Rwanda: Contraceptives for 15-Year-Olds – Finally, Facing Facts!

Let’s begin by ripping off the band-aid and settling one stubborn misbelief: contraceptives are not abortion. One prevents pregnancy; the other ends it. End of story. Anyone confusing the two is either deliberately clueless or commissioned to muddy the waters.

Now that we’re clear: parliament has passed a draft law granting access to contraceptives from age 15. And yes, that includes boys, because condoms don’t only save girls from unintended pregnancy. They also shield both of them from sexually transmitted infections. The fact that some folks immediately assume that it’s only about girls tells you everything about patriarchal blindness in our society.

Yet here we are, being lectured by people who claim “immorality” will spread as soon as a teenager enters a health center to inquire about a private matter by the way. Let me say this, plainly. Immorality is already happening; what we need is mitigation, not moralistic finger-wagging. It’s like trying to extinguish a house fire with a prayer – pointless.

Here’s the brutal data because shame is only pretence. According to the UNFPA Rwanda 2023 annual report, roughly 5% of girls aged 15-19 in Rwanda have begun childbearing; 4% have already given birth and 1% are pregnant with their first child. The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda further reports that the adolescent fertility rate is 36 births per 1,000 in Eastern Province, compared to 19 per 1,000 in Kigali. So, this isn’t just a city problem, where it’s claimed that we are more exposed to unethical practices. It’s a nationwide crisis.

And the numbers are trending the wrong way. As reported by the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, teen pregnancies rose from 17,337 cases in 2017 to 19,832 in 2020, then skyrocketed to 33,423 in 2022 during the Covid-19 disruptions, a gross 17.5% increase over five years. These aren’t just figures, they’re ruined childhoods, dropped-out schoolgirls, and avoidable health risks.

We don’t see public outrage for the real predators – mostly older men

With these crazy numbers, I’m enraged that our anger is so badly misplaced.

We don’t see public outrage for the real predators – mostly older men – who impregnate minors. Instead, everyone’s busy claiming that the one way the system could fail girls less is somehow “exposing” them more through access to protection. According to studies, teen mothers in Rwanda are often impregnated by older men or are victims of rape! And while we pour our energy into shaming the girl, where is the national conversation, or justice, for the men? This lopsided cultural rage doesn’t help the young girl that everyone is all of a sudden concerned about.

Let’s even break our bubble a little bit and look elsewhere.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, when they provided low-to-no-cost, effective contraception to teens, the teen birth rate plummeted 54%, and abortions dropped 63% by 2016. More importantly, this resulted in a 14% drop in women aged 20-22 without a high school diploma, meaning thousands more graduated.

Another U.S. study published in Time found that teen pregnancy dropped 78% when contraceptives were both available and accompanied by education. Across the globe, comprehensive sexuality education, when paired with access, yields results. A review cited by the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report found that programmes addressing gender power dynamics are five times more effective at reducing teen pregnancy and STIs than those that don’t. In the Netherlands, 90% of teens use contraception at first sex, contributing to their world-leading low unplanned pregnancy and STI rates.

So, yes: access works. Education with access works brilliantly. That’s not encouragement; it’s empowerment.

Rwanda’s youth deserve to be armed with knowledge and protection, not guilt and ignorance

Now, about the scare tactic that using contraceptives early means long-term side effects. That’s just a moral panic dressed as a health concern. Most modern contraceptive methods are safe when properly used. Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) – like IUDs and implants – are not “toxic at 15”. They’re medically endorsed for teens in many countries and, as data shows, life-changing when coupled with counselling and consent.

Here’s the truth, blunt and unfiltered. Sex is happening. Pretending it’s not, that abstinence-only doctrines or vague “umuco values” will magically stop it, is naïve and cruel. Rwanda’s youth deserve to be armed with knowledge and protection, not guilt and ignorance.

To faith leaders and cultural guardians, if your talk worked, we’d already have solved teen pregnancy. So, please stop grandstanding. Be practical. Use your platforms to educate, rather than misinform. Help dismantle stigma. Rather than telling teens to mind abstinence until marriage, maybe show them how to survive adolescence without abandoning their education and health.

Now that contraceptives are legal for 15-year-olds and up, the government must launch a clear public information campaign. Health centers should be youth-friendly, confidential places, not judgment zones. Schools should integrate comprehensive sex education from early ages.

Let’s leave ambiguity at the door. This is not a cultural invasion. The real violation of Rwandan culture is allowing our daughters and sons to flounder when we could have given them a fighting chance.

By New Times.