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Tuesday 10 November 2015

30 per cent of babies born to Guatemala teenagers fathered by the girls' own fathers

Ignorance: Gloria is just 13, and became pregnant by a 22-year-old nightclub DJ. Unlike Lilian, she doesn't feel like she was raped - but she barely seems to know how it happened. In Guatemala, the church holds a lot of sway - and they block attempts at sex education. The result is played out in the numbers - last year some 5,100 girls under 14 became pregnant, up from 4,354 in 2013, according to OSAR
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Too soon: Gloria's baby came prematurely - or so she thinks. She didn't know when her last period was before she got pregnant. Poignantly, she is not allowed to accompany her boyfriend to work, because it is passed her bedtime

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Growing up too soon: Gloria is just 13, and became pregnant by a 22-year-old nightclub DJ. Gloria doesn't feel like she was raped - but she barely seems to know how it happened. In Guatemala, the church holds a lot of sway and it blocks attempts at sex education. The result is played out in the numbers - last year some 5,100 girls under 14 became pregnant, up from 4,354 in 2013
Too soon: Gloria's baby came prematurely - or so she thinks. She didn't know when her last period was before she got pregnant. Poignantly, she is not allowed to accompany her boyfriend to work, because it is past her bedtime
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Too soon: Gloria's baby came prematurely - or so she thinks. She didn't know when her last period was before she got pregnant. Poignantly, she is not allowed to accompany her boyfriend to work, because it is past her bedtime
Over the course of repeated trips during a two year period, they told her their stories as she worked:  a girl who was tied to a tree while a 53-year-old man raped her, a girl who was sold to her husband, 22, aged 12, a girl so young she didn't know she could get pregnant when a 28-year-old began bringing her gifts.
In 2014, there were 5,100 babies born to teen mothers under the age of 14, up from 4,354 the year before.
The government is attempting to crack down on the epidemic, however: this week a new law was passed, increasing the legal age for marriage to 18. Previously, it had been just 14.
Innocence: Lilian fell pregnant with her son Luis David, one, when she was 11. Her uncle is Luis's father. He began raping her when she was nine. Unlike many cases in Guatemala, he convicted for what he did - but only got a two-month restraining order to keep away from her
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Innocence: Lilian fell pregnant with her son Luis David, one, when she was 11. Her uncle is Luis's father. He began raping her when she was nine. Unlike many cases in Guatemala, he convicted for what he did - but only got a two-month restraining order to keep away from her
Family: Still a child herself, Lilian plays with her brothers and son Luis David, who are all so close in age they look like siblings enjoying playtime together
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Family: Still a child herself, Lilian plays with her brothers and son Luis David, who are all so close in age they look like siblings enjoying playtime together
But in 2012 there were 2,000 known cases of under-14s giving birth to a child, yet just eight convictions were successful. That figure led Guatemala's children's prosecutor, Harold Flores, to describe the country's high teen pregnancy rate as a 'scourge'.
The problem, Mirna Montenegro, the head of Guatemala's Sexual and Reproductive Health Observatory (OSAR), suggested, stemmed from men's belief that a woman is their 'property and possession'. 
'We've heard fathers say 'She's my daughter and my property so I will do what I want with her',' revealed Montenegro.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
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