Mexico faces teen pregnancy "epidemic," says expert

Teen pregnancy has reached an epidemic level in Mexico, with about 400,000 cases each year accounting for 20 percent of pregnancies around the country, an expert has said.

"It's no exaggeration to say that we have an epidemic of adolescent pregnancies in Mexico," Carlos Welti was quoted by El Universal newspaper as saying on Wednesday.

Welti, an expert from the Institute of Social Research at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said teen pregnancy is also spreading from traditionally poor rural communities to wealthier urban areas, and from Mexico's poorer southern states to the richer northern ones.

"Mexican culture sanctifies maternity and gives it social status," he said.

El Universal highlighted a pregnant 13-year-old girl named Joanna, who said: "I was very excited to find out I was going to be a mom, because not every woman can have a child."

Joanna also said that she is planning to continue schooling and that her mother is going to take care of the baby. Endi