Teen Pregnancy Is Not Just A Teen Problem Essay

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Teen Pregnancy: Not Just a Teen Problem

Worldwide, girls are getting pregnant during their adolescent years. Many other

problems result from this, so it is imperative for adolescents to be talked to and taught

about the consequences of pre-marital sex. Although the percentage of teen

pregnancies has been decreasing, this is still a prevalent problem throughout the United

States. Several solutions can be beneficent to this problem, and they all coincide with

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an adolescent as: “a young person who is

developing into an adult”. Knowing this definition is crucial in understanding the

problem, because it states that the person has not yet grown and developed into an

adult. A teenage girl who …show more content…

Only around 50% of teenage mothers receive their high

school diploma by the age of 22 (CDC np). This statistic makes it clear that if half of

teen mothers don’t get their high school diploma by that age, they most likely won’t end

Several disadvantages come from not getting your high school diploma. First,

without a high school diploma these girls will not go to college and get a degree.

Without receiving a degree or post-high school training, it is almost impossible to get a

job that will earn them enough money to take care of their child. Secondly, if they are

going to have a job to earn money to take care of their child and care for all of its needs,

they will most likely have to find a daycare for their child. This is an added expense that

will make life even tougher for a teen mother. Many expenses come with having a child,

and most teen girls won’t have enough money to take care of everything by themselves.

This is why taxpayers in 2010, payed $9.4 billion in taxes for things such as: health care

and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost

tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen …show more content…

This means that the pregnancy was not planned, and was

most likely trying to be prevented. Another shocking statistic is that 34 percent of all

teenage girls have at least one pregnancy before they turn 20 (Teen Help np). Although

the teen pregnancy rate has been slowly decreasing throughout recent years, 820,000

teen pregnancies are still far too many. In this day and age, most people aren’t getting

married until they are in their mid to upper 20’s because this is when they feel like they

are finally secure in their careers and have more financial stability. In the past though, it

was usual for people to get married at the age of 20 or even younger. However, in Utah

and many southern states the teen pregnancy rate is the highest most likely due to the

fact that in these areas people are still getting married at a younger age. Lastly, around

25% of teen moms have another child within the first two years of the first child’s birth

(Teen Help np). This means that many teenage girls have more than one child before

Countless social, educational, and financial costs are a result of teen pregnancy.

In recent years, the United States has spent around $7 million dollars annually due

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