The number of teenage pregnancies in Taiwan is declining due to better sex-education programs, leading to a drop in birth rates among under-aged girls, the Department of Health said yesterday.
"We have stepped up sex education in Taiwan, which has improved knowledge of contraceptive methods," said Redhelm Weng, director of the health department's Bureau of Health Promotion and Protection. "Birth rates for youths have declined over the past years, although some of the decline might also be due to abortions."
The birth rate for girls aged 15 to 19 stood at 12.9 per 1,000 in 1999, down from 15 per 1,000 in 1997, Weng said, but there are no specific numbers available for teenage abortions, though some estimates put the number at over 100,000 each year.
Taiwan still needs to introduce sufficient programs to help pregnant teenagers deal with the challenges of motherhood as society continues to adopt a conservative attitude toward teenage pregnancies, he said.
Meanwhile, the Child Welfare League Foundation said a lack of support for unmarried or teenage mothers was to blame for the problem of child abandonment.
Forty-five babies have been abandoned by their parents since 1993 in Taipei alone, with the majority aged around one month when deserted, according to Chu Ching-ping, one of the private foundation's coordinators.
"It's not a problem of a worsening economy," Chu said. "It's more about parents not being prepared. Many mothers who abandon their child are teenagers who find themselves unable to cope with the situation."
Most of the unwanted babies are left at hospitals, but some are also put in front of someone's door or kindergartens. Cases of parents coming forward to claim their child back shortly after abandonment exist but are very rare, Chu said.
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