Raising The Marriageable Age Is The First Step In Tackling Teen Pregnancy In India.

The Union Cabinet has given its nod to raise the marriageable age for women in India from 18 to 21. There has been a mixed response to this move, with women's rights groups lauding the effort while middle-aged men on twitter continue their nauseating tirades about this being unfair to them.

Early marriage has been a fixture of "Indian culture" for centuries, and even though the practice is prohibited, there are legal provisions to protect men who have intercourse with their child-brides so long as the girls are over the age of fifteen. Which is to say, it is clear, increasing the marriageable age will not end early marriage, but the purpose of any law is to set the trend, and over the years this one too will have its requisite impact by molding a mindset and hopefully reducing one of the most serious, silent epidemics that grips India - Teen Pregnancy.

When we think of teen pregnancies we usually say jaded things like, "That happens in the west," and immediately associate it with premarital sex but did you know India is one of the countries where teen pregnancies are most prevalent because underage marriage is still socially and somewhat legally sanctioned? As of 2017, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) found that there were 11.7 million teen pregnancies in the country, with 8% of women already being mothers between the ages of 15 and 19. The average age to give birth in India is 20, and has remained so for a while. The social practice of expecting a woman to bear a child immediately after marriage is a big part of the push to raise the marriageable age.

Early pregnancy has an adverse impact on a young mother. When the hormonal and physical development of an adolescent is not completed at the time of pregnancy it can lead to a higher risk of miscarriages and physical trauma during childbirth. The physical and emotional responsibility of motherhood being placed on women early leads also to mental health issues such as depression, burn-out and anxiety. About 54.1% adolescent girls, aged 15-19, are anaemic leading to an increased incidence of infant or maternal death during childbirth. At least 42% of girls in the age bracket of 14-18 are under-nourished leading to additional complications in pregnancy.

Aside from the health impact, teen pregnancy also impacts the economy of a country. According to a UN report, India suffers economic losses of $7.7 billion a year due to teenage pregnancies. An estimate by the health ministry suggested economic losses of teenage pregnancies at 12% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The prevalence of early pregnancy is much higher (10.6%) in the lowest wealth quintile than the highest (2.6%) which causes an additional financial strain on those already strapped for resources, a big part of this is because of the lack of access to contraception and the social support to avail that facility.

The highest levels of teenage pregnancies can be found in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh while the lowest are recorded in Lakshwadeep and Kerala suggesting that the empowerment of women through education and rights leads to a decline in adverse health-based decisions. So while the decision to raise the marriageable age may not be perfect, and will not lead to a total eradication of the practice of early marriage, it is well-poised to make it harder to marry off a young girl who does not have the agency to stop it and as a result reduce the possibility of young women being forced to give birth before their bodies are ready.