Botswana records 7,512 teen pregnancies under a decade

This was revealed this week by Health minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti when responding to a question from Mahalapye West MP, David Tshere, who had asked about the status of early unintended pregnancies amongst girls under the age of 18. Tshere also wanted to know how many of them had abortions in the past 10 years.

“There were 7,512 teenage pregnancies for the past nine years. Data for 2014 had gaps and could not be used in this response,” the minister said, citing records from 2015. Although abortion is illegal in Botswana and only allowed under certain instances, Dikoloti revealed that from 2013–2023, both Princess Marina and Nyangabgwe Hospitals performed abortions.