Pregnancy and Abortion among Teens Essay

Teen pregnancy is an issue in United States, it is one issue that should wait until teens are married and know what they are doing with their lives. This issue came about in the early in the 1950’s – 1960’s. Teen pregnancy is a teenage girl between the ages 13-19 (girls who haven’t reached adulthood) having unwanted or wanted babies. Janet Bode once stated in her book, “Emotions run everywhere, scared, sad, disappointment and preparation for what is about to happen” (Bode 51). If we do not act now, teen pregnancy will be out the roof. Teen pregnancy needs a stop put to it no matter what, teens are still children themselves and they are still learning how to take care of themselves:

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.

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).

One community member, Jay Coffelt, is a long-term resident of Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri. Jay is passionate about researching and awareness of issues like teen pregnancy at the county, state, and national levels. Although not directly involved as a parent of a pregnant teen and not being a teen himself, Mr. Coffelt’s community passion is beneficial in providing insight to the level of community empowerment present in Jackson County, Missouri with regards to a major health issue like teen pregnancy. From a community members’ perspective, it was noted that there seems to be a lack of resources available to pregnant teens and their families as well as a lack of ways community members can be involved in the issue. When asked about his ability to participate in decision making regarding teen pregnancy or to attend forums discussing teen pregnancy, Mr. Coffelt was unsure if those resources were available to him. Another important finding from Mr. Coffelt’s interview was the frequent comparisons he made to an adjacent county in Kansas. Having lived in both counties, Mr. Coffelt was able to recall more available resources, awareness, and guidance for teen health and community members in the adjacent Kansas county compared to Jackson County in Missouri. Through the interview, it was determined that Mr. Coffelt felt an increased level of empowerment. According to Clark, “...empowered individuals gain new skills and power to influence others and to affect the outcomes of

In today 's society, the rate of teen pregnancy is rapidly decreasing. This may be attributed to decrease in costs of contraception, costs and availability for abortion, and better sex education over time. “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.This is another historic low for U.S. teens and a drop of 9% from 2013. Birth rates fell 11% for women aged 15–17 years and 7% for women aged 18–19 years” ("About Teen Pregnancy"). Abortion is a highly debated topic today, for many wonder if the woman should have the right to choose. Those who choose to get an abortion are practically putting themselves on trial in today 's society. To understand why this is so, one must look at both sides of the abortion issue, and compare the facts. Abortion is an extremely controversial issue for many, and polarized, or split, into pro-life

Teenage pregnancy has long been acknowledged as an important health, social and economic problem in the United States, one that creates hardships for women and families and threatens the health and well-being of women and their infants. Unintended pregnancies span across age, race and religion, with a specific negative impact among the teenage population. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC, 2016) In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. Birth rates are also higher among Hispanic and African American adolescents than any other race. In 2014, Hispanic adolescent females ages 15-19 had the highest birth rate of 38 births per 1,000

The fact that it is not legalized in some states makes it hard for women and teenagers who would like to procure abortion to do so safely. This has led to severe consequences on the side of the women. It is estimated that unsafe abortion accounts for

With more and more people veering away from traditional ways, which was saving their virginity for marriage, teenage pregnancy is a serious topic, and abortion needs to be thought about. On teenhelp.com, there are a lot of statistics about teenage pregnancy. About 2.65% of girls ages 15-19 gave birth in 2013. Of these teenage pregnancies, 77% were accidental. Not being married was popular among these teenagers, as 89% of them weren’t (Teen Pregnancy Statistics, 2015). With teenagers having babies, you have to wonder, who is going to have to pay for the kid if the teenager isn 't well off. It was estimated that about 9.4 billion tax dollars were spent on teenage pregnancy and childbirth (Teen Pregnancy Statistics, 2015). That is a huge amount of money to be spending.

America has no respect for life even when it comes to human life. Now a day’s unexpected pregnancy is very common in teenagers, and abortions is one of the first choices when a baby is not wanted. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the abortion rate is 13.9 out of 1,000 women aged 15-44.

     In this study, the researcher has come across a plethora of articles pertaining to teen pregnancy. All the articles

Teen pregnancies are very complicated and also very unfair for the mothers. Most schools do not allow pregnant girls to continue their education, but the fathers may continue school life as usual. A large concern of teen pregnancies is the health both the mother and child. A woman's age can significantly affect the mental and physical state of the child. Most young bodies are unable to produce a healthy child due to the teen’s physical changes. The younger the mother, the increased chance of both mental and physical problems. Also, removing the fetus should be compared to the life the child would have. Children born from unplanned pregnancies are often raised in poverty and possibly abusive homes. Five out of ten pregnant teens are not supported by their families. This leads to them needing to take care of both themselves and the child alone. Since most girls cannot attend school, they do not get their degrees which can hurt their chances for college and multiple job opportunities. This does not only greatly affect the mother but also the child. If the mother is not supported by her family and keeps the child, there is a %79 chance they will live in extreme poverty. This can often lead to the mother searching for friends and/or men who has money so they can survive. This often transforms into abusive homes and deprive the child of a healthy, “normal” life. Teens need to have an abortion as an option for

Society is a vague unspecific term that is defined differently in different parts of the world. It is generally understood as the set of standards that are expected from everyone within an interconnected community. These standards do not literally control what a person can or cannot do but they do limit a person so long that they intend to remain a part of society.

Abortion comes with a lot of opinions and feelings towards the topic. In the eyes of the law abortion is legal, but to some, it should not allowed because it can cause health problems, people to commit homicide and drop out of school. A lot of researchers would say they are totally against abortion due to health concerns and not killing another human being. Other researchers may be against abortion because teenagers not being ready to take on that kind of responsibility, completing school and moving on to college should be their main focus. Within these articles the common trend seemed to be health problems, failing to complete school or killing another human being.

Teen abortion is something that everyone should take seriously. One in four teens that are pregnant have an abortion. That means that every 25% of teen pregnancies come to an end. Out of all the different ages of abortion teens make up 18% of the 100%. 82% of all teen pregnancies are accidental. Juggling school and a baby can be very hard on the mother and her family. About one half of all teen mothers graduate high school and get their diploma. Most of the time mothers drop out just to take care of their baby (choicespregnancy).

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.