Mommy, I am Pregnant!

Can you imagine your 14 year old daughter coming and tell you that I am pregnant with the child of my boyfriend? If this happens, God forbids, then what would be your response? How would you react to it even when Pakistani law also doesn't put any sexual restrictions on those who are less than 16 years of age? Do you anticipate such a scenario in near future? If you don't then you better should in the wake of bombardment of liberal values by Media, gradual removal of religious content from schools, whilst the feminist movements gets a free hand by authorities to brainwash women into the oblivion of freedom, and of course all of this is almost at the verge of being idealized through a new youth Idol called Malala Yousuf Zai...

Out of wedlock births isn't a norm as having an illegitimate child is extremely unacceptable in our society. The baby cradles placed outside Chippa Kiosks and Ehdi Centers is just a proof of that, which bears the label ‘Don’t kill, leave here’ (we will take care of your illegitimate child).

The statistics of pregnancies which illegitimate are unknown, as it cannot be verified whether child left at Ehdi centers, are left because of their illegitimacy or due to inability of the parents to feed them out of poverty. However in a one on one discussion with a Green Star certified healthcare practitioner and physician, I found out some years back that there is a significant rise in out of wedlock pregnancies in his middle class locality.

According to reports sex workers frequently get pregnant and often opt for abortion. But this is not what is being referred here. The problem is the possibility of rise in 'teenage pregnancy rates' occurring by virtue of the free relationship with a male partner commonly known as boyfriend, which is getting common in our society through massive projection of liberal values (sic) by free corporate media. Shameless projection of valentine day for the sake of profits is a proof. 

With the kind of attempted transition by our mainstream media, particularly private TV channels and some so called modern schools, to ward off the conservative religious culture, and in the name of preparing Pakistani teenagers to the demands of the modern world, the side effects are not too difficult to foresee.

Recently a school in Islamabad forced all female students to sit with a male colleague, or vice versa. I shared this news in one class where another student from Karachi confirmed that this was already a norm in his school since many years. The results are not hard to anticipate, the physical contact between boys and girls, which was considered socially unacceptable behavior is now getting common. Boys and girls clapping, girls slapping their male partners, sitting with shoulders pressing into each other and sites of hugging their partners within private universities particularly are gradually getting common.

This is of course a good sign in view of our so called broad minded and modernized (sic) class… however where such trends would take us?

When I put this question in front of my students that what if your teenage daughter come to you say in 25 years time and tell you that she is pregnant with a child of her boyfriend, none said that they would welcome or would respect this. They agreed on what teenage pregnancy would do to a teenage girl's life, and that the way our society is indoctrinated with so called modern values, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that the likelihood of such an incident would increase in near future. How media is doing so, check previous post ‘Don’t get Married, Says Media’.

It is commendable to see the response against the mainstream media by various social media campaigners... to what extent this resistance would be successful; it is not easy to predict. However the recent British Council survey suggested that 38% of Pakistani youth prefer Shariah and 29% prefer democracy, whereas 32% wanted a Military rule. How these percentages have changed in the past isn't known, and how they would be, again difficult to say… however despite non stop bombardment by Pakistani mainstream media to present democracy as the only option for Pakistan’s progress, 29% proves that our youth is less respective than what Media think's.  

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Nevertheless, if we don't want the likelihood to increase of teenage kids mating their partners in coming future, then we really need to gear up for the upcoming battle of values. Should we throw TV out of our homes?  Should we opt for Islamic schools or homeschooling for our kids? Should we spend more time with them to transfer our traditional values particularly when they are young, or all of the above?

The answers would depend on our unique circumstances. Spending more time with our children is perhaps mandatory to keep them away from the influence of TV, while engaging them in some constructive activities. But for this parents of future must realize the value of spending more time with children.

Are future parents planning their careers, particularly future mothers in a way that they get more time not less to spend with their children? If not then we must at least get our self-prepared to learn an appropriate response, just in case we hear the news, mommy I am pregnant with my boyfriend’s baby!  

Author is an academic researcher, author, blogger, social entrepreneur, activist, mentor and tweets @javaidomar