Babies Having Babies

Teen pregnancies have been a problem the world over, but Honduras seems to be plagued by them. There are laws that are supposed to prevent it, but nothing can be done unless a formal denouncement is made with the police (and even then nothing is often done). Hospital maturity wards are filled with teenagers waiting to give birth. UNICEF claims that nearly 26% of Honduran women gave birth for the first time before they turned 18. For girls 15-19 years old, there are 108 births per 1,000 girls. In the United States, the fathers of the most teenage births are usually only a few years older than the mother. In Honduras, it is often a lot more than a few years age difference and the problem has been happening for decades.

Sara was 13 years old when Jose first approached her. Jose was a tall lanky, 33 year old security guard. He lived down the street from her and saw her almost everyday as he walked past her house on his way home. In poor communities like theirs, couples with 10, 15 or even 20 years difference in age seemed to be the norm. Jose already had 4 children by two other women, but over time they could not put up with his partying ways. Sara wanted to get out of her house. She acted older than her age and warmed to Jose's flirting as he passed by. One day Jose decided to make his move, he went to her house and "robbed" her from her family.

Hondurans like to say that a man has robbed a girl from her family when he sneaks her away to his home. Once the girls have been robber, few of the couples get officially married due to the high cost of the paperwork.  Instead, the man gets a girl pregnant and they start calling themselves husband and wife. Girls like Sara are soon having to keep a house, wake up at 5 in the morning to cook their husband's breakfast and present themselves to their husband's frequent "needs." All the while they are pregnant or raising a newborn (or often both). Poor education and the restraints of poverty create a cycle of teenage girls that get swept up to be the obedient wives of men. Those men often treat the mother's of their children like children, punishing them if anything gets out of line in the household. When one is already guilty of statutory rape, domestic violence seems like just another drop in the bucket.

Sara, now 17,  had been ready to leave her "husband." She even moved back into her mother's house for a few months, taking her 3 year old son with her. Then she realized that she was pregnant with her second child. She quickly realized that she would not have enough money to keep two children on her own, especially since no one would hire her now that she was pregnant. Now she is back with her husband Jose. This time around though she is better prepared. A friend told her that the public hospital will tie a woman's tubes for free so that they cannot have anymore children. They also give birth control shots for free that last up to three months. The problem is that most teenage mothers have not been able to finish even a 5th grade education and they often become prisoners in their own homes with small children and demanding husbands. This means that most of these girls will not learn about the services that could help liberate them.