Teenage pregnancy, problem or not?

by Marissa Bilancieri

Since 2004 the number of teenage pregnancy was at 415,408 and the United States still has the highest rating of teen pregnancy.

People have questioned that the United States has the highest ratings of teen pregnancy, but then again it goes back to the fact that students are learning about sex at an early age, but not necessarily learning about contraception such as birth control or condoms. Pregnancyteenhelp.org says that girls who get pregnant at a young age are less likely to finish high school or have their future plans get ruined because they were not careful to what they were doing. The website also said that when a baby is born to a teen mom is it more likely that they have a low birth weight or they are at a higher risk of birth defect.

            In the United States, just under 1/3 of all girls will get pregnant while in their teens, and every year 750,000 girls get pregnant. Nevada has the highest ratings of 113 girls out of 1,000 and North Dakota has the lowest at 42 out of 1,000. Most parents even know that their child is sexually active until they tell them that they are pregnant. Around 80% of teen pregnancies are unplanned or unintended. Most babies are born into families that will struggle to take care of them, and will most of the time end up in poverty.

            Even though the pregnancies are unintended young girls still refuse to give up their freedom as hanging out with friends and going to parties. And most girls will still smoke and drink while pregnant. Thirteen percent of teen mom in the US will have another baby within the next two years. According to womenshealthchannel.com teen pregnancy had declined steadily from 1991 to 2005. It went from 60 out of 1,000 to 40.5 out of 1,000. But then in 2006 and 2007 it rose again to more than 42 girls out of 1,000.

            Young girls who engage in sexual activities will have sex for the first time with someone who is between one to three years older than they are, but they do it with someone who they are dating, say a boyfriend. But the younger the girl is, the more likely it is involuntary. Unfortunately, 70% percent of teen girls whose parents do not know they are having sex say that they would not use condoms or birth control. But 90% of girls who do not use condoms get pregnant with-in a year.

Twenty one states allow teen girls to get birth control without the parents’ knowledge, although 82% of teen pregnancies are unplanned, and 29% of girls will end in abortion. The girls that have sex at a younger age are more prone to a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) because they don’t use condoms. Twenty five percent of the United States population is made up of the sexually active teens and that makes the STD rate higher than it should be.

            On the other hand, young girls who plan to get pregnant do it because they feel like they are grown up enough to have a baby. What they don’t realize is what comes with the responsibility. This child that you are bringing into the world is now in charge of you, you answer to them.

Teen pregnancy is 100% preventable. Parents should know that when it comes to teaching their children about pregnancy, teach your children the importance of waiting till they are married to have children. Tell your children about the importance of contraception. The best thing a parent can do once they find out their child is pregnant is to not get angry because to just makes the teen more nervous. It is going to be hard and making the decision to keep the baby, have an abortion or give the baby up for adoption is not easy, so they need more support.