A rise in pregnancies of girls in their early teens has resulted in Teen Services holding pregnancy prevention classes in primary schools.

Teen Services Director Michelle Wade said on Tuesday there were 13 teenage mothers under the age of 16-years-old in 2004 � one mother more than a Registrar General 2004 Report tabled in the House of Assembly on Friday.

�The youngest of the group was 13-years-old at the age of conception,� Ms Wade said. �A very small percentage had sex at the age of 11-years-old.�

Ms Wade said the small percentage amounted to two percent of Teen Services� Sex Study conducted in the Island�s schools in 2004, and the sexually active 11-year-old was male.

�We will have to go to primary school, P6, to do our preventative programme. It is too late by the time they get to middle school,� she said.

�We are trying to keep promoting prevention but we find it is not just in high schools, we will have to go to middle schools and even primary schools.�

However, the increase of pregnancies of girls aged under-16 was not just Teen Services� problem and abstinence for girls in their early teens was a lifestyle the whole community had to promote, she said.

�Parents need to monitor their own lifestyles,� she said. �They learn from home first. Agencies can only do what we can. It is a team effort.�

Having carnal knowledge with a girl under 14-year-old is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment and the same Act states having unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl between 14 and 16-years-old is punishable by a sentence of five or 15 years.

The Teen Services Director said reporting pregnancies to helping agencies was one thing, however, when it came to reporting it to Police it became a �whole different ball game�.

Families made their own decision about whether to press charges, she said.

And she said most teen agencies in Bermuda were reporting similar figures when it came to pregnancies in early teens.

�These young mothers were enrolled in at least one of Teen Services� programmes, whether it be continuation school, Teen Haven or a counselling programme to help them be successful in the community.�

At the last Annual Exhibition, Teen Services used an information booth to distribute pamphlets on abstinence, sex, pregnancy, drugs and self-esteem, she said.

In addition, it carried out a poster/poetry school campaign to get girls in their early teens to make wise choices with their sexuality, she said.

�It is a community effort,� she said. �It starts at home.�

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