Teen Pregnancy : Jamie Knowles

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.

Sex education should be implemented at an early age beginning at the middle school level. A discussion of contraception, the risks of diseases, the risk of becoming an unwed teen parent and the disadvantages of not having an education will help decrease the number of teen pregnancies with future generations. Parents should not feel threatened of having their children learning about sex in class. Parents should feel empowered; it will allow their children opportunities to feel they are able to discuss future topics of sex at home to help promote

In her essay “Sex Ed”, Anna Quindelen, a New York Times Columnist, journalist, and novelist, describes why teens should be taught sexual education by family members and loved ones rather than by teachers (Quindelen 183). In the essay, the author states that girls know the anatomy of a female’s reproductive system, and can tell the beginning and end of the ovarian cycles but can still end up pregnant. Knowledge isn’t always the right way to getting a point across. Desensitizing teens to important information can often be the demise of what we are trying to teach. The author also states that teenagers do not have a tendency to think ahead the future repercussions of sex, they are too focused on what is happening in the heat of the moment that they do not think about pregnancy, or are to uneducated about the subject to know to be cautious. By teaching ones own children there are no misconceptions about what the parent wants them to know, versus what someone else wishes for them to know or to be taught. Teenagers also see virginity

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

First, with young students this subject may be a little uncomfortable to talk about, but without learning about sexuality extensively many students may be unaware of the hazards of unprotected sex. Being open with our children and explaining the natures of sex will help them make the best decisions for themselves without scaring our students by focusing on the dangers. Second, some may say that our sexual education course is fine how it is, but there always room for improvement. A questionnaire was presented to graduates from Ontario Canada. They were asked what they think should be mandatory concerning sexual education in high school. Many agreed that talking about sexual decision making, communication about sex, relationships and more should be mandatory throughout sexual education creating a better understanding of safe sex. (Meaney 112). Why isn’t this in the United States curriculum? Whether teachers or parents like it or not, every teen is curious and full of questions. Being prepared for that is the best solution to protect our youth from sexual transmitted disease and pregnancy. Last, you may know someone who has had a child in their teenage years and question how hard could it be? They could do it, why can’t you? Talking to

However, teens should act responsibly and take issues into their own hands and do the precautions to avoid an unintended pregnancy. Teens know exactly what they are doing when they engage in sexual activities and they know exactly what they are risking; an unintended pregnancy or an STD. They should not expect their parents to be there every second and tell them what not and what to do (pathos). “Teenagers tend to believe that having sex is harmless and that the negative consequences they learn about in school will not happen to them” (“Partner Violence, Teen Pregnancy Linked”). This statement made by Victorious Nelson tells us that the teens do not take this seriously whatsoever. They think “that will not happen to them”, when it can easily can happen to anyone that does not take proper precautions; teenager or not (logos). “Becoming a teenage mom causes chaos and stress in the life of the young woman and her family. Most teenagers do not fully understand what they are getting themselves into when they engage in sexual

(gcapp.org). Three in ten girls in the U.S. become pregnant at least once before age 20; that’s over 750,000 teen pregnancies a year (gcapp.org). By age 18, 70 percent of U.S. females and 62 percent of U.S. males have initiated vaginal sex. (Effective Sex Education). Comprehensive sex education is effective at assisting young people to make healthy decisions about sex and to adopt healthy sexual behaviors. Parents play a big role when it comes to sex education. Speaking to your teen or even child about sex as hard as it may be develops a healthy relationship between parent and child, children are more likely to come to parents about other things such as drugs and alcohol. (aboutkidshealth ). If parents are not talking to there children about sex than they are more likely to get there information from unreliable sources such as there friends and even the

Sex education in the United States is not very comprehensive and none regulated, which means that many American teenagers are without the proper information to make informed decisions about sex and sexual health. Many schools offer just abstinence only education and are unable to explain safe sex procedures, putting children at risk for unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. With the average age of intercourse at fifteen years old (Buehler 2014) and many parents uncomfortable with discussing the topic with their children, it is up to sex education classes in school to properly inform teenagers about their bodies and sex. Then when these teenagers are parents themselves, they will be better prepared to talk to their own children and this will hopefully help the American general public before more informed and more likely to have safe sex.

Most teenagers will have sex no matter the risks. Pregnancies and transmitted diseases are all connected directly to unprotected sex. Teenagers have the highest risk of pregnancy and HIV among all other age groups, statistics being 900,000 teenage girls get pregnant each year. That means 4 out of 10 girls will end up pregnant before the age of 20. Over half of all HIV infections are in people under 20 years old. (“Preventing Teenagers from Getting Contraceptives Unless They Tell a Parent Puts Teens at Risk.” American Civil Liberties Union,

Imagine coming to school one day and seeing 39 students pregnant. That’s the statistical reality of teen pregnancy as an estimated 34 in every 1000 students becomes pregnant between the age of 14-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This statistic does not take into account different educational, social, and racial factors. With widely popular television shows such as, "16 and Pregnant" or "Teen Mom", many teens do not fully comprehend the negatives of engaging in sexual activity, and do not realize the possible outcome. Becoming pregnant as a teen is very detrimental to one's education, in the fact that they may have to leave school, lose friends, and become an outcast

Comprehensive sex education with an emphasis on birth control is a much more effective educational tool to prevent teen pregnancy than abstinence-only education. Fortunately, teen pregnancy rates have fallen dramatically in the past 20 years. “In 2002, the rate of pregnancy was 75.4 for every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19, from 116.9 in 1990 (Teen

Each year, approximately 750,000 teen girls get pregnant with approximately 400,000 births from teens. Pregnancy is caused by unprotected sex. When getting pregnant at a young age, there is a lot of responsibility that comes with it. The mother must take care of herself and her body to keep the baby healthy as well. She has to follow up with doctor appointments, take daily vitamins, lose

Teenagers will still have sex if you tell them no. Simply telling them that they shouldn't have sex until marriage is not going to change their minds. “Policy makers should keep in mind the fact that abstinence education is not something they would have wanted when they were teenagers”(Sex Education 45). Therefore When they were younger, they would have wanted to have access to all of the information. It is hypocritical to give kids limited information about the human body. When schools only teach about abstinence, it doesn't benefit the ones who are having sex. “no form of sex education has been shown to effectively convince teenagers not to have sex”(Boskey). With this said, schools should just teach all of the information, because students will have sex regardless of what adults say. “comprehensive sex education doesn't discourage kids from having sex either. However, it does teach them how to do so more safely”(Boskey). The point of having sex education is to educate teens about sex, so why are public schools not feeding the correct information to them? “2012 Guttmacher Institute report revealed that while nearly 90% of high schools are teaching students about abstinence and STDs, fewer than 60% are providing lessons about contraception methods” (Steinmetz). More high schools need to teach comprehensive sex ed. It is essential to the wellbeing of teenagers across

Other parents believe that you can teach a teenager about sex until there ears turn blue, but if the believes of a religion or a parent then all the sex education will not work. Ubell says that "however, programs that focus on helping teenagers to change their behavior-using role playing, games, and exercises that strengthen social skills-have shown signs of success" (18). The morals of the child needs to be taught before the knowledge of where to go and how to have sex is given to them. A teacher can teach where to go to have safe sex but not if it is right or wrong to have it, that is where being a parent should come in.

First of all, the main reason children have sex prematurely is because they are curious. Students lack knowledge about sex because they haven’t been taught about it, however, when children know the consequences behind their actions and the risks they are taking they less likely to want to have sex. If we take the time to show kids what it is like to take care of a child as a teenager