Moral Panic

Teen pregnancy is a chief setback in the United States. There are drastically more teenage pregnancies in the United States than all other developed countries worldwide (Cloe & Moore, 1995). According to, The Complete and Authoritative Guide: Caring for Your Teenager, out of every five women under twenty, two will become pregnant. In 2010, the total number of pregnancies in the United States was 821,810 (84 pregnancies per 1,000 people). Weigh against Canada whose total rate of teen pregnancies for 2010 was 38,600 (38 pregnancies per 1,000 people). Many other western industrialized countries, such as Sweden and France, have even lower teen pregnancy rates than Canada. When compared to other countries, it’s easy to understand why the United

For many years teen pregnancy has been a national social problem. Views have changed over the years as society has started to adapt to the thought of teen pregnancy. “Growing evidence suggests that pre-existing academic and economic hardships play a role in the continuing struggles of teen mothers. While 85% of young women who delay having their first child until at least twenty or twenty – one obtain a high school diploma or GED, only 63% of mothers who give birth by age seventeen do so” (Crosson- Tower p255)

Teenage pregnancy is a prominent dilemma in our nation because it continues to place adolescents into delinquency. According to the United States Health and Human Services, three out of ten American teen girls will become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of twenty. That is nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies in a year (1) (HHS Pg.2 2014). Also according to U.S. Department of State, teen pregnancy budgets the United States and tax payers approximately seven billion dollars annually (2) (USDS pg. 1 2013). Teen pregnancy is a phenomenon in which a female individual, usually between the ages of thirteen through nineteen become pregnant before they have reached the legal adulthood. Many times these adolescents are not prepared to become parents. They have not completed their education, are mentally young, have very few or no marketable skills and abilities to survive in the real world, and they are financially dependent upon their parent or caretaker.

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.

Teen pregnancy continues to be a problem in America even though the CDC documents a decrease from 2007-2009 in all racial groups. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Reducing the number of pregnancies in teens 15-17 is a core indicator identified by Healthy People 2020 to assess the status of adolescent health. Children born to teens are at risk for health concerns from being of low birth weight and having poor prenatal care such as delayed development. (Magness, 2012). Repeat pregnancy, dependence on welfare, and poverty are some of the results of adolescent pregnancy. Teen mothers tend to have health problems such as hypertension, and anemia and are at high risk for early delivery. Magness looks at the issue from the teen’s viewpoint and discusses the idea that some teens become pregnant to provide stability in an otherwise chaotic life and can gain maturity from the experience. Emphasis on continuing their education after delivery can prevent repeat pregnancies. Lack of productive or positive social activities or guidance can leave room for a teen to indulge in risky behavior to occupy their time. Peer pressure and influence from present day norms can cause teenagers to give in to early onset of sexual activity (Kirven, 2014). Finding after school or extracurricular activities can promote a healthier self

In an excerpt from Edin and Kefalas book, Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage, the issue of pregnancy among low socioeconomic teens is analyzed. By using Mill’s sociological imagination, Edin and Kefalas disprove America’s stereotype towards this type of pregnancy: having a baby as an impoverished teen can be beneficial in the long run.

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.

The issue with teen pregnancy can be prevented more vastly by understanding the background and history of the dilemma. To begin, teen pregnancy is defined as pregnancy among girls and young women aged 19 years or younger. It has been known that in some cases, teen pregnancy occurs due to a forced marriage or rape, which typically doesn’t come with a solution, but many situations are avoidable. According to ////, “ after rising sharply between 1986 and 1991, the teenage birth rate [has] continued its decline for the seventh year in a row in 1998” (Teen Birth Rate Continues…) An increase in protection may be a valid explanation, but a decrease in sexual activity is the main reason.

Approximately every two minutes, a teenage girl in the United States gives birth (Guernsey 6). While this fact may be sad and startling to most people, it is in deed the truth. Over the past few decades, the problem of teen pregnancy has grown considerably in this country. It has been receiving a great deal of public and official attention recently, including expressions of concern from President Clinton and New Jersey's Governor Whitman (Schurmann 7). However, the most extensive dilemma regarding the issue of adolescent pregnancy is the incredibly important 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

Teenage birth rates, defined as live births per one thousand 15-19-year-old US females, declined by 10% from 2012 to 2013 from 29.4 to 26.5. In fact, the birth rate has been on a steady decline over the past 20 years, from 61.8 in 1991 to 26.5 in 2013. Teenage pregnancy represents both a health and social inequality in our society. Specifically, teenage childbearing is a public health issue because teenage mothers are more likely to experience negative social outcomes such as dropping out of school. This is a self-reinforcing cycle, as children of teenage mothers face higher chances of poor academic achievement as well as getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant in their teenage years (CDC). Although the overall rates of teenage pregnancy have dropped, ultimately, the variations in the rates reflect the intersecting disparities regarding race and ethnicity, income inequality, geography, and environmental factors, which in turn affect access to medical care, education, and resources.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, more unmarried women who became pregnant decided not to get married. As more teenage mothers remained single, public concern increased. Teen pregnancies were, often presented as a medical problem to be, treated with more access to clinics, birth control and abortion. There was a shift from viewing teen pregnancy as a moral problem to that of seeing it as a psychological or health problem (Adams, 1997).

Teen birth rates are higher in the United States than any other country. In 2010, over 600,000 teens were impregnated; however, in following years, the number was reduced by half (Werner, 2014). These statistics show a decline in teen pregnancy; nonetheless, teen births continue to be an unsolved epidemic in the United States. There are no simple solutions to end this epidemic, as there are many contributing factors. For the United States to continue to see a reduction in teen births, Americans must remain vigilant in attacking some of the leading influences.

Young mothers tend to struggle to feed their children especially if they are single parents and they have to work. In research, done by Penman-Aguilar, Carter, Senead, and Kourtis, it explained the socioeconomic disadvantages related to the social determinant of teen childbearing. They first explained that the birth rate among teenagers in the United States has decreased drastically during the past few years, but they also explained that even though the numbers have dropped teens having a child so young can limit ones social and financial well-being (Penman-Aguilar et al. 2013, pg. 6). The researchers’ as well explained that teen motherhood has substantial costs for both the mother and the infant; teen motherhood can be considered that it is an indicator of suboptimal sexual health. According to Penman-Aguilar et al. (2013), social determinants of health are “complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures and economic systems are linked to lack of opportunity and to a lack of resources to protect, improve, and maintain health” (pg. 6), here it is explained that teen motherhood can be beyond the family or the individual. This was an important part of the opening of their research because it explains how there are possible theories about community-level socioeconomic factors may also contribute to teen

In the article “Teenage Births: Outcomes for Young Parents and their Children “the Schuyler Center touches on many important topics concerning teenage pregnancy and parenting. The foundation speaks on how teenage pregnancy is a global issue and explains why teens often get pregnant along with the hardships that come with it. Although, according to them “teen pregnancy rates are at the lowest level in 20 years. . . ” (page 3) it is very apparent that being a young mother will defiantly effect your education and your child future.

"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.