Mr. Speaker, in Canada every year we have an epidemic that few are willing to talk about and that is the epidemic of teen pregnancies.
The statistics are staggering, with teen pregnancies doubling in the last 10 years alone. One-fifth of girls under the age of 20 become pregnant and 58 per cent give birth. One-third of these girls drop out of high school and the children of these mothers often have higher educational and social problems. The costs to our social system is over $7 billion a year.
The future is often quite bleak for the mothers and children who often live a life of poverty, and yet this is an avoidable tragedy. To stem the tide schools need effective sex education programs, and sexual active teens need safe, effective measures of birth control.
Prevention is the best medicine. I implore the Minister of Health to work with his provincial counterparts to develop intelligent, safe strategies to address this terrible tragedy among us.