Child Family Studies

Over the years women have struggled with wanted and unwanted pregnancies. Planned parenthood and not ?planned parenthood? has become a choice for some women. Variables will come into affect for each of theses women and certain circumstances will effect their decision to have an abortion or not to have an abortion. The populations in the research are women from sixteen to twenty-nine with information including ethical dilemmas, society influence, religious backgrounds, health issues, sexual activity, substance abuse, rape, financial issues, family /relationship dynamics, long term implications with physical and mental affects and legal ramifications and acts will be covered in this paper. The research will have statistics, evidenced based facts and legal documented court decisions, physical and mental health issues with interventions. Plan for change will be a consideration to help with this topic of abortion.

Abortion is one of the most talked about topics in teenage pregnancies. When researching abortion, you find many different view points and ideas to the situation. Some of the more obvious view points are those that are well known such as pro-life and Pro-Choice. Although people have abortions they don’t understand the side affects that come along with them.

Planned Parenthood programs are important programs to help individuals learn family planning. Sex education programs like Get Real which is a comprehensive sex education program taught in middle schools and high schools has rendered successful results (Berenson, 2014). Teens are still learning about life and are very susceptible to their environment. A study on young girls who say they are pregnant at age seventeen, because their mothers had them at age seventeen is an example of Banduras (1986) social cognitive theory of learning by observation (Oppong, 2014). These negative behaviors teens exhibit when they do not have a relationship between their fathers affects girls and boys

One of the main reasons for high rates of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is the continuation of ineffective abstinence based education (Bell, 2009) and not allowing teenagers to make abortion related decisions. In the U.S. Eighty two percent of the teenage pregnancy is unintended and 37 % of total unintended pregnancies result in abortion. Teenagers choose to abort babies because of shame, staying focused on career, unstable financial status to support babies and not getting emotional and economic support from parents. Twenty two percent of pregnant teenagers choose not to tell their parents (ACLU, 2001).

“Nearly all (89.5%) of the participants received free or reduced cost lunches at school.” There was a high representation for a mother figure in the participant’s life, (75.6% and 11.% in respects to having a mother/ grandmother as a mother figure). 15.3% of the males identifies as not having a father figure. 73.4% believed that participant parents would be angry/or unhappy if participant was subjected to teen pregnancy. She points out how there was a significant gender difference in terms of the perception of parental views on getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant during the next year. More girls reported their parent would be angry/ or unhappy if they gotten pregnant in comparison to boys (77.8% vs. 67.0%, receptively). From this experiment they found that there was a high correlation between the way participant perceived the attitudes of their parents in regards to getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant and engaging in sexual

The negative stereotype regarding teenage pregnancy in society can be very damaging and discouraging to a young mother who simply made a mistake but still have dreams and goals in which she plans to obtain through continuing her education and obtaining a good job to support her as well as her child. But, with the negativity it can hinder her progress, resilience, and well-being.

This year in America, over one million teens will become pregnant. More than 80% of these pregnancies will be unintended (North Carolina PRAMS 2009). Unintended pregnancy is commonly defined as “a pregnancy that is reported to have been either unwanted (that is, the pregnancy occurred when no children, or no more children, were desired) or mistimed (that is, the pregnancy occurred earlier than desired)” (CDC 2015). Though some teen pregnancies are intentional, these are rare in occurrence. Unplanned pregnancy leads to an increase in the number of abortions and abandoned children by mothers who are not in suitable financial, physical, or emotional states to take care of their children. It also puts young mothers and their babies at increased risk for complications during childbirth. Access to sufficient education and access to contraceptives impacts the rate of teen pregnancy. As the number of these potentially dangerous pregnancies inflates, it becomes clear that something must be done. Unintended pregnancies, especially in teens and young adults, are an epidemic in America; however, Americans have the potential change the path they are on.

In a 2004 survey women were asked what reasons they had for obtaining an abortion. The number one reason for having an abortion was: “having a baby would dramatically change my life” stated by 74% of the women surveyed. 73% said “I can’t afford a baby now”. Problems within their relationships and an unwillingness to be a single mother were mentioned as more reasons women had abortions. This reason was cited by 48% of the women. Nearly 40% said that they were finished having children. Almost one-third said they were not ready to have a child. A potential health problem for the child was cited as a reason for 13%, and potential health problems for themselves had influenced 12% of women’s

Adolescent pregnancy is a widely researched and debated topic in psychology. Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have dropped significantly over the last two decades from 6.2% in 1990 to 2.7% in 2013, a 56% decrease, for women aged 15-19. Despite the sharp decline, concerns about the consequences of adolescent childbearing have not decreased.

‘’Of all the teenage women who become pregnant, 35% choose to have an abortion rather than bear a child. (National Abortion Federation 1)’’ As teen pregnancy increases in America so does the rate of abortions. Teen abortion is a major problem in our country that can be solved by informing them about abstinence and other safe sex practices.

Icek Ajzen Theory of Planned Behavior was proposed in 1985 through his article, "From Intentions to Actions: A Theory of Planned Behavior." The theory was developed from the “Theory of Reasoned Action”, which was proposed by

One study found that to determine pregnancy planning and emotional readiness, participants only needed to respond to four questions ‘‘When did you want to get pregnant?’’, ‘‘I have been trying to get pregnant’’, ‘‘How did you feel emotionally?’’, and ‘‘I am ready to have a baby’’. These four questions are very important to find if adolescents is emotionally ready. (Phipps, 2012)

Unintentional or unplanned pregnancies are a major health concern associated with increased risks of detrimental behaviors, abortions and negative social and birth outcomes (Feldman, 2012). While the rates of pregnancy and childbirth among adolescents under the age of 20 in the United States have been falling since 1990 it is not expected to disappear entirely and remains a national problem (Moeller, 2007). Pregnancy in adolescence have been associated with a variety of poor maternal and infant outcomes. Health risks to teens and their infants include low birth weight, risk of prematurity, developmental delays, and poor prenatal weight gain. The antenatal and postpartum social risks include depression, substance abuse, homelessness, child maltreatment, reliance on public assistance, lack of education, and domestic abuse (Bensussen-Walls & Saewyc, 2001).

While many people are inclined to express indifference regarding this concept, teen pregnancy is one of the most controversial topics in the contemporary society. This experience can be devastating for some individuals, as the fact that they are raw makes it difficult for them to effectively deal with the problem. Society becomes more stressing and most teens who become pregnant come to express feelings related to shame and fear. The fact that these individuals are hesitant about letting their parents know that they are pregnant contributes to their problems and finding help sometimes becomes an impossible mission. Lack of life experience materializes into a more severe type of stress, endangering both the mother and the child.

Teenagers are regarded as a young person whose age ranges from thirteen to nineteen years (WHO 2006). Psychologists also referred that this period in one’s life is adolescent period in which one is in transition between childhood behaviours and adult behaviour. Within this period, the teenager is faced with numerous developmental problems or risk, either fashioned by the adolescent is exposed to experimentation, curiosity and quest for freedom. These expectation largely results in unwanted pregnancy as stated by Noble (2007) as a girl-child pregnancy. In a related development according to WHO report, it was stated that in the United States of American, about 19% of adolescent give birth by twenty years of age.