The Issue Of Teen Pregnancy

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

Many studies show that MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” led to fewer teen births. It is thought to be that when teens tune into the show, they learn to practice safer sex. “16 and Pregnant” was named one of the best ways to campaign about the issue of teen pregnancy. The show was a way to attack the issue of teen pregnancy head on. Comparing to all fully developed countries, the U.S, has the highest rates of teen pregnancy. This was seen as a major problem to many that was aware of the problem. Even though the number of teen pregnancies was high, there was nothing really being done to expose the harsh reality of being a teen mom. Lauren Dolgen, President of MTV’s series development, felt as if the situation needed to be addressed. Her goal was to give teen moms out there a chance to have a voice and to tell their stories.

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.

For many years teen pregnancy has been a national social problem. Views have changed over the years as society has started to adapt to the thought of teen pregnancy. “Growing evidence suggests that pre-existing academic and economic hardships play a role in the continuing struggles of teen mothers. While 85% of young women who delay having their first child until at least twenty or twenty – one obtain a high school diploma or GED, only 63% of mothers who give birth by age seventeen do so” (Crosson- Tower p255)

Teenage birth rates, defined as live births per one thousand 15-19-year-old US females, declined by 10% from 2012 to 2013 from 29.4 to 26.5. In fact, the birth rate has been on a steady decline over the past 20 years, from 61.8 in 1991 to 26.5 in 2013. Teenage pregnancy represents both a health and social inequality in our society. Specifically, teenage childbearing is a public health issue because teenage mothers are more likely to experience negative social outcomes such as dropping out of school. This is a self-reinforcing cycle, as children of teenage mothers face higher chances of poor academic achievement as well as getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant in their teenage years (CDC). Although the overall rates of teenage pregnancy have dropped, ultimately, the variations in the rates reflect the intersecting disparities regarding race and ethnicity, income inequality, geography, and environmental factors, which in turn affect access to medical care, education, and resources.

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.”).

She came out and we all were waiting to see if she was pregnant or it was a scare. After a little bit she went and checked them and all of them said she was pregnant. My sister yelled for my mom crying and as soon as my mom heard her she knew that she was pregnant. We were all happy for her but also a little scared my sister has never been pregnant and really didn't know what was to come. After we had found out my sister's boyfriend proposed as she came out of the bathroom and before that she had stopped crying, but after he ghot down on one knee a face full of tears is the only thing you could

Teenage moms that are still in high school get pregnant at a young age, and are not able to support themselves or their child. There were just under a quarter million pregnancies in women ages fifteen to nineteen in 2014. About eighty-five percent of these pregnancies are unplanned, which in any population can increase the risk for problems. The biggest risk for teen mothers is delaying prenatal care or worse, about seven percent received no care at all. According to CDC, "In 2014, almost 250,000 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, 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".

Teen pregnancy in the United States is a continuing outbreak. We all may not realize that we are all affected by teenage pregnancy it is not just the girl giving birth. Teen pregnancy is not something that is just shunned upon in the US but something that affects our taxes too. We all sit back and let early pregnancy continue and do nothing to put a stop to it because we are all unsure of why it is happening. Some may argue that Title X is something that should be demolished. Is it because we as society are unsure of what Title X does? It is now that we learn what our government tries to provide us to keep the rate of teen pregnancy down. The United States is one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy worldwide. Today is where our opinions

For decades teen pregnancy has been a social problem in our society. According to Paschal, Wodarski and Feit (2006), “Nearly one million teen pregnancies between the ages of 15 and 19 take place each year in the United States. A majority of the available research is focused on the teen mother.” (p.106). Even though we have seen a decrease over the past decade; teen pregnancy continues to be an issue of concern with a higher number of pregnancies seen in the African American community. The United States reports a greater number of teen pregnancies compared to other countries. In recent years, the United States has had the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy of any of the world’s developed nations (Santelli, Lindberg, Finer, and Singh, 2007).

Teen pregnancy rates sky rocket every year. 560,000 teenage girls give birth each year. One sixth of all United States births are to teenage girls. Teen pregnancy rates are soaring and many teenage girls are impacted negatively because they are unable to fulfill the many responsibilities such as education and financial needs. Something needs to be done to decrease the teen pregnancy rates.

Teenage Pregnancy is society 's biggest problem, there are so many ways to prevent it, also many advices from people and many decisions a teen parent must make in life. It is today 's biggest issue because it affects teen parent 's future in many results. The three most important things that it affects is education, financial problems, and being a teenage parent. Those three important things are key to each other in order to succeed in life. Teenage Parents are most likely to struggle with these issues and the child will grow up with many different kinds of problems in their life. Most of that will cause poverty and types of drugs too in their future.

One may ask, is teenage pregnancy on the rise? Luckily, it isn’t. Just in 2013, “there were 26.6 births for every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19, or 274,641 babies born to females in this age group” (“Teen Births”). On top of that, nearly eighty-nine percent of those births were outside of marriage (“Teen Births”). The 2013 teen birth rate has actually dropped ten percent compared to 2012’s birth rate. Back in 1991, the teenage birth rate was as high as 61.8 births for every 1,000 adolescent females (“Teen Births”). These numbers may come to a surprise to some, but what does not come to a surprise, is that the United States is still the leading country in teen birth rates compared to other developed countries.

Like Amy and Loeber (2009), when it comes to the ecological paradigm of teenage pregnancy, Corcoran, Franklin, and Bennett (2000) also believe one’s socioeconomic status is a huge factor that contributes to this problem. A person’s socioeconomic status a lot of times determines “education, expanded family size, single-parent household structure, and lessened resources in terms of employment and income.” These three authors claim that educational performance and goals “dictate the potential costs of child bearing at a young age.” Their studies have also shown that teenage girls’ relationships with the school setting and poorer performance in school serve a greater risk for adolescent pregnancy.

Telling my family about the pregnancy was going to be one of the most petrifying things I’d ever had to do. I honestly know how to know to tell them or who I was going to tell first, I was nervous about what the outcome would be. Telling my child’s father was first though. Moreover, me and my family finding out the news, he had been in a juvenile detention center. When we would be on the phone I would