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# Childhood and Forced Motherhood

Editorial illustration about forced motherhood and reproductive rights.

[![Young girl curled up beside a red wardrobe in a dark room, with faint outlines of domestic objects](/media/responsive/62f4e14df73640fd-960.webp)](https://kathiuska.com/media/responsive/62f4e14df73640fd-1920.webp)

Births to girls under 14 keep rising in the region, harming their mental and physical health and their development. Meanwhile, states deny them their sexual and reproductive rights. This work was commissioned by [Mutante.org](https://www.mutante.org/) and published in El Espectador (Colombia), GK, Wambra Medio Digital Comunitario (Ecuador), Ojo Público (Perú), Nómada (Guatemala), and Managua Furiosa (Nicaragua). Read the full investigation [here](https://medium.com/@MutanteOrg/am%25C3%25A9rica-latina-una-regi%25C3%25B3n-de-ni%25C3%25B1as-embarazadas-57e0d93dc977) (in Spanish).

Client

Mutante.org

Role

Illustration

Category

Editorial

Collection

[![Article page titled América Latina: una región de niñas embarazadas, with an illustration of a seated girl](/media/responsive/0dd0efb084fbb8bf-960.webp)](https://kathiuska.com/media/responsive/0dd0efb084fbb8bf-1200.webp)

**Excerpt from Lía Valero’s reporting for Child Mothers** After five years researching the subject, what struck the author most was how naturally pregnant girls are spoken to as if they were adults, while being treated as girls with no capacity for decision or autonomy. We carry the idea that motherhood is perfect in our DNA, especially in Latin America. But we forget that they are still girls.

**Excerpt from Lía Valero’s reporting for Child Mothers** “Sometimes I feel sad about what happens to me, and I wonder why my dad did this to me.”

[Image index](https://kathiuska.com/#image-index)

## Image index

## Credits

Text by

Lia Valero

Illustrations

Catalina Vásquez

[Next projectHousewife: To Be or Not to Be?_Editorial illustration for Cromos about what it means to be a housewife._![](/media/responsive/3b10f80e85d96694-960.webp)](https://kathiuska.com/archive/housewife-to-be-or-not-to-be/)

Source: https://kathiuska.com/archive/child-mothers/