This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate of all the developed countries. Approximately one million teenage girls get pregnant every year!
According to information collected by plannedparenthood.org, some reasons for the lower rates of teenage childbearing in other countries include:
- Mandatory, medically accurate sexuality education programs that provide comprehensive information and encourage teens to make responsible choices.
- Easy access to contraception and other forms of reproductive health care, including abortion.
- Social acceptance of adolescent sexual expression as normal and healthy.
- Straightforward public health media campaigns.
- Government support for the right of teens to accurate information and confidential services (Berne & Huberman, 1999).
The teenage years should be spent preparing for the adult world, when a teen gets pregnant the time to prepare is skipped and they are forced to grow up too quickly. In recent years the teen pregnancy rate has actually declined due to better methods of contraceptives and decreased sexual activity among teens. However the rates still remain high and it is important to raise awareness on this very important issue.
In teen pregnancy there are increased health risks to the baby and mother. The babies of teenage mothers are at risk for low birth-weight; this makes things like bleeding in the brain, underdeveloped organs and respiratory and intestinal problems more likely because the mother is less likely to gain enough weight during the pregnancy. Since many teenage mothers try to hide their pregnancy for as long as possible they are less likely to seek regular prenatal care. According to the American Medical Association, babies born to women who do not have regular prenatal care are 4 times more likely to die before the age of 1 year. Because teenage mothers may be unaware of how to take care of their bodies while pregnant they are more likely to have bad eating habits, smoke, drink, or take drugs during the pregnancy, all of which can cause major health problems for the baby.
Adult mothers, who planned and wanted their pregnancies, find raising children difficult, so imagine a teenager whom is not yet a fully mature adult trying to care for a child! Without proper guidance and support the children of teen parents are less likely to receive the proper nutrition, health care and social stimulation, which can result in an underdeveloped intellect and are at a greater risk for abuse and neglect.
Teen pregnancy does not just affect the mother and child; it places a burden on their families, communities and imposes large costs on taxpayers as well. The majority of teen mothers receive some form of public assistance, such as food stamps or housing assistance. Half of all teenage mothers and more than three-quarters of unmarried teen mothers are on welfare within five years of giving birth and society is burdened with an estimated 7 billion dollars a year to teen pregnancy costs!
There are many ways that you can reach out to the community and help prevent teen pregnancy. Talk to your children about sex and how to protect themselves from teen pregnancy and STD’s if they are going to become sexually active. Teenagers who have strong emotional attachments to their parents are less likely to become sexually active at a younger age. Three of four girls and over half of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them to. Help them make a plan to get out of these situations before they are in them. It could be that one talk that stops your child from making a decision that could cause your baby to have a baby.
