12-YR-OLDS, TEENS’ ACCESS TO CONTRACEPTIVES: SENATE GIVES MINISTER OF HEALTH 21-DAY ULTIMATUM

LOBAMBA – Access to contraceptives and reproductive health information by children as young as 12 years old divided senators and led to a heated debate.

The heated debate occurred during a Senate sitting after Senator Lorraine Nxumalo moved a motion without notice. The senator moved that the minister of Health should investigate why, despite the interventions by government; there were persistent and unabated social ills, such as, but not limited to, teenage pregnancies and new HIV infections among the youth.

The senator also moved that the minister of Health should submit a report to Senate within 21 days of the adoption of the motion. Before she could continue to elaborate on her motion, Senator Lizzie Nkosi said she felt that the motion was not only limited to the Ministry of Health, given that it did not specify which social ills it referred to.

Requested

However, Senate President Lindiwe Dlamini requested that the senators give Nxumalo a chance to elaborate on her motion and stop interrupting her. This was because several senators wanted to interject, while she was still moving the motion. Before she could point out the gaps that led her to move the motion, Nxumalo stated that some interventions had been implemented by government to prevent teenage pregnancies as well as HIV infections.
She first highlighted that a sizeable population of the country could access public health facilities without travelling long distances.

She added that the country had a national Sexual Health and Reproductive (SRH) Policy. This policy compels government to create an enabling environment that ensures the availability and accessibility of family planning services. She lauded the policy for addressing youth-friendly services.

Adolescent

“Some clinics in the country have a youth corner, where adolescent girls from 12 to 18 years can access SRH services and that is commendable,” she said. She went on to state that the youth corners offer these services to the young girls. Nxumalo added that government provides contraceptives or family planning services to the populace, including adolescent girls and young women. The senator added that the national SRH Policy explains that government will ensure the availability of all the commodities to young girls and women without any cost. She, however, pleaded with government to try and close the gaps that affect the delivery of these services.

She said one of the gaps was that adolescent girls could not access all the family planning technologies in rural clinics. Nxumalo said some clinics had oral contraceptives. “The adolescents cannot take the oral contraceptive every day, especially in front of their parents. This is because the parent will then ask why are they taking contraceptives and the problem begins there,” she said.

Contraceptives

Nxumalo urged the Ministry of Health to close this gap by ensuring that all forms of contraceptives were available for adolescents and young women.
The senator noted that the national SHR Policy also speaks to the inclusion of health education in schools. She explained that it is meant for children to be able to protect themselves from pregnancy and HIV and AIDS. “After children are educated about the danger of engaging in sexual intercourse and HIV and AIDS, some do not heed that advice. It is for that reason we have an option outlined by the SRH Policy,” she said.

She mentioned that during health education in schools, the learners never get the information that was said would be provided by the policy, but they were only taught about hygiene. The senator said the country was doing a lot to counteract the social ills, but the gaps were taking the country backwards and also affecting the future of children because they ended up falling pregnant and dropping out of school, as well as contracting HIV and AIDS. Before the senators could start debating the motion, the Senate president reminded them that as they made their submissions, they should remember their obligation to protect the family and the dignity of human rights.

This is because while Nxumalo was debating, some senators could not sit still as it could be observed that they were itching to say something. As the Senate president opened the floor, nine senators showed interest. Senator Zabeni Shiba said he was concerned that children as young as 12 years old were allowed to access contraceptives. He said he feared that taking contraceptives may affect their reproductive system. The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Thulisile Dladla, said there was a need to note the surge in teenage pregnancies in the country. She raised concerns about the side effects of contraceptives, among other devices, that should be accessible to children as young as 12 years old.

Impregnate

“Are we not saying men should impregnate children as young as 12 years old because the Ministry of Health provides contraceptives and they would have been taught at school how to protect themselves?” she asked. Senator Fezeka asked if children were taught about family planning and where the country was going in terms of traditional and general values. “What are we saying if we teach these children about family planning, what are we teaching them? Are we saying that we are permitting them to engage in sexual intercourse?

“Every one of us is a parent here and it pains me that as Parliament we are saying children as young as 12 years old should use contraceptives and other devices to prevent pregnancy,” she said. The senator said if the Minister of Health, Mduduzi Matsebula, should close the gaps in the SRH services, Senate, among other stakeholders, should ensure that they did not spread something that would catch up with them in the long-term.

“We have the issue of GBV and most of them are young people in relationships with older people. I will ask that senators look at it with the eyes of a parent. We are parents here. We are here to build the country, with our religion and customs at the forefront. “Let us emulate good practices from foreign cultures, not things that have already started to bite the enablers. We grew up knowing that only a married woman engages in sexual intercourse, not children,” she said.

Nxumalo clarified that her motion was not encouraging older people to have sexual relations with underage girls. “The motion is not saying children should go and have sex because the law is clear that no one should engage in sexual activities with someone below the age of 18. We are discussing a national policy. I did not take it from the back of my head,” she said. The Attorney General (AG), Sifiso Khumalo, urged Nxumalo to allow the other senators make their submissions, and then she would respond once they were done.

Senator Stukie Motsa also raised another point that there were vending machines strictly for family planning services. “I am afraid that children as young as 12 years old do not get these and what measures are we putting in place? The issue of teenage pregnancy is serious,” she said. Meanwhile, Senator Gelane Dlamini stressed the need for parents to know what their children were taught in school. She said she was concerned if children used the information they got correctly or it they exposed themselves to vulnerabilities such as teenage pregnancy.

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