Premarital fertility is still highly unacceptably in Lesotho. Almost all respondents in this study indicated that premarital childbearing is highly unacceptable in their communities. It was found that young women falling pregnant find themselves in the midst of problems. They encounter a great number of physical and emotional burdens. They are rejected by parents, friends or the community at large. In many situations, if a girl falls pregnant she is not accepted in the family; sometimes pregnant girls are even cast out of their homes. There is often little if any hope of a bright future among unmarried young mothers. Unintended
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pregnancy is a shock on its own regardless of whether it happened in or outside marriage. For young women the situation becomes worse because instead of dealing with the traumatic physical changes brought about by pregnancy alone, they also have to face social stigma from their communities. One female respondent who had experienced an unintended pregnancy showed that she was badly treated by her parents when she fell pregnant, so much that at times she wished she were dead. Besides parental rejection, the other grave challenge carrying a huge emotional burden is rejection by the father of the child, friends and the whole community. Some of the challenges young mothers are facing are stated below:
““even if they (parents) accept the pregnancy they no longer treat you like a child anymore, they believe you brought shame to their family” (Female # 4)
“You cannot be seen walking around with someone who is pregnant, so as friends we also run away from those who get pregnant” (Female # 1)
“First and foremost, the person needs education but cannot achieve it because she has to provide for the child, emotionally the person is not well because she is now a mother, the shame of having a child is just a life time burden” (Female # 2)
The findings that pregnant girls bring shame and disgrace to the family suggest that even if the parents accept the pregnancy there is still some kind of discrimination felt by young mothers. They are no longer treated like other girls of their age either by their families, friends or the community.
Financial instability is another common challenge that young mothers face.. In the majority of cases young people who experience unintended pregnancy are not in a financial position to support their children. This is because pregnant young women are forced to drop out of school not usually completing their education either because they have to look for the financial means to support their children or because they are abandoned by their parents and cannot afford the school fees. Thus, the unintended pregnancy becomes an unbearable burden, especially on the side of young mothers who are often abandoned by their sexual partners, hence facing all the burdens on their own.
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“Obviously if you are a young mother you are not already working, so to support the child in our times is more expensive than in the past” (Female #9)
“Young mothers normally do not have cash to support their children and they are treated like slaves in their own homes” (Male # 3)
“The child needs financial support. Sometimes you have not even completed your own studies and you bring another mouth to feed when you are still dependent”
(Female # 7)
Lack of financial support for the children is brought about in most cases because as soon as they fall pregnant, young mothers are forced to leave school and this often marks the end of their education. Lack of education in turn leads to unemployment; as a result, they are unable financially to support their children.
Despite socio-economic consequences that young mothers are faced with, there are also many negative reproductive health outcomes encountered during or after the pregnancy. As a result of physiological and social immaturity and their lack of adequate prenatal care, young people experience more health risks associated with their pregnancies and childbearing than do older women (Zabin and Kiragu 1998). Respondents in this study also demonstrated an overwhelming concern about the reproductive health of young women indicating that young people normally do not accept their pregnancies at first and most of the time resort to abortions. Because abortion is illegal in Lesotho, pregnant women usually go for unsafe methods such as injecting herbs and other dangerous substances, using sharp objects; they employ many other methods that could jeopardise their health. Respondents mentioned that many young women in their communities die from the complications of unsafe abortions.
“There were once two girls from my village who helped their friend perform an abortion by using a knife to cut through her stomach and tried to remove the baby”
(Female #1)
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“They end up killing themselves by drinking some poisonous herbs trying to perform abortions” (Female # 4)
“I heard some even drink things like spirit, stay soft and many other substances trying to perform abortions and they even die themselves” (Male # 2)
These and other horrific incidents are happening at an alarming rate because young people’s reproductive health is being ignored by elders in the society.
It is normally assumed that only women are affected by unintended pregnancy, however, Preston-Whyte (1991, studying fertility among African teenagers found that young men may also face the challenge of social stigmatization for impregnating a girl. This is not the case with young men in Lesotho. Some male respondents confessed that as soon as the girl falls pregnant they run away and deny the pregnancy, however, men still demonstrated the fear of making a girl pregnant and indicated that it gives them stress just to think that their sexual partner could be pregnant. This clearly shows that unintended pregnancy is a challenge to both young males and females, although women carry most of the burden.