25 teen pregnancies a day
TEEN PREGNANCIES reached 7,567 in the first nine months of the year as the government dithers over a law mandating sexual education in public schools.
The statistics from the Ministy of Health do not include reports of pregnant young women seeking medical care from Social Security or private facilities.
Meanwhile the Attorney General’s Office has opened 24 investigations into fetuses and infants found dead in Panama City.
During the first 10 months of this year, for every 100 pregnancies, 30 were teenagers.
The statistics are higher in the Darien (33.4 percent), Colón (34.1 percent) and Bocas del Toro (35.7 percent).
According to the parameters of the World Health Organization, teen pregnancies occur between the ages of 10 and 19.
In 2015, there were 10,976 cases of teenage pregnancies, 241 more than in 2014.