Every year at school I see pregnant teens, it breaks my heart. I am against teen pregnancy. Having a baby when you haven’t even experienced life is wrong. Many teenagers have children when we can’t even take care of ourselves, achieve your goals, or provide the bet life for them.
Being a teen mom is becoming the new normal, and it should be stopped. The national campaign said “38% of teen girls who have a child before the age of 18 get a high school diploma by age 22. And less than 2% of teen mothers attain a college degree by a thirty” (Perper 1). As teenagers we cannot provide for a child let alone ourselves. We are still babies in the words eyes. We rely on our parents more than anything. Most teen mothers live “below the poverty line” (Perper 1). Most of the teenage mothers drop out of high school and the fathers say”... It has a negative influence on their education attainment as well” (Perper 2). If you drop out of high school or even get a GED you will barely make above minimum wage. In America we already have decreased economic opportunities and without a college degree you can barely find a job. So you won’t be able to provide the best care for a child.
Most teen relationships won’t last. So you will eventually be a single mom struggling to make it by. “Majority of teens aren’t married when pregnant and a paternity test is involved”( Harvard 2). And if you have a child young the father of the baby won’t be able to pay a decent amount of child support, “less than ¼ of teen moms receive child support a year and if they do its less than 2,000” (Perper 3). Having a child as a teen there are many risks that comes with it. Teens have a higher risk of “premature labor and preeclampsia” (Harvard 1). The children of teen mothers also struggle more in school than those of older parents. So you aren’t only affecting your life but you are affecting the child’s life too.
As a teen parent you won’t be able to just go to the mall with your friends or experience college like everyone else. It may cause you to see the child as a burden and not give it the love it needs. “Most children of teen moms become teen mothers too or they are incarnated by the age 18” (Perper 3). We should be making the best of our lives. Touring colleges with friends and looking for prom dresses. Not shopping for cribs and studying for a GED. MTV produced the show “teen mom” and it shows the daily struggle of a teen parent. Most of the girls ended up in rehab or jail. “57% of teens pay more attention when celebrities talk about teen pregnancy” (Candies 1). Celebrities grab our attention more than the everyday teen. Teenage pregnancy is an epidemic that needs to be stopped.
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