Teen Pregnancy

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:

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.

Although popular opinion sometimes indicates otherwise, according to a statistical analysis from the US Department of Health and Services (2014), teen pregnancy rates have been steadily declining for the past twenty years. In America, most teenagers are not yet fully independent

This positive trend is evidence that some of the outreach efforts to which we've committed ourselves as a public health community are working. However, these improvements should not undermine the still considerable task before this same community. Specifically, we have a responsibility to hone our efforts at identifying, understanding and reaching the populations that are most vulnerable as well as helping to reduce the adverse consequences that accompany this vulnerability. The purpose of the present epidemiology is to further the collective understanding of teen pregnancy as a current public health issue.

In fact, a article called Teen Pregnancy In The U.S stated that in 2004, a total of 249,078 babies were born to women between the aged of 14-19 years. The rate of unwanted child birth is very high. Unplanned pregnancy can lead to poverty and joblessness. The majority of teen girls rather get an abortion then to tell their parents they are pregnant. Birth control should be available

When a female becomes pregnant during her teenage years, it can have a lasting effect on the rest of her life. The Tennessee Department of Health states that when an adolescent becomes pregnant, she is "more likely to drop out of school, remain unmarried, and live in poverty" compared to someone who waits to have a child later in life (www.tn.gov). Currently, the teen pregnancy rate is declining in Tennessee. It went from a whopping 53.8 in 2008 down to 33.0 in 2014 (www.tn.gov). However, the teen pregnancy rate for Tennessee is still higher than the national average of 24.2. Stanhope and Lancaster state that decreased teen pregnancy is due from having less sexual activity and using contraception. Teen pregnancies still have an enormous impact on communities around the United States even though the pregnancy rate for teens is at its lowest since 1976 (Stanhope & Lancaster p.415). Prevention of teen pregnancy is the ultimate goal. With the proper education and resources, I believe teen pregnancy will continue to decline in the future.

Cases that involve teenage pregnancy are often complicated and affect a large network of people. The case involving Katharine Westley is a case of teen pregnancy. Katharine is a 17 year old high school student who contacted the Family and Children’s Services: Unmarried Parents Services. Recently, Katharine discovered that she and her boyfriend of six months, James Koslik (age 19), are expecting a child. The parents of both Katharine and James have stated that they have certain expectations for their children. They are asserting their beliefs and moral onto their children. For instance, they think that the two should get married, get jobs, and raise the child. The parents even offered to help Katharine and James “get off to a

Being a teen and pregnant isn’t easy now on. Got pregnant unexpectedly at a young age. Still in high school and not working when she got pregnant. A year had pass. A man that she need to call a father didn’t give her enough support and kicking her out of the house after knowing that she was pregnant. Damn that father doesn’t have a heart if he deserve to be call a dad. In the other hand, the ex-boyfriend parents was also a pain in the butt for her, the baby and the baby’s daddy. Her father and the parents of the baby’s daddy thought that the first option to take was abortion. They wanted her to abort the baby because she was too young and didn’t have a financial support to raise the baby. There was nothing more isolating that being pregnant at a young age in a society that everywhere is judgment and the first option that comes to their mind is abortion.

Decreasing teen pregnancy has been a constant battle for the United States in the past few years. America has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the western part of the world despite not being the leader in sexually active teenagers. The main problem is that here in the United States we do not educate our children enough on having safe sex. Our children end up learning on their own and eventually end up having a child from the lack of knowledge they have. They also take away from their own lives, because a child raising a child is a big task for anyone to take on.

How many pregnant teens have there been? Over the years more girls are becoming teen moms. In Oklahoma teen pregnancy has become a problem. Recently Oklahoma has had a pregnancy rate of 47.5% (Tulsa World). Not only is it an issue in Oklahoma but an issue in the United States as a whole. The lack of awareness and how to prevent pregnancy is a reason to blame for the increasing numbers. The more we don’t make people aware of the increasing teen pregnancy rate and how to prevent then the numbers will continue to rise into an astonishing amount. Helping teens know of the different ways to prevent pregnancy can make an enormous difference in teen pregnancy. The issues that have an effect on teen pregnancy rates have been to the use of

There are many reasons why we need to decrease teen pregnancy rates. The first of which is the economic costs. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) “In 2010, teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for at least $9.4 billion in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers” (Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy, paragraph 9).

The numbers of teenage pregnancy are very high but when you think about the numbers most could have been prevented with the use of protection. Some people may not afford condoms but if you cannot afford a condom you cannot afford a baby. Children from homes ran by teenage mothers go through a hard time in life. Teenage mothers have no time for other things, because they are busy taking care of their baby. Most teen mothers end up dropping out of high school, because they do not have time for school anymore.

Recently, an adult from my community posted a status on Facebook that read, “I just saw a post, where grown folks, some of them my friends, are congratulating a 15 year old for being pregnant” (Facebook). The post became so controversial between adults. Some individuals posted with feelings of disappointment, while some posted with feelings of empathy because they could relate to being pregnant as a teenager.

"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.

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.