A senior Jamaican opposition lawmaker has reignited debate over the nation’s age of consent, calling for a two-year increase from 16 to 18 to address the country’s long-standing crisis of teen pregnancy that pushes thousands of adolescent girls out of school annually.
Damion Crawford, the opposition’s spokesperson on education, made the formal proposal during his scheduled address to the House of Representatives’ Sectoral Debate on Tuesday. The call comes amid stagnant high rates of unintended pregnancy among teenage students, a public health and social issue that has plagued Jamaican education systems for decades.
Crawford told parliamentary colleagues that on average, 6,000 school-aged girls become pregnant each year across Jamaica. For the vast majority of these adolescents, an unplanned pregnancy leads to an early exit from formal education, derailing long-term academic and career trajectories and deepening cycles of socioeconomic disadvantage.
“This is a major problem that we have to consider. Teen pregnancy has become an intractable problem in this country,” Crawford told the chamber.
Linking the policy shift to ongoing changes to Jamaica’s secondary education structure, Crawford added: “We therefore are asking for a reconsideration once again of the age of consent, and I once again believe that this Parliament should consider the movement from 16 to 18 as we move from a five-year secondary institution to a seven-year secondary experience going forward.”
The proposal is the latest effort by political leaders to tackle teen pregnancy in Jamaica, where the issue remains one of the highest barriers to educational equity for girls. It is expected to spark broader public and parliamentary discussion around youth protection, sexual health policy, and education reform in the coming months.