Premarital childbearing among adolescents in Lesotho

The issue of premarital childbearing has been a concern of many analysts in southern Africa. This paper looks at the situation of premarital childbear ing in Lesotho in comparative context with the neighbouring countries. The total fertility rate (TFR) estimated from the 1996 population census of Les otho for all women combined was 4.1 births,a decline from a TFR of 5.5 in t he mid-1979s. Only a small proportion of births in Lesotho are born out-of- wedlock. The Lesotho Safe Motherhood Initiative Survey data of 1995 found t hat only 3 per cent of never married Basotho women aged 15-19 had given bir th: a very much lower rate than in Botswana where the rate was 21 per cent. There are a number of factors that influence that relatively low incidence of premarital, adolescent childbearing in Lesotho. It is argued that one f actor is that, despite significant social change. Sesotho culture is still generally opposed to such pregnancies. Local derogatory names are given to children born out-of- wedlock, and their mothers are still referred to as ' spoilt' or 'destroyed' in order to discourage such behaviour. The strength of such stigmatisation appears to be much less, or negligible, in neighbour ing countries. There is a growing tendency to separate motherhood from marr iage in many societies in the region and in some cases having a child can i ncrease the chance of marriage. In Lesotho, the culture against premarital sex is changing as well, and a substantial number of adolescent females con ceive before marriage. It appears that a significant proportion resort to i llegal, unsafe abortions and the government needs to be aware of these chan ges in the behaviour of adolescent and their needs.