Teen Pregnancy

The term “Teen Pregnancy” was rarely heard or talked about previous to the mid 70’s and Now is consider an epidemic globally. Teen pregnancy refers to women between 13 and 19 years of age, who have not yet reached childbearing age and are still physically and mentally undeveloped to have children. During the early 70’s and middle 80’s teen pregnancies rates reached a peak to uncontrollable numbers. But this social issue has its origins in the 1950’s. Several significant social changes during the late 50s and early 60s such as the “Women’s Rights Movement”, the creation of the anti-conceptive pill , “The Gay liberation movement” of the late 1960s among others, brought along, long-lasting effects that still affect the current American

There is no question that teen pregnancy is a worldwide issue in today’s society. Every year thousands of young, unprepared teenage girls face the decision whether to become a mother or to give their baby up for adoption for a better life. Some mothers choose to give their baby up because they feel as if they could not give the baby what is needed to have a good life. If you have ever heard of the show “16 and Pregnant” both sides of the situation have happened. Some girls on the show choose to be a mother and others choose to give their baby up for adoption, because they feel it is what is best for their child. The big question is

Based on the readily available images broadcast from films, MTV and other mass media, one might assume that the teen pregnancy epidemic is on the rise. In one respect, this health risk condition has rarely been more culturally visible than it is right now. However, it does bear noting that teen pregnancy has actually been on the decline in the United States over the last two decades. According to the source provided by Sheets (2012), "from 1990 to 2008, the teen pregnancy rate decreased 42 percent (from 117 to 68 pregnancies per 1,000 teen girls)."

One of the main reasons for high rates of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is the continuation of ineffective abstinence based education (Bell, 2009) and not allowing teenagers to make abortion related decisions. In the U.S. Eighty two percent of the teenage pregnancy is unintended and 37 % of total unintended pregnancies result in abortion. Teenagers choose to abort babies because of shame, staying focused on career, unstable financial status to support babies and not getting emotional and economic support from parents. Twenty two percent of pregnant teenagers choose not to tell their parents (ACLU, 2001).

Teen pregnancy has become a problem over the past decade. This issue can be looked at using sociological imagination. C. Write Mills explaing the idea of sociological imagination as the ability to see the connection between personal experiences and larger society. On a personal level, teens with children experience many difficulties juggling the responsibilities of parenting, school, work, and everything else. The teenage years can be very complicated, but adding a child to the mix can really impact young men and women’s relationships, emotions, and future. Looking at this problem on a public level, society has a huge role in preventing teen pregnancies. Also, the media plays a large role in influencing teenagers to engage in sexual activities.Many

"Teen pregnancy in the United States: In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years old, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another record for U.S. teens and a drop of 8% from 2014. Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist (cdc.gov)." As teenagers (in the United States), we are peer pressured or tempted to try new things. Some teens tend to try out drugs, and alcohol. However, some are having unprotected sex in which, is leads to having babies. This is called, teenage pregnancy. This has caused the United States to create records based off of the statistics and facts given from, researchers across the United States. In order to help prevent teenage pregnancy in the United States, teenagers must understand why, having a baby now isn’t such a smart move on their part.

Teen pregnancy is an issue in United States, it is one issue that should wait until teens are married and know what they are doing with their lives. This issue came about in the early in the 1950’s – 1960’s. Teen pregnancy is a teenage girl between the ages 13-19 (girls who haven’t reached adulthood) having unwanted or wanted babies. Janet Bode once stated in her book, “Emotions run everywhere, scared, sad, disappointment and preparation for what is about to happen” (Bode 51). If we do not act now, teen pregnancy will be out the roof. Teen pregnancy needs a stop put to it no matter what, teens are still children themselves and they are still learning how to take care of themselves:

In the early 90’s, studies have shown that teen pregnancies occur on a regularly basis and has been severely increasing (Newsweek: Birth rates in U.S, 1991-96). As a result, this brings out a wrong impression of women to society.

While many people are inclined to express indifference regarding this concept, teen pregnancy is one of the most controversial topics in the contemporary society. This experience can be devastating for some individuals, as the fact that they are raw makes it difficult for them to effectively deal with the problem. Society becomes more stressing and most teens who become pregnant come to express feelings related to shame and fear. The fact that these individuals are hesitant about letting their parents know that they are pregnant contributes to their problems and finding help sometimes becomes an impossible mission. Lack of life experience materializes into a more severe type of stress, endangering both the mother and the child.

The United States’ of America boasts the highest teen birth rate of any industrialized nation. The teen birthrate in the U.S. is so high that it almost doubles the United Kingdom’s birth rate and is fifteen times greater than the birth rate of Japan (Garth 115). Lakita Garth is a highly reputed speaker on many different issues and is one of the leading abstinence advocates in the United States. Garth explains how on her many visits with pregnant teenagers, she learned that none of the teens blamed their pregnancy on their lack of information of contraception. Instead, the girls Garth met with lamented that they were never taught how to live an abstinent lifestyle (115). Only fourteen percent of adolescents are not using contraceptives because of a lack of knowledge or a lack of access to birth control (Garth 115). For

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a literature review of teen pregnancy and public perception. The chapter will begin by examining the decrease of teen pregnancy in America. It will transition to understanding the emotional effects on teen mothers and depict how a pregnant teen’s life could be altered. It will conclude by discussing how the topic of teen pregnancy has caused the President of the United States to take a closer look. This chapter will end with a summary of my research findings.

In the United States, teenagers face problems everyday from peers, parents, and their environment. He or she is heavily influenced by their feelings. Feelings are overwhelming, confusing, and also conflicting. If he or she is influenced by their friends, then most likely experiments will occur. The teenager can agree or disagree with the situations and dilemmas. However their choice is influence by what the popular crowd is saying and doing. It is a battle of fitting in or being different. The popular crowd can be involved in two main options, sex and drugs. The results of sex without protection and knowledge is teen pregnancy and possible a sexual transmitted disease. Teen pregnancy is a constant never ending problem in this country. The main idea of this paper is to provide statistics about teen pregnancy, what are the social conditions of teen pregnancy, and find a relationship between

Why is teen pregnancy becoming another topic individuals don't talk about? More and more teens everyday are popping out babies left and right. In the United States teens have the most pregnancy and STD’s. Many advisors, and adults in the United States feel as if the problem can't be

As many people know, the world is far from perfect. Every country has their share of problems that plague the citizens. There is crime and violence everywhere, although it may not always be reported. The United States is no exception to this. They are number one for many issues. Among these is the U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rates. The causes of teen pregnancy in the United States today include substance abuse; broken homes; changes in society; and poor sexual education.

Teen pregnancy and resulting births present/cause many (related to social pressure, how people act toward each other, etc.) challenges, and as a result require the total (of everything or everyone) efforts of many to provide solutions. Teen pregnancy has been thought about/believed a "social ill" for centuries in the United States and has always challenged moral and (honest and right) thoughts and feelings. The money-based costs of teens giving birth are significant, and there are many forcing/forceful/interesting reasons to reduce the teen pregnancy. Research shows that reducing the number of births to teens and increasing the age at which a women gives birth yields significant cost savings for the (government-run services and their employees). Efforts to reduce teen pregnancy are mainly focused on prevention and sex education is a large part of the effort. Twenty-first century sex education programs focus on two main (success plans/ways of reaching goals), they are: (not doing something) only education and (not doing something) plus education. (not doing something) only teaches that stopping from sexual activity is the only truly effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy. (not doing something) plus education focuses on delaying the beginning of sexual activity and recommends the use of contraception if a teen is sexually active. The success of (not doing something) only education has been (stated that something is much bigger, worse, etc., than it really is) according