Such approaches and thinking are misguided
because they fail to account for the circumstances
and societal pressures that conspire against
adolescent girls and make motherhood a likely
outcome of their transition from childhood to
adulthood. When a young girl is forced into marriage,
for example, she rarely has a say in whether,
when or how often she will become pregnant. A
pregnancy-prevention intervention, whether an
advertising campaign or a condom distribution
programme, is irrelevant to a girl who has no
power to make any consequential decisions.