10:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Education|Health|sex|Women|youth · 1 Comment
4 May 2009
Bianca over at Latino Sexuality reminds us that May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.
While I was already out of high school when I became pregnant with my first child, I was still a teen, and becoming pregnant as a teen isn’t the best thing in the world (pero it also isn’t the worst either, I want to be clear on that). It changed my life in some positive ways pero also in some negative ways and I wouldn’t recommend it.
So how do we teach the young mujeres in our comunidad to take care of themselves, while allowing them the space to feel positive about their sexuality?
One town in Colombia is taking a unique approach to preventing youth pregnancy and AIDS among its young people. In the western Colombia town of Tuluá, when police stop any male, age 14 and over, not only will he have to show his identification papers, but he will have to show that he his carrying a condom too. Not carrying a condom can carry a fine of up to 408,000 pesos, about 180 dollars. Needless to say this move is creating controversy, leading some religious leaders to say this move and other safe sex strategies being implemented across Colombia including the installation of condom vending machines are akin to “selling weapons on street corners”. According to the United Nations, 19% of women age 19 and younger are mothers or pregnant in Colombia and Colombia has 190,000 reported cases of HIV infection, making it the #2 country in Latin America in terms of HIV infection, behind Brazil.
Via / El Diaro/LA PRENSA
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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