriend 

and sometimes to the girl. For example, an 18 year old girl with an unemployed boyfriend 

described making the decision as follows:  

When my friend confirmed I was pregnant I told my boyfriend and he said I should abort 

since he was unemployed. He's under apprenticeship as a carpenter, and if his master 

gets to know he has impregnated a girl, he will be dismissed. So I agreed to the abortion. 

[Diana] 

Participants used abortion sometimes repeatedly to delay childbearing or to space 

children. A 16 year old girl who got pregnant for a second time for the same boy (after having 

one abortion at age 14 at the behest of her mother) decided that a second abortion would be best 

because she was not yet able to help support the child. 

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