Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Introduction to ways of preventing teenage pregnancy
Introduction to ways of preventing teenage pregnancy
Introduction to ways of preventing teenage pregnancy
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Introduction to ways of preventing teenage pregnancy
The major issues with teenage pregnancy, people all over the world are asking “how do we prevent it?” There are many ways to prevent teen pregnancy, but it has people wondering if it is helping. To help prevent teen pregnancy they have abstinence grants, prevention programs, free birth control, and programs to make teens more aware. Teen pregnancy rates have gone down, but it seems like everywhere people turn there is another teenager pregnant. It not only affects the baby, but the teen mother, father, their families, and even society. It affects them all negatively and positively, but more negatively. Yes, babies are an amazing thing in life but teen moms are more likely to drop out of school, and their babies are more likely to have birth defects.
Teen moms cost the United States taxpayers billions of dollars because of the lost tax revenue, public assistance payments, and more spending for public health care, foster care, and criminal justice services (Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing). Who wants to pay taxes for someone else’s mistakes? In addition to the teen moms lack of education they are much less likely to get a decent paying job which means she is more likely to be on welfare. Who pays for welfare? Taxpayers. Once again, no one wants to pay for someone elses mistake. Also since she dropped out of school she is more likely to try and get a lower education job that adults might need more. When the teenagers could have gotten a higher education and furthered their life and started a career. When the adults were their age they didn’t need anything other than a high school diploma to start a career. They make having better jobs harder because they don’t finish high school or college. They are less likely to b...
... middle of paper ...
...nancy).
Works Cited
Salkind, Neil J. Child Development. New York: Gale, 2002. Print.
“Teenage Pregnancy.” Encyclopedia of Human Development. 2006. Web.
NCSL. National Conference of State Legislatures, 9 Dec 2013.Web. 15 Jan 2014.
Office of Adolescent Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. December 31, 2013.
Web. 28 January 2014.
“Teenage Pregnancy Prevention”. Find Youth Info. (2012): Web. 26 January 2014.
Kathryn Kost, Stanley Henshaw. “U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions, 2008: State
Trends by Age, Race and Ethnicity.” March 2013. Document.
"Adolescent Pregnancy: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." U.S National Library of Medicine. Ed.
Linda J. Vorvick. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 12 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
Nihira, Mikio A. "Teenage Pregnancy: Medical Risks and Realities." WebMD. WebMD, 7 July 2012.
Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
ED. Mayo Clinic Staff -. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 05 Jan 2012. Web. The Web.
Teen pregnancy is a major issue in society today. In 2010, an estimated 614,400 U.S. teenagers became pregnant, approximately 89,300 had miscarriages, and 157,500 had legal abortions. Teens are having unprotected sex without knowing the consequences of the choices that the are making. Teens believe that sex is something new that they can try, so they can be popular like their peers. These accusations are wrong, having unprotected sex has major consequences, and by having unprotected sex these teens could be changing their lives forever. Who is to fault for these teen pregnancies? Is in the parents fault, the teens fault or is it our communities fault all together? I believe providing more information and awareness about teen pregnancy in our schools and community will reduce the number of teen pregnancies.
Red and blue lights are flashing and the noise of the ambulance impels everyone to a point where they have to look outside and observe the situation, as if a mystical force was compelling them. From what they can see, the paramedic is holding a tiny hand telling her to hold on. As the stretcher rolls by, the onlookers notice a huge lump, or ball as a few may say, under the pallid cotton covers. What they also take note of is that the pregnant woman is not a woman at all, but in fact a teenager. As some are astounded that a child is being born from a child, others possibly will look at it as a “blessing in disguise.” The issue of teenage pregnancy is affecting our society in innumerable ways and has become one of our top social issues of all time. “The latest estimates show that approximately 1 million teens become pregnant every year” (East, Felice, and Associates 1). With this high number of teenage pregnancy, it is no wonder that many authors try to exemplify this common subject matter. Katrina L. Burchett, author of Choices, accurately and effectively depicts teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic issues.
The birth rate among teens in the United States has declined 9% from 2009 to 2010, a historic low among all racial and ethnic groups, with the least being born in 2010; and in 2011 the number of babies born to adolescents aged 15-19 years of age was 329,797 (“Birth Rates for U.S.”, 2012). Although the decline in unwanted and unplanned teen births is on the rise the United States continues to be among the highest of industrialized countries facing this problem. This is a prevailing social concern because of the health risks to these young mothers as well as their babies. Teens at higher risk of becoming pregnant are raised at or below the poverty level by single parents; live in environments that cause high levels of stress (i.e., divorce, sexual psychological and physical abuse); are influenced by peers or family members that are sexually active; and lack parental guidance that would direct them to be responsible and self-controlled.
Sometimes teen moms decide to not go to college and focus more on the baby or their plans to get married. Teen pregnancy statistics state that only one third of teen moms can even acquire the high school diploma and only a few get a college degree. The government plan welfare schemes to take care of teen mothers and their children. The low-qualified mother cannot get a good job and she completely depends on the state to overcome the financial distress. The annual expenses to fund the teen pregnancies cost around seven billion dollars. The government has to spend money on public assistance, child health care, and foster care to facilitate proper raising of the child. The teen mothers who do not receive proper financial support from her parents or her friends have to face a severe financial crunch. She has to face extreme difficulty to buy basic items for her newborn baby such as clothing and baby care products. Due to the lack of social support, the mother will suffer from huge emotional crisis due to lack of social support. She will deal with severe emotional and mental breakdowns that trigger the onset of unusual behavior like suicide attempts or attempting self-abortion. Many studies have concluded that teenage pregnancy directly affects teenage drug addiction rates ( 11 Negative Side Effects of Teen Pregnancy On
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 26 Sept. 2011. Web. The Web. The Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
... Medicine. 3rd ed. Vol.3. Detroit: Gale, 2006.2139-2141. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association. 14 Nov. 2001: 2322. Academic Search Complete. Web.
Adolescent childbearing has become a prominent social issue because of the broad social and personal consequences. Babies born to teen mothers are at increased risk of developing physical, social, and cognitive problems and deficiencies. Teenage mothers are at increased risk for pre-term labor and premature childbirth. They are also at increased risk of pregnancy complications, infant physical disability, and low birth weight. In many cases prenatal medical care is frequently delayed or inadequately delivered.
There are many different attributes to teenage pregnancy. The majority of teenagers do not realize the consequences of their actions. Taking that into consideration the influences of the teens are highly important during the pre teen stage all the way to adult hood. During the time of this impressionable stage many of the teens are having sex not because of love, but because it is a trend. The media is glamorizing teen pregnancy and leading to a cultural shift.
Ed. David Zieve. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. The Web.
Since the 1970s, many countries in the world the problem of adolescent sexuality and first sexual experience at young age appeared. To make matters worse, the trend of adolescent pregnancy became increasingly serious. From the fact sheet of World Health Organization, there are about 16 million adolescent girls giving birth every year – most in low- and middle-income countries. Among them, an estimated three million girls aged 15-19 undergo unsafe abortions every year. In low- and middle-income countries, over 30% of girls marry before they are 18 years of age; around 14% before the age of 15 and complications from pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 years.
Preventing teenage pregnancy has been a goal for many years now. Statistics have tried to keep up with the change in the teenage generation. Many people have different opinions on the subject of teen pregnancy, because to some people teens seem to be getting pregnant expeditiously in these times. People fail to realize that having a baby is a privilege to many people and not a problem. Many people take having a baby as a lightly. Getting pregnant and having a kid has many pros/cons. Having a child can be very hard on some people and cause them to break. When babies are brought into this world there are a lot of things to worry about. The greatest problem associated with teen pregnancy is financial instability. Most teens do not have the salary to support a child. In the prevention of teen pregnancy there are many things that are helpful. Abstinence is a for sure way of not getting pregnant. There are also other helpful ways to help prevent teen pregnancy, such as sex education and birth control. All of these things are essential in the helping to prevent teenage pregnancy.
"MedlinePlus - Health Information from the National Library of Medicine." National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. Web. 06 Mar. 2011.
Today in this society many teenagers are having sex and not realizing what could happened after they have done it. Parents and teachers aren’t teaching their children proper information about sex. Teenagers believe nothing can happen and that sex isn’t a probable cause. Unfortunately, there are many risks that come along with teen pregnancy many of those include a life surrounded by poverty, medical and health issues, less schooling along with more dropout rates, and lower career ambitions. Teen pregnancy has many causes such as no access to protection, wanting to tie down a guy, Missing love or attention from parents, peer pressure mixed with "trends”, and sadly teenagers most common, lack of knowledge.