Decreasing Teen Pregnancy Essay example

Teen pregnancy falls into the category of pregnancies in girls age 19 or younger (NIH). Although statistics have shown a decrease, the number of teen pregnancy in the U.S. is still relatively high compared to the rest of the world. Sexual health is one of the top priorities in early adolescence health in the United States. Consequences of having sex at a young age generally results in unsafe sex practices. The consequences can be due to the lack of knowledge about sex education, and access to birth control/contraception (NIH, 2005). Due to the lack of knowledge and access to birth control, adolescents involve in risk taking when they start to explore sexual intimate relationships.

Teen pregnancy has become a pandemic for teen girls in modern society. In 2015,a total of 229,715 babies were born to mother's between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. This is a birthrate of 22.3 per 1000 births(reproductive). This low-age birth rate increases health risks for the mother and child. Teen mother's are also unlikely to be living a life stable enough to support not only themselves but a child as well. Missed opportunity such as dropping out of highschool and failing to go to college contribute to why teens should not get pregnant. Health risks,instability, and missed opportunity are just a few reasons teenage girls should not get

Wait, you can prevent pregnancy? Teenage girls seem to ask themselves this question more often than needed to. There is now medicine to prevent being pregnant, starting from a pill down to an implant. You choose the one you're most comfortable with using. Birth control should be available for teens who are sexually active with or without parent consent. (webmd 1)

One major problem in America’s society today is teen pregnancy rates. In fact, “teen sexual activity, pregnancy, and childbearing are associated with substantial social, economic, and health costs” (Sedgwick). However, this problem is not one without a solution. The rise of teen pregnancy rates can be prevented and reversed by providing better access to birth control for teens, eliminating the negative connotation that accompanies abstinence, and implementing more efficient sex education in public schools.

Research has shown that since the 1990’s teen pregnancy has significantly fallen: “pregnancy rate peaked among teens ages 15-19 in 1990, at 116.8, and had fallen 44% by 2009.”4 What has contributed to this decline? The Pew Research Organization found that “While the overall share of teens using contraception at first sex has not changed significantly, the use of some forms of highly effective

Teenagers have little awareness about how to prevent becoming pregnant. In a news article by Daniel Armbuster, he said, “It’s all about healthy relationships. That’s where we fail our kids is teaching them how to have a healthy relationship. In other words, teenagers have not heard anything about how to prevent teen pregnancy. Their

In 2014, a total of 249,078 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years, for a birth rate of 24.2 per 1,000 women in this age group. Even though this is a historic low for U.S teens it still needs to be addressed to prevent teens on becoming pregnant. Birth rates have fallen 11% for these women ages 15-19 years and 7% for women the age of 18-19 years (2016). It is important to keep these rates down and hopefully continue to decline the number of teen pregnancies. Teens should still be educated on contraceptives. Nearly all unplanned pregnancies occur to women who were not using birth control at all or not using it correctly. The failure rate of birth control pills is 9% and condoms fail 18% of the

It has been receiving a great deal of public and official attention recently, including expressions of concern from President Clinton (Trad, 1999). However, the most extensive dilemma regarding the issue of adolescent pregnancy is the question of prevention. Preventing teen pregnancy includes such problems as the availability of birth control, sexual education among children and adolescents, and a greater sense of support for pregnant teens. However, before society can begin to successfully prevent pregnancies among teenage girls, the underlying causes and facts about the dilemma must first be exposed

To truly understand how to lower teen pregnancy, one has to look at the statistics. The following quote from Stranger-Hall’s essay exemplifies this; “After accounting for other factors, the national data show that the incidence of teenage pregnancies and births remain positively correlated with the degree of abstinence education across states: The more strongly abstinence is emphasized in state laws and policies, the higher the average teenage pregnancy and birth rate.” (Stranger-Hall, 6) Variations on how strongly abstinence is emphasized also leads to variations in effectiveness of reducing teenage pregnancy. Abstinence only education emphasizes that the only way to prevent an unwanted pregnancy is to completely abstain from sex until marriage. These programs typically don’t cover means of contraception, and if they do it is usually only to discuss its ineffectiveness. Where comprehensive education differs is that while it too covers abstinence, it also discusses various methods of birth control, as well as sexually transmitted diseases. Despite what the U.S. government supports, it has been shown that comprehensive sexual education does in fact lower teenage pregnancy

There are many ways to try and prevent teen pregnancy, such as contraceptives. But the only method that is absolutely effective is sexual abstinence. Abstinence is the only way to protect teens from sexually transmitted diseases and guarantees no risk of teen pregnancy.

Each year around 90,000 adolescents become pregnant in the United States. Around 51% of adolescents pregnancies end in live births, 35% end up in induced abortions, and 14% result in miscarriage or stillbirth (Frick, 2007). Historically, the highest teen pregnancy rates in the United States were during the 1950’s and 1960’s before the legalization of abortion and the development of many the current forms of contraception(Frick, 2007). Rates enlarged steadily until 1991; since then, the birth rate among teenagers has decreased 35% for 15-17 year olds(Frick, 2007). Three in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That is nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. In 2013, there were 26.6 births for every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19, or 274,641 babies born to females in this age group. To prevent teen pregnancy, we should teach them abstinence, safe sex by using protection, and communication skills to discuss prevention from peer pressure.

Allowing teenagers to get contraceptives without parents’ permission encourages them to become sexually active. Teenagers do not become sexually active because they can get contraceptives. Young woman in the U.S. Have been sexually active for at least 22 months before they visit a family planning provider. 47 percent sexually active teenage girls said they would not get health services from clinics if they could not get contraceptives without parent’s permission. Teenage girls have the highest reported rates of chlamydia and other diseases. Close to 900,000 teenagers get pregnant each year. Four out of ten girls get pregnant at least once before they turn twenty. Teenage girls that do not use contraception has a 90 percent chance of getting pregnant within a year.

Abstinence is the best way to prevent teen pregnancy. If teenagers are educated on abstinence then teen pregnancy wouldn’t be a big issue in most communities. This will give them some insight on how by keeping to yourself will prevent all the problems that lie ahead with being a teen parent. Abstinence is safe and very effective to teenagers. The more information teenagers have on abstinence will highly influence them to remain abstinent. It is important that teenagers be taught the health risk and benefits of having sex at an early age and why abstinence is the best way to prevent teen pregnancy.

How many pregnant teens have there been? Over the years more girls are becoming teen moms. In Oklahoma teen pregnancy has become a problem. Recently Oklahoma has had a pregnancy rate of 47.5% (Tulsa World). Not only is it an issue in Oklahoma but an issue in the United States as a whole. The lack of awareness and how to prevent pregnancy is a reason to blame for the increasing numbers. The more we don’t make people aware of the increasing teen pregnancy rate and how to prevent then the numbers will continue to rise into an astonishing amount. Helping teens know of the different ways to prevent pregnancy can make an enormous difference in teen pregnancy. The issues that have an effect on teen pregnancy rates have been to the use of

"Teen pregnancy in the United States: In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years old, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another record for U.S. teens and a drop of 8% from 2014. Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist (cdc.gov)." As teenagers (in the United States), we are peer pressured or tempted to try new things. Some teens tend to try out drugs, and alcohol. However, some are having unprotected sex in which, is leads to having babies. This is called, teenage pregnancy. This has caused the United States to create records based off of the statistics and facts given from, researchers across the United States. In order to help prevent teenage pregnancy in the United States, teenagers must understand why, having a baby now isn’t such a smart move on their part.