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.
The first day of high school, going to prom, learning to drive, graduating, getting a job, and buying the first car – these are some of the memorable events that occur in the life of an average American teenager. However, now more than ever, another event has been added to many teenagers’ lists: becoming a parent. Teen pregnancy is not a new issue; in fact, it has been a rising concern in the United States for decades. Voluntary efforts have been made by organizations such as Healthy Teen Network, The National Campaign, and Advocates for Youth to help reduce the overwhelming existence of teen pregnancy. Though health care clinics, teen parenting help programs, and alternative schools for pregnant women, pregnancy organizations have
Teen pregnancy has decreased a total of 8 percent. “ in 2015 a total of 229,715 babies were born to women 15-19”(Reproductive Health:Teen Pregnancy). According to Reproductive Health:Teen Pregnancy the birth of babies dropped from 41 babies to 21 babies, births dropped per 1,000 females aged 15-19 years. Hispanic teens have more than twice the percent of teen pregnancy than white teens, black teens have a twice the percent than all the other races besides hispanic teens
An ongoing epidemic in the United Sates is teen pregnancy. In America, our society is run down by many problems. Most are caused by the older generation, but this problem has risen with the younger generation around the age of 15-19. The peak of the teen pregnancy trend started in 1990 when 60 teen girls out of 1,000 had a teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). For every 1,000 females in 2013, on average only 27 out of the 1,000 had gone through teen birth ("About Teen Pregnancy.”). Over the years, it seems that the trend is winding down and that less and less teens appear to becoming pregnant. In 2013, the teen pregnancy rate decreased by 10% since 2012 and 57% 1990 ("Teen Birth Rate | The National Campaign.”).
Girls who gave birth while still in high school only 38% of them graduate. The reason the rest of them drop out is since they are forced to work in order to support their child. Nearly all cannot manage parenthood, school, work without family or friends help. With teenage mothers “Their children showed reduced educational attainment, had more emotional and behavioral problems, were at increased risk of maltreatment or harm, and showed higher rates of illness, accidents and injuries.” (Dennison P. 6) Just in the state of Texas, in 2012, there were 44 births per 1,000 girls’ state wide. Nationwide 50% of pregnancies are accidental in 2006. Teen parents also are a financial load to society, According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, in 2004, all together taxpayers paid more than eight billion dollars to help support health cares designed to help the 420,000 teenage mothers who gave birth in that year. “results from economic analyses suggest that implementing evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs, expanding access to Medicaid family planning services, and utilizing mass media campaigns to promote safe sex may reduce teen pregnancy and save taxpayer dollars.” (Without the help of drugs like Plan B or any type of birth control, a large amount of teenage girls will become unplanned mothers, making more of a financial burden to society.
Over the past two decades, the rates of teen pregnancy have grown dramatically. According to the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy, approximately every thirty-one seconds ateenager becomes pregnant in the United States. This is unbelievable, however that is the truth that no one can deny. Many people think that teen pregnancy don't effect them unless they get pregnant or one of the family members in teenage get pregnant. However teen pregnancy really affects our communities and country. Approximately, over eighty-five percent of teenage girls who become pregnant every year do not plan their pregnancies and only fifteen percent of pregnancies are prepared. The causes of teen pregnancy is unsafe sex or poor sex education in
The Teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of school and teens who did not finish their education have a hard time finding a job. Because they gave up their education so young Only about one-third of teen mothers obtain a high school diploma. The Teenage pregnancies are associated with increased the rates of alcohol abuse and substance abuse, lower educational level, and reduced earning potential in teen fathers. The Teen pregnancy is an important issue for several reason for teen to understand what the impact will be. For example, there are health risks for baby or children born to
Teen pregnancy is surprisingly decreasing over the years. According to Farber, “the most recent studies have shown that there has been a decrease in the rate of pregnancies among all teenagers and among sexually active teenagers (16). Although this issue seems is decreasing this is still a problem faced by many teenage girls today. Each year, 7.5 percent of all 15-19 year old women become pregnant (Maynard 1). Not only does this issue affects the pregnant teen but it also affects the economy. Teen pregnancy affects graduation rates. Many teen mothers cite pregnancy as the key reason of them not finishing school. Only 40 percent of teen mothers finish high school (Teen Pregnancy Affects Graduation Rates). The 60 percent of teen mothers
Teen pregnancy is still a major issue regardless of the declining pregnancy rate. In 2006 birthrates among teenage girls age ranging from 15-17 were more than 3 times as high as
Over 560 young women are at the risk of becoming a teen mother a year. Nearly 750,000 American teenagers become pregnant each year. These can be trying times for a young lady who is just starting to come into her own as a woman and as a citizen in society. Teen pregnancies can cause many complications
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).
"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.
Teenage pregnancy is spiraling out of control, and needs to be taken more seriously. Though the birth rates of teenage pregnancy have dropped in the past years, there are still more than 750,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19; that still get pregnant in the United States each year. Did you know that 3 in 10 teen girls will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20? Or, that more than 50% of teen mothers never graduate from high school. This is a problem today, and something needs to be done to reduce the amount of times this is likely to
High School dropout rates have been a problem since the word high school became a term. To begin, a study researched by Education Week, Rumberger interprets “...The nation 's leading education periodical estimates that 1.3 million students from the high school class of 2010 failed to graduate” (Rumberger 61). Taking those findings you can go a step further and narrow the field to one of the causes of dropout rates, which is teen pregnancy. By focusing on teen pregnancy your able to narrow down the field of research and solve one problem at a time. According to Rumberger “...68 percent of young women who had a child by age eighteen had completed high school by age twenty – two compared to 94 percent of young women who did not experience a teen birth” (1294). These numbers can translate into discovering solutions to fix the dropout rates of pregnant teenagers. Discovering the needs of pregnant teenagers and teen mothers will lead to an understanding evolving into solutions to prevent pregnant teens from dropping out of high school. Allowing for the increase of female graduates. Fixing one problem of high school dropouts allows for other possibilities in other areas. Therefore, by developing after school programs with counseling, along with programs to prepare for the future and to provide child care services for single mothers the numbers will increase of students finishing high school.
The teen pregnancy rate had decreased by the maximum of about 55 percent. Most teen birth rates had also gone down about 64 percent, but yet teen pregnancies and birth rate for teenagers ages 15-19 in the U.S still remains one of the 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 don’t use any type of protection has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year, 84 percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned.