11-Year-Old About to Be Britain's Youngest Mother

Father also believed to be a minor
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 18, 2017 12:26 PM CDT
Pregnant Girl Will Become UK's Youngest Mom—at 11
Stock image   (Getty Images/evgenyatamanenko)

A girl in Britain is set to become the nation's youngest mother when she gives birth in the coming weeks—at the age of 11. The Guardian reports that few details about the girl are available for legal reasons. The father is believed to be a minor as well, a few years older than the girl. Police are investigating the situation. The age of consent in Britain is 16, the Huffington Post reports. Britain's current youngest mother was 12 when she gave birth in 2014; her baby is being raised by its 28-year-old grandmother. Britain's youngest father was 12 years old when his son was born in 1998. Meanwhile, one of Britain's former youngest mothers, Tressa Middleton, who gave birth at the age of 12 in 2006, is expecting another child, Metro.co.uk reports.

Middleton was forced to give up her first child after it was revealed she was impregnated when her brother raped her. "I am finally going to be the mother I have longed to be all these years," says Middleton, now 23. Despite these record-holders making headlines, Britain's teen birth rate is the lowest it's been since records began about 50 years ago, reports the Telegraph. It notes that while better education and access to contraception is credited, another theory points out that the decline coincides with the rise of social media, suggesting that teens are spending more time with their phones than significant others. The average age of British mothers is now the highest on record at 30.2 years old. (Half of this country's married couples aren't having sex.)

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