Child pregnancies climb, sex education talks halt

Child pregnancies climb, sex education talks halt

A NATIONAL ASSEMBLY discussion of a sexual education bill  has been suspended in the same week that the   Ministry of Health  revealed  that pregnancies, among schoolgirls in 1916 reached 11,298, up 322  from 2015.

The data does not include reports of young pregnant

women seeking medical care at Social Security or

private clinics.

Three out of ten children born in Panama have a mother between the ages of 10 and 19.

On Monday, Gabriel Soto, chair of the National Assembly’s Labor, Health and Social

Development Committee, said that the discussion of a sexual education bill pending before the committee would be suspended until “a proposal is submitted that rescues “our Christian values,” reports La Prensa

The deputy said  that assessments and consultations have been carried out “for many months,” but there is still not consensus on the issue.

“We have a society split in two” and the theme “has become polarized,” the deputy of the

ruling Panameñista Party told La Prensa

“There are extreme positions,” he added.