Irresponsible parenting has been identified as a major factor fueling illegal abortion among the nation’s teenage girls.

Mrs. Constance Adae Wereko, a Senior Midwife at the Juansah Health Centre in the Asante-Akim North District, said many a young girl were forced into early sex leading to unwanted pregnancy because their parents had failed to live up to their responsibilities to them.

She was addressing a day’s public sensitization forum on illegal abortion held at Obenimase.

It was part of an awareness campaign spearheaded by the queen of Nyaboe, Nana Akosua Misaah, and supported jointly by the district assembly, the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) and IPAS Ghana, both NGOs.

The approach is to use the queens in the various communities as role models to positively influence the lifestyle the adolescent girl.

Mrs. Wereko reminded parents to make sure they do everything to provide the basic needs of their children and to spend quality time with them – to protect them from bad peer influence.

She again counseled married couples to accept family planning methods – to make sure they gave birth to children the resources they controlled could adequately take care of.

Nana Misaah asked young girls to focus on their education to secure a better future for themselves and live their dreams.