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The issue of teen pregnancy
Problem of teenage pregnancy essay
The issue of teen pregnancy
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Teen pregnancy is no little problem! The numbers of teen pregnancies have begun to grow and are beginning to become a fairly large problem. Teen pregnancy is a situation that changes the lives of teens, teen’s parents, and families for the rest of the teen’s life. Teens do not fully understand the risks of intercourse and the amount that lives of teens will change after having children. To lower the percentage of teen pregnancies, society must encourage parental involvement, education, and available health programs. Teen pregnancy in our society has started to become a normal occurrence. It has been stated that “[t]een pregnancy is rated at 11% of all cases of childbirth in the world. Statistics show that 3 in 10 American girls will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20” ("11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy"). Babies born from teen …show more content…
Most importantly, the ability for a parent to have knowledge of their teen is a huge advantage. For example, parents of teens need to explain the dangers of sex and what sex is. Statistics also say, “The risk for teens that are sexually active to become pregnant is within the first year of being sexually active.”("Teenage Pregnancy Facts You Should Know"). Secondly, parents need to express the consequences of teens becoming pregnant. Parents of teens need to have an understanding with the teen that there are major consequences for becoming pregnant. Parents also need to enforce safe sex. Parents need to let the teen know that if the teenager is to have sex, then it needs to be safe. Another way for teens to stay safe is for parents to describe abstinence. Abstinence is the safest way to make sure teens do not become pregnant early in life. Parental involvement and support from parents can in some cases make a great impact on the lives of teens and the teen’s life choices. To refute, the greater percentage of teen pregnancies come from teens without “on site”
The District of Columbia is the 23rd most population city in the United States with a population of 658,893 (Census). According to UNICEF, teen pregnancy is defined as “A teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant” ((Link 1). Nationally in the United States, there has been a steady decline of teen pregnancy within the past decade. However, it is not occurring in the District of Columbia, specifically Southeast DC (Ward 7 and 8) which includes areas such as: Lincoln Heights, Twining, Anacostia and Woodland. As of 2011, DC was ranked number nine in the nation for the highest rate of teen pregnancy. For the total amount of births, only 908 were from young women who were below the age of 20 in Washington DC. About 879 were from young women that were around high school ages 15-19. Specifically, Southeast DC is a low-income area, with approximately ¼ of teen mothers going on welfare within three years after their child’s birth (Link 2). As of 2012, out of the 790 births from teenage mothers, more than half, or 457 of the births mainly occurred in the Southeast DC area (Link4). This area has been plagued through various social determinants of health. This includes having repeated cycles of poverty, lack of comprehensive sexual education, especially in regards to contraception and a lot of violence occurring as a result of crimes. Ward 7 has approximately 95% of its citizens being Black and 2.3% of their citizens are Hispanic(Link 5). While in Ward 8 have about 94% of their citizens that are Black and 1.8% are Hispanic. Between both wards, about 63% of households including both Blacks and Hispanics are living below the federal poverty line and about 37% of births from the 2010 census were from teenage mothers. Abo...
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.
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).
For example, Collin Allen states, “Girls whose fathers left either before they were born or up to age 5 were seven to eight times more at risk of becoming pregnant as an adolescent than girls living with their fathers.” In other words, parents are supposed to be the teachers and the ones who protect the child. Therefore, if such presence is not there, the child will not have that person how tells her what to do or not, or what is correct or not increasing the probability of committing an erroneous action.
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.
Teen pregnancy has become an epidemic in the United States alone. Today, more than half of all teenagers report having had sexual intercourse at least once before leaving high school (Glazer, 1993). Each year, almost 750,000 U.S. women, aged 15–19 become pregnant (Guttmacher Institute, 2011).
Adolescent pregnancy is an issue with many reasons. Adolescent pregnancy isn 't pregnant see in young ladies age 19 and younger. There are several issues that teens face today and some of those may be the cause of the rise in teen pregnancy. The most common is pressure from young boys wanting to prove to the girls that they can have whatever they want. Many girls are pressured at school by their so-called friends. Every child is a blessing from God they are not a mistake they are only a result of a bad choice. Up to two thirds of teen pregnancy occur in teens 18 and 19. Most teams have older male partners and be poor in
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 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.
Sex before marriage has always been a major issue. Teen pregnancy seems to double yearly: with no sign of stopping. Some teens use contraceptives and birth control incorrectly. They think pregnancy just can’t happen to them. In a lot of cases their embarrassed to buy protection or just simply unsure of how to use them. Many unplanned pregnancies happen beca...
As a matter of fact, one of the most alarming social issues of the 21st century is teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is commonly known as conception among younger women of the age 13-19 years. In 2008, the media made a lot of story about a 12-year-old boy who impregnated a girl in UK. Astonishingly, the case was not as seldom as many thought. Evidently, in 2008, there where four births with fathers at the age of 13 years (ONS, 2008).
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.
Teenage pregnancy has always been present in society. There is research stating that about half the women, born between 1900- 1910, who were interviewed were non-virginal at marriage (17 Ravoira). This contradicts some thoughts that premarital sexual behavior is something new. There was another study done in 1953, it found that one fifth of all first births to women were conceived before marriage (17 Ravoira). Even before our modern openness in discussing sexual behavior and acceptance that it does occur, it was quite routine. In earlier society, the incidence of teenage pregnancy was a moral problem. This was because people looked at the child as filius nullius (nobody's child), or illegitimate and the mother as bad, immoral, over- sexed, etc. (18 Ravoira). The child was being blamed for mearly being born, this is unfair to the child who had no fault in the matter (18 Ravoira). The real problem that was seen was the fact that the children were born out-of-wedlock. People seemed to have real difficulty accepting that the baby is still a baby no matter what conditions it was born under.
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.
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.