The Teenage Epidemic Of Texas

“Texas’s new strict legislation is already forcing women to leave the state in order to receive medical services in neighboring states more sympathetic to their desires to obtain an abortion (Hagle).” This is causing many problems for expectant mothers, especially those who have preexisting genetic medical conditions. Many time a mother may have some type of illness that can be given to a fetus during pregnancy. Sometimes these issues are seen during a routine ultrasound and sometimes there are not noticed until the time of birth. This is causing woman who live in the state of Texas to have to cross state lines when they find out something is wrong with their baby and choose to terminate the pregnancy.

There is presently much controversy regarding teen pregnancy, considering that many countries in the developed world experience a rise in adolescent pregnancies in spite of the fact that effective programs are installed in these areas. Teen pregnancy has been a major issue in Los Angeles in the recent years, but the fact that state authorities have been actively involved in combating the problem has generated positive results. It is probable that the struggle for abstinence and the practice of safe sex have become less important for high school students in Los Angeles in the last few years, taking into account that teen pregnancy rates have gone up significantly.

Despite the fact, that our teen pregnancies rates have declined over different parts of the United States, there remains a steady rate among Mississippi’s teens. Mississippi has one of the highest rates in the United States and has failed to implement an effective plan that will confront and eliminate teen pregnancies. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. HHS), “when compared with children born to older parents, children born to teen mothers are more likely to have poorer educational, behavioral, and health consequences throughout their lifespan” (Negative Impacts of Teen Childbearing, 2016). Therefore, this paper will outline our nation’s teen pregnancy history, but most importantly, evaluate teen pregnancy in Mississippi, the implementation of our current teen pregnancy plan and conclude an outlining of a social policy plan that could possibly decline numbers and other social issues as well.

Since 1970, Title X, a Family Planning program, has served the community by providing federal grants dedicated solely to meeting the contraceptive needs of teenagers (Reddy, 2002), individuals with limited English proficiency and patients with complex medical and personal issues (Title X Family Planning, n.d.). The Federal grants provided by the Title X Family Planning program, support services such as cancer screening and sexually transmitted

HB90, a bill in support of lowering the age requirement to access services from Texas Women’s Health Program from 18 to 15 years of age did not receive a hearing during the 84th Legislative Session. Texas Women’s Health is a state supported healthcare providing free reproductive health services and exams to women living below the poverty level. Services include health screenings such as Pap smears, breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment; counseling for family

Teen pregnancy has always been an issue and even with the decrease in the last few years New Mexico continues to be the highest ranked state (The office of adolescent health). Teen pregnancy is an issue because the proper information is not being given to sexually active teens. Not only can teens become pregnant from being sexually active but they can get sexually transmitted diseases as well. Teens between the ages of 15 to 19 are not informed of the emotional and physical support needed if they become pregnant. Teens that become pregnant at a young age generally don’t finish high school making it even harder to support themselves and their new responsibilities of being a parent. There are many resources available to teens such as the teen

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of restrictive contraceptive legislation on unintended teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy has declined steadily over the past 40 years, however in the past decade the rate of pregnancy among adolescents is rising. Restrictive contraceptive legislation such as abstinence only education, mandatory waiting periods, parental notification laws, or Medicaid funding restrictions could all play a part in the increase of pregnancy in teenagers. One study found funding for abstinence-only education programs were linked to increased birth rates among black and white adolescents (Yang & Gaydos, 2010). Another study found restrictive contraceptive legislation resulted in higher unintended pregnancy rates among adolescents. The implication of this review is state and federal policies should focus on improving education regarding contraception use and forming policies which improve access to abortion.

The first article came from the Dallas Observer and is titled, “Here’s How to Fix Texas’ Sky-High Teen Pregnancy Rate” (http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/heres-how-to-fix-texas-sky-high-teen-pregnancy-rate-7626551). The author of the article, Eric Nicholson, is extremely critical of Texas’ sexual education program and voices his criticism with heavy use of sarcasm. This September 28, 2015 article was prompted by Texas’ recent decision to provide low-income teenagers with access to free birth control. The author praises the decision and is hopeful it will help reduce Texas’ high birthrate which “puts Texas in the company of such bastions of progressive public-health policy as Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma.” Mr. Nicholson also notes that five Dallas ZIP codes recently received a loan from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help combat teen pregnancy. While he is optimistic that these changes will reduce the teen pregnancy rate, he also points out that “expanding access to contraception and improving education … are hardly groundbreaking techniques in the fight against unintended pregnancy.” For Mr. Nicholson, these are nothing but first steps which should have been taken long ago. He then proceeds to discuss five ways in which Texas can do even more to combat the high teen pregnancy rates in Texas.

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

Texas has many conflicts with the government rules and regulations regarding environmental factors, social concept, public safety, health education, immigration, pregnancy rates, foreign trade between other countries, etc. And, Teen Pregnancy has been an issue for a long time starting from 1991 to till today all over the United States. From the article, “The birth rate for US teenagers 15-19 years has reached a historic low in 2009 (39.1 per 1,000) and yet remains one of the highest teen birth rates among industrialized nations” (Wingo, 1780). Out of all 50 states, Texas has the nation’s highest repeat teen pregnancy rate, and Dallas has been considered as the highest cities for increasing the average rate. Many factors increased teen pregnancy crisis in Texas- even before Trump started cutting down funding. One major question that has been arising among people as the Trump became the president is, why and how does the Trump administration cutting down millions of grants for teen pregnancy prevention programs across the nation. It is because, from the research, A Dallas Program focusing on the reducing teen pregnancies in high-risk ZIP codes has a high chance of losing most of its funding due to recent federal cuts. Texas leaders here recognize why a teen pregnancy has been a serious problem and found that teen pregnancy is because of poverty. But the problem is even the federal grants have been provided for sex education to parents and students, teen girls who live in high

It wasn’t until the 1980’s Texas started to notice the rising amount of teen pregnancies. In 1981 under the Regan Administration, the federal government began to fund program called an Adolescent Family Life Act promoting “chastity” and “self- discipline.” Soon after it took the name abstinence only education and was given $50 million a year in federal funding. Federal funds increased at the fastest rate during the Bush admiration. From 1996 to 2006 the Welfare Law and Marriage and Healthy Family Development Initiative were introduced and over $1.5 billion dollars from taxpayers was used towards abstinence only programs (State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the, 2010). It was obvious this

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services 8,715 teenagers 19 years old or less were impregnated in 2013. 2,385 of these pregnancies were contributed by teens ranging in ages 15 through 17 years old, in which 1,985 resulted in live births. Meaning, only 400 out of 2,385 of our little sisters, daughters, nieces, and even best friends weren’t able to successfully bring a child into our world. Teen pregnancy is a growing occurrence in the U.S., through educating and making sure the public has what it needs to prevent teen parenthood we can improve the state of Arizona, as well as do our part for the country. Teen pregnancy is a vicious cycle that negatively impacts both the economy and society around it.

Teen pregnancy in the United States is still an epidemic. The number of babies delivered by teen pregnancies in 2014 was 249,078. That is 24% per 1,000 women ages 15-19. This number has declined 57% since 1991 but is still an issue in United States today. Not only are these teenagers uneducated they are also not financially prepared to take on the task of raising a child. Teen pregnancy is usually unplanned and unexpected and cost approximately $28 billion a year in tax dollars, per The Office of Adolescent Health. Let us take a deeper look at some of the contributors to teen pregnancy and how it affects communities.

Teen pregnancy is an epidemic that is destroying the youthfulness of my generation. It does not only separate teenagers from their peers, but it plays a major role in their education and their future. According to SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, “In South Carolina: 15 teens (age 15-19) give birth every day, 5,532 teens (age 15-19) gave birth in 2012, 26% of SC teens were already teen parents, 73% of all teen births occurred among 18-19 year olds in 2012, 17% of teen pregnancies reported in 2012 ended in abortion, and 57% of high school students report they have had sex"(Duffey). To combat this situation, we must examine ourselves and our integrity. As a generation, we must encourage each other to wait until marriage, stability, or to wait when our independence has been declared.

Every year the rates of teen pregnancy have been out the roof. Three in ten teenage girls are pregnant before the age of 20, which is 750 thousand pregnancies each year (Facts