Udon Thani reports 9-year-old mother with 13-year-old father

UDON THANI — A 9-year-old girl was the youngest reported mother in Udon Thani, while the father of her child was 13, according to an official from the Health Promotion Center 8, as a local university launched a programme on preventing teenage pregnancy on 23 September.

The official said the girl had intentionally become pregnant in an attempt to maintain her relationship with her boyfriend. The case was cited during a Safe Love Smart Life workshop at Udon Thani Rajabhat University, following a recent case involving a fourth-year student who miscarried in her dormitory and later brought the baby’s body to a temple.

The university organised the workshop for 350 first-year students from its Faculty of Science to provide information on teenage pregnancy prevention and help students develop skills to deal with potentially risky situations.

The programme included information on teenage pregnancy in Udon Thani, adolescent health services and the Referral System for Safe Abortion (RSA) network.

Sukanya Kanawapi of Health Promotion Center 8 said she had followed teenage pregnancy trends for more than a decade and that teenage pregnancy was a global issue as well as a key indicator monitored by the World Health Organization.

She said Udon Thani had seen a decline in births among mothers aged 10-14, from 20 cases in 2023 to six cases in 2026. This age group accounted for about 20% of teenage mothers in the province, she said.

Counselling services hagive ve found that young people often worry more about their parents discovering that they are sexually active than about the possibility of pregnancy itself, Sukanya said.

She encouraged young people to seek advice and emphasised the importance of understanding contraception, respecting their bodies and recognising the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

According to data presented at the workshop, among students who sought advice about unintended pregnancy, 55.3% said they had sex without intending to do so, with respondents describing situations in which circumstances or the atmosphere led to sexual activity. Another 20.5% reported having sex while intoxicated.

The data also showed that 64.5% of pregnancies were described as unintended, while 35.6% were intentional.

Teenage pregnancy can affect education, employment prospects and future income, as well as family relationships and financial responsibilities, according to the information presented at the workshop.

Health Promotion Center 8 said it provides confidential counselling both in person and online. It also provides information on abortion services, including that pregnancies of up to 12 weeks can be terminated under the applicable rules, with certain exceptions applying in specific circumstances, including cases involving medical considerations or pregnancy resulting from sexual violence.

The university said the workshop was intended to strengthen students’ knowledge and decision-making skills following growing public attention to teenage pregnancy and unintended pregnancy.