Teenage Pregnancy: A Growing Epidemic

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.

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

Based on the readily available images broadcast from films, MTV and other mass media, one might assume that the teen pregnancy epidemic is on the rise. In one respect, this health risk condition has rarely been more culturally visible than it is right now. However, it does bear noting that teen pregnancy has actually been on the decline in the United States over the last two decades. According to the source provided by Sheets (2012), "from 1990 to 2008, the teen pregnancy rate decreased 42 percent (from 117 to 68 pregnancies per 1,000 teen girls)."

Society in general is currently addressing the social problem of teen pregnancy in several ways. One of the most important is an increase in parent’s willingness to not only bring the issue up and discuss it with their children, but also allowing educators to address the issue in schools.

Teen pregnancy and the risk of it remains a serious issue for today’s adolescents. In 2015, there were 229,715 babies born to women from the ages of 15 to 19 (Martin). Accidental teen pregnancies could be prevented if more comprehensive sex education was taught at school and birth control was more accessible and affordable for teens. Guttmacher Institute lead a study on the issue of birth control and teens. The results showed that an 8% increase in use of contraceptives related to a 42% drop in pregnant teenagers over the course of seven years (Spadafino). Even though birth control has been proven to lower the risk of unwanted pregnancies, our society still views it as a taboo topic.

In recent years, the rate of teen pregnancies in America has increased dramatically. Approximately 750,000 teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant every year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Within this number, 82% of the pregnancies are unplanned. The psychological effects of these pregnancies can be severe.

Teen pregnancies is a major problem in the United States. Three in ten teens will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.Also about 32.8 percent of freshman, 43.8 percent of sophomores, 55.5 percent of juniors and 64.45 percent of seniors in high school are sexually active. Teen pregnancy is a result of many causes.

First of all, if teenagers were educated about and had access to contraceptive methods, they would be more willing to put the methods into use. Few sexually active teenagers are responsible with birth control and the majority of teen pregnancies are due to a lack of contraception used before or during intercourse. Though United States does not face the same population pressures as developing regions, accidental pregnancies are common as “[they] account for roughly half of all annual births in the United States. (Navarro).” There is a myriad of contraceptives available that would benefit teenagers, most commonly external protection devices and oral medications. StayTeen.org states that “nearly 3 in 10 teen girls in the US will get pregnant at least once before age 20, more than 700,000 teen pregnancies each year” (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy). These pregnancies are due to lack of education about contraceptive methods and the

"Over one million teenage girls become pregnant each year. In the next 24 hours, about 3,312 girls will become pregnant. In addition, 43% of all adolescents become pregnant before the age of 20. These are incredible statistics when you consider that there are only 31 million females. The United States has the highest adolescent pregnancy rate in the developed world. As statistics show one in nine women between the ages of 15 through 19 become pregnant each year. Also, every 26 seconds a teenage girl becomes pregnant and every 56 seconds a child of a teenage mother is born."

Teenagers should not get pregnant do to the pregnancy affecting both the child and the mother , “ 2007, the pregnancy rate in Ontario for women aged 15-19 was 25.7 percent of 1,000. Based on 36 public health units in Ontario, the highest rate was 60.8, and the lowest rate was 9.5 percent of 1,000 women aged 15-19”

There are not less teenage pregnancies than in the 1970s, most likely because of improvements in availability of contraception, sexual education and abortion. In 1971, teenage pregnancy was 55.5 births to 1000 teens, whereas, now, the pregnancy rate is 15.6 births to 1000 teens. 3 in 10 teenagers will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20, 25% of teen mums have a second child within 24 months of their first.

Teen pregnancy is a large concern throughout the world. This is especially true in the United States (US). In the U.S. teenage pregnancy affects 750,000 girls annually. (Silvers, 2014) According to Kate Blackman, 1 in 4 teens get pregnant before the age of twenty and 1 in 5 teen moms will have a second child by the age of twenty. (2015) Social media shows many aspects about teenage pregnancy and parenthood. Because of this many young adults get to see the reality behind this subject. Even though on the surface of a magazine cover or on the internet it may seem like teenage pregnancy is glamorized in social media, this is not the case. There are many ways that the media truly shows the struggles of being a teen mother. Since magazines are meant to entertain they will not show this but almost all other social media areas will. This helps make a statement about it. Social media helps to deglamorize and prevent teenage pregnancy.

“Adolescent pregnancy occurs in all societies, with considerable variation in magnitude and consequences among different countries and regions.” Teenage pregnancy is certainly not unheard of, all nations across the globe have

Teen pregnancy is prevalent in America today, with approximately one million teenagers getting impregnated each year (Planned Parenthood-Helping Young). As of 1995, Texas had the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in America (Teen Pregnancy-State). Some teens are risking a pregnancy because of peer pressure. One 16-year-old virgin explains, "It's hard to abstain when it seems like everyone but you is having sex,"(Teen Pregnancy-Voices). Six out of 10 sexually active girls are having intercourse because their boyfriends want them to (Teen Pregnancy-Facts & Stats).

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.