Vietnam is leading Southeast Asia in abortions among juveniles, with about 300,000 per year on average, according to statistics from the Vietnam Family Planning Association.

The figure was released by the HCMC Sub-department of Population and Family Planning at the meeting called “Don’t get pregnant at minor’s age”,  held by the Ho Chi Minh City Health Department on Thursday to welcome World Population Day (July 11).

At the event, To Thi Kim Hoa, head of the Sub-department,  reported that the country sees around 300,000 minors having abortions nationwide each year, accounting for 20 percent of the total number.       

Vietnam now ranks first in Southeast Asia and fifth in the world in abortions among juvenile women, Hoa said. In Ho Chi Minh City the overall abortion rate has fallen recently, but the rate among minors has increased by about 4 percent, or 3,000 cases, per year. The United Nations Population Fund blames the situation on increased poverty, gender inequality, domestic violence, child marriage, power imbalances between young girls and their boyfriends, and inadequate protection of young girls. Getting pregnant as a minor will create major consequences for young girls, since it will have a significant impact on their reproductive health and may leave permanent after-effects. Pregnancy will also deprive young girls from many opportunities for development and advancement, as well as their right to choose how to live.    In addition, reality shows that many girls who get pregnant as a minor suffer from social discrimination that can even affect their children in the future. The Sub-department of Population and Family Planning said it will strengthen educational media activities to provide sex education and knowledge on reproductive health to young girls. At the meeting, the Health Department also released a report on the city’s performance in the field of population and family planning in the first six months of this year. Accordingly, the total number of newborns in the period fell by 15 percent compared to the same period last year, and the rate of women giving birth to a third child upward was 3.89 percent of the total number of pregnant women.