292 children gave birth in the Western Cape between April and December 2025
Action Society says the revelation that 292 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 gave birth in the Western Cape between April and December 2025 should raise serious questions far beyond healthcare.
The organisation said every pregnancy involving a child should immediately be treated as a child protection case, with urgent steps taken to establish whether abuse, exploitation, grooming or another criminal offence had occurred.
The concerns raised by Action Society come just months after the Western Cape was rocked by the case of an 11-year-old Atlantis girl who gave birth after allegedly being raped.
A 32-year-old man, believed to be known to the family, was arrested and charged with rape, while the child’s mother was also arrested for allegedly failing to report the sexual offence. The case placed renewed focus on how child pregnancies are detected, reported and investigated.
