Teen Pregnancy Teen pregnancy is a common issue among teenage girls. It changes the future of most teens. It brings them straight into the life of mother and father hood. This completely takes them out of their teenage years. I know a few teen moms and some of them are still succeeding in school and some of them aren’t. School is already stressful enough. I can’t imagine having to add a baby into the equation. Most of them don’t get the chance to go to college and have fun like the rest of us do. They have to stay at home and work to take care of their child. Financial instability often results from having a child early. Most of the babies born to teens moms are born into impoverish states. Teen pregnancy is extremely preventable. I believe …show more content…
Teen Pregnancy is when a person less than 20 years old has a child. 273,105 babies were born to women aged 15-19 in 2013. There was a birth rate of 26.5 percent of babies per 1000 girls in this age group in 2013 (Teen Pregnancy in the United States par.1).The rate has never been this low and it’s dropped 10% since 2012 (Teen Pregnancy in the United States par.1) Public health and significant health issues have a huge impact on teen pregnancy. African American and Hispanic teens account for 57% of teen pregnancy. Caucasian Americans have the lowest percentage of teen pregnancy (Disparities in Teen Birth Rates par.2). Only 50% of teen moms get their high school diploma by age 22 instead of 90% of women who don’t have children in their teenage years (The Importance of Prevention par 2.). Diapers, formula, clothes, and other baby items are extremely expensive. Children might look cute, but they cost a lot of money. You have to pay for doctors’ visits and other expenses. Then trying to take care of a baby, work, and go to school is a lot of one person. Yes, I know adults do it, but we are talking about people who haven’t even finished growing yet themselves. Trying to study with a crying baby isn’t an enjoyable …show more content…
Sex before marriage has become acceptable in our community. Also, “only abstinence” birth control often leads teenagers to challenge authority. There is often the improper use of birth control because of the lack of education about it. Many teenagers don’t know the “consequences” from getting pregnant at a young age. Some of them also experience peer pressure to have sex or are involved in pregnancy pacts (Why do teenage girls get pregnant par.1). Many changes happen to your body when you get pregnant. A few of them include breast growth, mood swings, skin changes, and etc. (Changes to Expect in Your Body par. 1). There are many symptoms and ailments of pregnancy. A few of them are nausea, vomiting, hemorrhoids, heartburn, etc. (Changes to Expect in Your Body par.1).In the first trimester you are extremely tired and just want stop the nausea and morning sickness. During the second trimester you start to get a larger baby bump. You can find out the sex of the baby during the fifth month. I’m sure school becomes harder for the teens because now people can physically see that you’re pregnant. Some of your friends may want to stop hanging out with you because you’re not a “fun friend” anymore. You’re trying to figure out your and your child’s future. There is no more partying or drinking (if you were doing that before). Frankly you probably don’t even want to be in that type of
Being a parent is very demanding and can be hard. The difficulties that come with an unplanned pregnancy in teens can have a profound effect on their life. Their physical, social, mental, and emotional health will all be affected by a sudden change in the course of their life. Teens impacted with an unplanned pregnancy will have to give up many things in order to be a parent. In addition, they will have to take on many more responsibilities that accompany pregnancy and parenthood. All in all, having an unplanned pregnancy and becoming a parent introduce many new responsibilities and difficulties.
As everyone knows, teen pregnancy rate is increasing more and more each day and someone needs to do something to try and either stop it or decrease it dramatically. Teen pregnancy is causing dramatic population increase and that’s just common sense. Teens getting pregnant at such a young age is also causing poverty levels to go up more and more. Mississippi Spent over $100 million on teen pregnancy alone in the year 2010 (“Teen Pregnancy”). Just think of what it is now. More teens are dropping out of school and not finishing their education. According to the authors of this article, “approximately 30 percent of teen mothers have mothers who dropped out of high school, 40 percent have mothers who are mothers who dropped out of high school, 40 percent have mothers who are high school graduates, and 30 percent have mothers who attended college”(Kearny et al 143). Many people don’t realize that there are many effects of teen pregnancy including higher risk of birth defect, more likely to drop out, and also abortion rates increase.
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.
Teen pregnancy, in my opinion, is awful. I feel that young women should not be having children at such a young age. I feel that these teenagers that are having babies are children themselves, and do not know how to take care of them as well as an older, more mature person might.
Studies show that within the last seven years there has been a dramatic drop in the number of teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancy is best known as, the act of getting pregnant between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. Teen pregnancy does not come with much of a history. In the past, (mostly in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) it was common for girls to be married between the ages of fourteen and sixteen and give birth not long after. Some girls were having babies as young as thirteen and fourteen years old! During the times that young girls would bear children and be married so young, college and education was not an important factor. As a young girl you learned how to take care of your house, farm, laundry, crops, animals, husband, and children. The father was your main source of income. Obviously things in our time are very different. Over the years a growing importance for education and making a living on your own has become crucial to many women. It was no longer important to have children so soon, but to learn to be a strong, educated, and independent woman. Even now as time has gone by, the image of being a pregnant teenage girl has been glorified solely by media. It becomes less important to get an education so you can get a good job and be able to raise a child and give them a good life, and more important to get pregnant and get a chance to be worshiped nationally on t.v. for being pregnant and making all of your money through fame.
America has one of the largest pregnancy rates in teens in the whole world (“Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media”). Pregnant teens have to make many hard choices. They must decided to keep the baby or not., and to continue on with school. or not. Teens moms can lose everything they’ve worked for after one bad decision. Sex is in teens lives because of media influence.
After a teen gets pregnant they start thinking of a way to hide it from their parents,The big problems start then. Many reasons teens think of are suicide, abortion and many other reasons. Abortions are becoming more frequent due to the ignorance and intolerance of certain societies around the world. This leads to the death of many teenage mothers as well as their children. There a lot of things that can cause an unplanned teen pregnancy, such as teens experimenting with sexual encounters at a young age. Another reason is the lack of guidance due to parents that do not take care of their children. For some, these pregnancies are planned but 85% of these teens pregnancy is unplanned (Website Title: Teen Ink,Article Title: Teenage Pregnancy,Date Accessed: April 03, 2014).
There are various reasons as to why this is such a large social problem. There is not a clear answer as to why teens are going out and having sex at such young ages except for the fact that they are just curious or are trying to rebel. Becoming pregnant is an unanticipated consequence for most teens because they did not think it would happen to them. In reality, there are countless teen pregnancies each year. “In 2002, 757,000 pregnancies occurred among females aged 15-19” (Hedman, Larsen, Bohnenblust, 2008). The media also contributes to the blow up of teen pregnancy. There are news stories, 20/20 studies, and even shows that follow the lives of pregnant teens. T.V. shows such as 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom try teaching viewers what troubles a teen mother faces. The realism of these shows can be misleading and can give other teens false truths about what a teen motherhood is really like.
Teenage girls often get pregnant and do not know the first step in becoming a mother. Normally, when a teenage girl gets pregnant, she is less likely to attend college according to “Women Issues” by Linda Lowen. Some mothers are not even sure who their baby’s father is and many babies get aborted. The majority of single teen mothers are living in poverty. “Almost all our teen mothers are low-income, poorly educated and low-skilled.” (CNN) One third of mothers actually have a college degree and 23.2% are unemployed. (www.singlemotherguide.com) People under the age of eighteen are still developing and are not ready to be
Teen pregnancy, it’s one of the growing problems in today’s society. Teens today have more problems than ever, and in many cases the parents mistake signs of the problems for mere puberty phase. Beginning problem, which often trigger the others, seem to be families. Deeply religious families are most often heavily strict, and that prevents the teenagers to be informed about real life and what are they getting into. When that kind of person gets in a situation where his or her peers are more experienced then them, the outcome is a pressure. During the puberty the teenagers, especially males, are having problems with controlling their needs. It is easy to get pregnant for today’s teenagers, because they face many unbearable problems.
Most people think having a baby and being pregnant is a bad thing that could ruin a life. Bringing a child into the world is not something to be ashamed of. A child is a creation and any creation made by a woman is beautiful. Usually if young girls get pregnant there is gossip about them and people are constantly calling them names. As teenage pregnancies and unplanned pregnancies began to be more common in the community no one really knows how to react to it. Seeing so many young teens lose their virginity at a young age is difficult for older adults. Many of them believe that it should not be that easy to be taken in by a man’s lust. Waiting is the best solution to prevent pregnancy. Most girls just try sex because of peer pressure and curiosity.
Babies are born more likely to be born premature and/or suffer low birth weight. There are a lot of problems involved with children having children. There is a higher risk of low birth rate, premature labor, and stillbirth. The problem is teenage girls are not done growing and fully maturing, there for, when they become pregnant it induces problems not only on the baby but the mother as well. *A general rule: The younger the mother, the greater risk of complications for both the mother and child. Often pregnant teenage mothers deny the fact that they are indeed pregnant, therefor ignoring the proper care that she needs for the growing baby inside of her. There are no easy answers; that’s one thing that everyone agrees on when it comes to the problem of teen pregnancy. The Center of Disease Control and prevention affirmed on June 26 what other agencies, such as the National Center for Health Statistics, have been saying over the course of this year: “The teen pregnancy rate is dropping. The number of teenage girls across the country who became pregnant fell 12 percent between 1991 and 1996. This drops affects girls, of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds, in all states. But the problem remains; The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is the highest of any industrialized countries. Babies born in the U.S. to teenager mothers are at risk for long-term problems in many major areas of life, including school failure, poverty, and physical or mental illness. The teenage mothers themselves are also at risk for these problems.
In conclusion teen pregnancy has hard an effect on society, in many ways. Most teen pregnancies were not planned. CFOS says that about 65% of teen pregnancy's were not even discussed with their sexual partners. All of the other percentage of teen pregnancy's were not planned either, but it had been discussed with the teen's sexual partner at some point in time. Most teens began having sex without knowing the consequences. Teenagers need to take responsibility and remember to keep safe, because there are various ways to prevent teen pregnancy, for example abstinence, sex education, and various types of birth control; because these methods are available children should not be brought into this world mistakenly.
When teenagers find out they are pregnant, their whole lives change. They now have someone else to take care of rather than just themselves.
As time goes on, teen pregnancy is becoming more and more common throughout the world. So many people frown upon this whole idea. Such people act as if the teenage parents’ world is going to come to an end. Although these kids’ life is going to be making a big turn, there are many of them who are mature enough to take on the responsibilities of a baby.