Dominican First Lady Dona Rosa Gomez de Mejia spoke of the country’s teenage pregnancy rate at the XII Conference of First Ladies of the Americas which opened in Santo Domingo yesterday. Dona Rosa linked teenage pregnancy with poverty and mentioned the high childbirth mortality rate amongst teenage girls in the country. Of all pregnancies, 27% occur in teenage women and 16% of deaths in childbirth affected girls between the ages of 10 and 15. Reducing these rates is the utmost priority, according to the President’s wife. She said that young Dominicans, who make up 30% of the population, have little knowledge of prevention when it comes to pregnancy and drew a clear link between absenteeism from school and early parenthood, most obvious in the poorer sectors of society. Gomez de Mejia presented a proposal aimed at dealing with this problem at the conference, which is taking place at Hotel El Embajador.