Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) has opposed the planned move to introduce Sex education curriculum in schools, launched to combat the increased rate in teenage pregnancies in the country – By Gerald Gekara
The Bishops, led by Nyahururu Bishop Rt.Rev.Joseph Mbatia, the Church urged the Ministry of Education to abandon the plan, instead urging parents to take care of their children.
“We are totally opposed to those trying to introduce comprehensive sexual education in schools as a way of curbing teenage pregnancies,” Bishop Ngatia said.
On the equally rising number of abortions, the bishops beckoned parents to demanded the withdrawal of the Abortion Bill as a sure way to curb complications.
“We are also opposed to the bill in the Senate on abortion,” Bishop Ngatia said.
The Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014 reported a 2% drop in teenage pregnancies over a 20-year period. This was caused by major changes in girl’s education programmes and in the sexual and reproductive health and rights landscape in Kenya that made birth control and other services more accessible to teenage girls.
Nelly Munyasia, head of the Reproductive Health Network Kenya, said that to spare the travel expenses, women and girls will choose to visit local unqualified providers passing themselves off as pharmacists and doctors, who often use coat hangers, bleach, or even crushed glass to try to terminate women’s pregnancies.
Health care workers say they have already begun to see a rise in unwanted pregnancies and are predicting a correlated increase in unsafe abortions by as early as June.
