Issues on Teenage Pregnancy

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Children having children, this is an all too familiar phrase that has become a popular adage among people in today’s society. But as popular as this phrase maybe, it does not even begin to scratch the surface that lies beneath the complex issues of teenage pregnancy. There are many adverse concerns that encompass teen pregnancy, to which society has even developed its own views upon. Concerns that develop from adolescent pregnancy can have negative impacts for teenage parents, children, and even society. According to Furstenberg, “In 1995, in his State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton singled out teenage childbearing as “our most serious social problem”. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (n.d.), “In 2012, there were 29.4 births for every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19, or to simply put it an estimated 305,420 babies were born to females within this age group, which ninety eight percent of these births had taken place outside of wedlock” (See Table 1). Even though there has been a decrease in the number of teen pregnancies over the years, the number in the U.S. still ranks the highest when compared to other developed countries in the world (Deborah, n.d.). Communities everywhere need to come together to develop strategies that focuses on reducing teen pregnancies in the United States.
The Beliefs of Society
Society has its own beliefs of why teenagers become pregnant. The public tends to blame the high rates of teen pregnancy on the uncontrollable sexual urges and the lack of knowledge of contraception (Crosson-Tower, 2013, p. ***). This may ring true for some instances, but in other cases there are some teenagers who are not consenting participants in any sexual activities. Some of socie...

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... all have a choice.

Works Cited

Byers, A. (2000). Teens and pregnancy: a hot issue . New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Cherry, A., & Dillon, M. (2013). Teenage Pregnancy. : Childhood Studies. doi: 10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0111
Crosson-Tower, C. (2013). Exploring child welfare: A practice perspective. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Deborah, W. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/ Reducing_Teenage_Pregnancy.pdf
Furstenberg, F. The history of teenage childbearing as a social problem. Retrieved from https://www.russellsage.org/sites/all/files/Furstenberg_chap1_1.pdf (n.d.). Retrieved from website: http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health- topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/trends.html
Valdez, T. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://homepages.wmich.edu/~t5valdez/Teenage Pregnancy.htm

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