Effects Of Teen Pregnancy On Teens

Over the last few decades the rates in teen pregnancy have been a debate; did they rise over the past few years or did they actually decline? Contrary to some doctors and politicians the numbers associated with teen pregnancy have decline over the last couple of years. Although there are still people out there who believe this to be an issue it’s made more of an issue than it actually is. The ads and commercials are set out to scare teen-agers into believing that were at an all time high for this issue, but realistically its actually the exact opposite. Teen pregnancy rates haven’t dropped on there over the course of the years. There are a few major factors that have contributed a great deal to this change. Those changes include but are not limited to: more resources being available to these teenagers to prevent themselves from becoming pregnant, society is more open to talking about this issue as well as the religion and culture change aspect of families today. Despite the beliefs of others, teen pregnancy rates are at an all time low for the first time in decades.

In 2005, nearly half of all high school students have had sexual intercourse. Plainly stating that abstinence programs do not work (USA Today). Abstinence programs were beneficial many years ago, but since they are ineffective in delaying teen pregnancy, then teen pregnancy rate has increased. Abstinence programs teach the “no sex until marriage” clause, but they don’t teach teens about birth control and the consequences of having sex at before they’ve matured. Although many studies argue that abstinence programs are educational and beneficial, other studies will show that they don’t delay teen sex, they don’t prevent the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), and are a waste of taxpayers’

Under the guidance of professors at the school, we formed the organization after research was conducted in the community and showed results of very high levels of teen pregnancy. After working with high school teachers in the school district, we discovered that the sexual education curriculum severely lacks in structure. The current curriculum focuses primarily on abstinence, but Be Safe, Not Sorry believes healthy sexual behaviors must be taught. Through the education of the staff and resources, Be Safe, Not Sorry created an after school program to teach sexual education intended to increase the knowledge of teenagers on safe sex practices. The annual budget for Be Safe, Not Sorry is about $30,000, but the cost of the program is estimated to be between $35,000 and $40,000.

Based on the readily available images broadcast from films, MTV and other mass media, one might assume that the teen pregnancy epidemic is on the rise. In one respect, this health risk condition has rarely been more culturally visible than it is right now. However, it does bear noting that teen pregnancy has actually been on the decline in the United States over the last two decades. According to the source provided by Sheets (2012), "from 1990 to 2008, the teen pregnancy rate decreased 42 percent (from 117 to 68 pregnancies per 1,000 teen girls)."

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

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).

$50 million was given for 5 years to states that agreed to teach abstinence in their schools (Sather & Zinn, 2002). In this push to prevent teen pregnancy, the government put states in a lose-lose situation. They could either receive money desperately needed for their schools and teach sex education that had been proven not to work (Sather & Zinn, 2002), or they could choose to teach another form of sex education, possibly one that had been proven to influence students, and miss out on the extra funding.

“Given that 47.4% of high school students have experienced sexual intercourse, advocates argue that abstinence-only messages provide no protection against the risks of pregnancy (Solomon-Fears).” The fact that this percentage is so high highlights how widespread this is, which indicates that many teenagers are prone to have sex. “Teens who break their virginity pledges were less likely to use contraception the first time than teens who had never made such a promise (Solomon-Fears).”The promise of abstinence seemed to have no effect on them because they had sex anyway. Furthermore, they did not even use contraception. The trend here seems to be that the abstinence programs are having the opposite of the intended effect. The government initiated

For years now, there has been a controversial issue about sex education being taught in public school systems. Although sex education is considered taboo, it is necessary for it to be taught in schools because it promotes safe sex, it limits the spread of sexually transmitted disease and early teen pregnancies. Government sponsored programs such as the Abstinence-only program promotes teens to wait until marriage to have sex. But according to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards “abstinence-only programs keep teens in the dark and does nothing to help parents protect their children's health”. Education programs that include information about abstinence as well as contraception, healthy communication, responsible decision-making, and

Teen pregnancy rate had decreased by the maximum of about 55 percent. Teen birth rates has also went down about 64 percent, but yet teen pregnancy and birth rate for teenagers ages 15-19 in the U.S still remains one of the most highest comparable countries. Due to parenthood, most of teen moms drop out of school. More than 50% of teen mothers never graduate to get their diploma. Sexually active teens that doesn’t use any type of protection has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year, 84 percent of teen pregnancy are unplanned.

Screaming, and crying dirty diapers on the floor from up all night to school in the morning. Is this how they imagined their lives?We’ll be analyzing how teen pregnancy is caused ,and the effects of becoming pregnant as a teen. Lack of education of safe sex, lack of attention or love, sexual coercion, poverty, learning responsibility at a young age, and social abandonment are all causes and effects of teen pregnancy.

The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world. 3 to 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20 (11 Facts). Most of these pregnancies are unplanned. Why is there so many unplanned pregnancies? Its simple teens do not realize the mess they are getting themselves into once they have unprotected sex. They have unprotected sex because there is no way they can get protection without adults wondering what they are gonna be using protection for. But that is the problem teenagers cannot confront their parents or any adults about getting protection for themselves. Instead, they go and have sex not realizing the risks they can face. On the other hand, everything is more updated and this generation is way more advanced than any generation. Adults should really start giving some sex education classes since kids are in 6th grade; because that is when most girls start getting their menstrual cycle and when both boys and girls hormones are everywhere. Schools should consider having sex education classes for their teens. Sometimes teens will not talk with their parent about this topic since it is uncomfortable so the school should try talking to them about it. “90% of Americans believe that sex education should be taught in schools, meanwhile 82% support comprehensive programs that teach students about both abstinence and methods to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (Parks 73).” Having more conversations about this topic will decrease the rate in teen pregnancies and will change the lives of many teens.

Children from homes run by teenage mothers have to face almost insurmountable obstacles in life. The incidents of depression and mental health problems, the lack of father figures, and the high rate of poverty often connected to children in homes run by teenage mothers put them at serious disadvantages when compared to children raised in nuclear families. Many people believe that the implementation of sex education in schools and the addition of more federal aid for single parents are major causes for the country's high rate of teen pregnancies. When the true purpose of sex education and federal aid is to help strengthen the mother and her child so that they can eventually lead productive lives. <br><br>The absence of a father figure in

"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.

“Research suggests that many associate teen mothers with welfare dependency, irresponsibility, stupidity, ignorance, laziness, child abuse,