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PRIORITYMEASURE14
“Prioritize the prevention of pregnancy amongadolescents and eliminate unsafe abortion through comprehensive educationon emotional development
and sexuality, and timely and confidential access to good-quality information, counselling, technologies and services, including emergency
oral contraceptionwithout a prescription andmale and female condoms.”
Possible lines of action
1. The measures included in PMs 11 and 12 relating to comprehensive sexuality education and access to SRH for adolescents;
2. Legislate and create programmes to guarantee universal and timely access to emergency oral contraception for adolescent girls,
including those under the age of 15; 3. Provide safe services for terminating pregnancy among adolescent girls and young women,
consistent with national legislation.
Targets
1. Tomeet the demand for emergency contraception for adolescent girls, including those under 15 years, and youngwomen; 2. To reduce
pregnancy during adolescence; 3. To avoid pregnancies before the age of 15; 4. To avoid unsafe abortions among adolescents, including
those aged under 15years.
Tentative indicators
1. Fertility rate among adolescent girls (15-19 years); 2. Fertility rate among girls aged under 15; 3. Percentage of satisfied demand for
emergency contraception amongwomen aged under 30.
Related instruments,
forums andmechanisms
SDG 3: target 3.7 and target 5.6 (alreadymentioned).
Comments
PM closely associated with PMs 11 and 12 and, in the case of safe abortion, with PMs 40 and 42, and can thus be implemented and
monitored through those PMs, as in the case of unsafe abortion, provisions with respect to which are operationalized under PM 42. The
exception is emergency contraception, which falls exclusively under this PM. Given that emergency contraception is rather new in the
region, measurement of unmet demandmay be complex and the difficultymay vary by country. In the absence of this indicator, indicators
on use of emergency contraception in a reference group could be used, for example the percentage of adolescents including those under
age 15, and sexually active young people whomade use of emergency contraception in a given period of risk exposure. However, a low
value here could reflect lack of access to emergency contraception or widespread and efficient use of regular contraception. Indicators
should be disaggregated by five-year age group (10-14, 15-19, 20-24 and 25-29), socioeconomic category, area of residence and ethnicity
at least.
