Arrest, Prosecute Men Who Rape, Impregnate Teenagers

–Former Deputy Presidential Press Secretary Asserts
Former Deputy Presidential Press Secretary, Abel Plackie, is calling on the Justice Ministry to arrest and prosecute men who are reportedly forcing teenagers into early pregnancy in the country.

Mr. Plackie, in a release issued recently on the matter said he was making the call because it was a violation of the Right of teenagers.
Making further deliberation on the matter, Plackie said the constitution guarantees and provides that children under the age of 18, are not capable of making decisions on their own, and that those who are having affairs with them are using money, coercion, intimidation and poverty as a conduit to achieve their selfish and dirty agenda. As a consequence of this, he said, “many teenagers in the country have now dropped from school, thus damaging their future and dreams and increasing the level of hardship on their parents and guidance as well as the society.
Quizzed as to how such arrest would be made, the young and astute Former Deputy Presidential Press Secretary suggested that all hospitals, health centers and clinics in the country give a comprehensive data on the birth certificates where the names of those men who impregnated those teenagers would be made available to the Ministry of Justice who will then implement the arrest ‘shameless men.’
He said the exercise will be fruitful if the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Gender Ministry be well intention.
Expressing his frustration further, he said, statistics over the years have proven that most of the women who gave birth at various health centers and clinics are teenagers (girls under 18), a very youthful segment of the country’s population.
The Government of Liberia through the Ministries of Health and Gender need to begin to check the birth data at the various hospitals, clinics and all health centers in the country, or request all doctors, nurses and midwives to make them available so as to arrest and prosecute those who are damaging the country’s future.
“The government, if serious about must do so because some of those girls could be the next presidents of Liberia, ministers, teachers, engineers, pastors etc. But if their future is being tempered with, it becomes an embarrassing situation that must be addressed by the entire country and not the government alone. This too should be a wake-up call to the parents and all well intention Liberians. They too have a major part to play in this situation because they are responsible for the upbringing of their children, so if the future of the young generation is destroyed, the whole nation faces a complete brain drain thus, this ugly attitude must stop now,” he said.