Teen girls sex risk

By ALANAH MAY ERIKSEN
Rotorua girls as young as 13 are having frequent unprotected sex with various partners.
Latest figures show more than twice as many teenage pregnancies in the Lakes district - Rotorua and Taupo - than the national average.
Rotovegas Youth Health clinical leader Tania Pinfold said too many teenagers were risking getting pregnant, which carried health risks for young mothers and their babies.
Her comments follow shocking new figures revealed in the Youth and Condoms Sex Survey.
The survey asked 554 people aged 16 to 25 about their behaviour and attitudes towards condoms and sex.
Nationally, 20 per cent of women said they had had sex at age 15 or younger, compared with 13 per cent of men. Almost twice as many young women as men claim to have had more than 10 sexual partners and are less likely to use a condom.
Mrs Pinfold said she was not shocked by those statistics as they represented what she saw at the clinic.
"However it doesn't mean all young people are having sex at that age. Sometimes [sex] is a one-off and they get freaked out and don't do it again. But often it's a regular thing for young girls to be having frequent sex, some with various partners."
Teenage mothers can have high blood pressure or anaemia and are more likely to go into labour too early. Some doctors also believe that because a teenager is still growing herself, having a baby may damage her placenta, meaning babies can suffer from cerebral palsy and learning difficulties.
Teenage mothers also face social difficulties such as limited education and job opportunities, Mrs Pinfold said.


Latest statistics show there are 58 teenage pregnancies per 1000 women in the Lakes region, compared with 28.4 nationally.
Rotorua Midwifery Centre midwife Dawne Sharplin said she delivered about two babies a year for girls aged under 15.


A 14-year-old Rotorua girl, who did not want to be named, said she'd had sex once but regretted it afterwards because she felt she was too young.
"I realised I was dumb and I don't want to get pregnant or anything."
However, she said a lot of her friends who were her age were having sex regularly. Some had boyfriends, while some had various partners.
She said sometimes girls felt they had to have sex with a boy to keep him, while others just did it for fun.
Rotorua School For Young Parents teacher Wendy Robinson said the school had seen about six 14-year-old mothers in the six years it had been open.
The school has grown from about 20 students to 30 since opening, with more students on a waiting list.

The survey has been released as part of National Condom Week which highlights the importance of contraception.