A lot of teenagers do not plan to get pregnant, but many do. There is a great amount of teenagers that carry extra health risks for themselves and the baby. Sometimes these teens will not get the prenatal care that they need to get and will continue to abuse their body by doing drugs or drinking alcohol not knowing that they are pregnant.
Data supporting teen pregnancy as a social issue says that most teens that are in areas that have higher rates of poverty, low education levels and other " childhood outcomes" have a greater risk of becoming a statistic of teenage pregancy.
Not only do these teenagers have minimal income, they also do not have the proper education required to get a good job to provide for themselves and their child. In turn they end up going on welfare and in some cases, they stay on welfare all of their lives. In the United States, the annual cost of teen pregnancies from lost tax revenues, public assistance, child health care, foster care, and involvement with the criminal justice system is estimated to be about $7 billion.
I think that in order to effectively lower the birth rate of teens having babies, they need to be better educated about having sex and the consequences that come from it. As I said before parents need to get more involved with their children’s lives and inform them that having a baby at an early age is not something that should be taken very lightly.
I can speak from experience myself of going through teenage pregnancy, because I became pregnant at 18 years old with my daughter who is now 4. I didn’t become one of the unlucky ones who had to go on welfare and receive help because I was already finished with high school and working at a law firm as a file clerk. I also had the support of my family and my child’s father whom I am married to now.
We as a society need to get more involved and become aware of the staggering rise of teens having babies. We cannot turn our back on these children that need us. I am trying to help bring awareness to this growing epidemic that is occurring all over the world.
i myself am a teenage mother, and at that time i felt like it was the biggest mistake of my life. but now that i have my beautiful 7 year old son, nothing else matters more to me than him. even though his father did leave way before he was born, i never let that get in my way of making sure he was cared for.
ReplyDeleteWhen they become pregnant their life is destroyed' This is untrue. Pregnant teenagers need to know that motherhood does not mean the end of their life, but can actually be used as a positive thing to turn their life around. These girls have a lifetime of hope and oppertunities in front of them. Such comments and attitudes only serve to heighten the problems these girls face.
ReplyDelete