Kids Having Kids

Kids Having Kids

While many teens that engage in pre-marital sex never become pregnant, some are not as fortunate. Did you know in the next 24 hours, approximately 3,310 girls will become pregnant. Every year over one million teenage girls become pregnant in the United States. Of these pregnancies only 13 percent are intended. As a result, about a third of these teens abort their pregnancies, another 14 percent lose their pregnancies to miscarriage, and the remaining 52 percent teens bear children. Of the half-a-million teens that give birth annually, 72 percent are unmarried and 75 percent are giving birth for the first time. More than 175,000 of these new moms are age 17 years or younger. America has the largest growing number of teen pregnancies in the world and it's just keeps getting worse. Teen pregnancy is a very common occurrence nowadays, which is very sad and definitely 100 percent preventable. I believe the parents of these teens are partially at fault. Parents need to talk with their children early and often about sex, and be specific. They need to establish rules, curfews, and standards of expected behavior, preferably through an open process of family discussion and respectful communication. They should know what their kids are watching, reading and listening to. The media (television, radio, movies, music videos, magazines, the Internet) is chocked full of material sending the wrong messages. The media does not generally emphasize the responsibilities and risks of sex and I believe that it plays a major role in the high rates of pregnancy among teenagers in the United States today. Furthermore, as a society must work together to empower, educate and encourage these individuals to become intellectual active members of our communities. It is significant to attend to the problem now and not later. We must help young teens in our society rise above what the statistics forecast. We can no longer look the other way when it comes to the youth and the issues that we face today whether it is drugs or alcohol abuse, crime, sexual orientation, sexually transmitted infections or pregnancy. We are one in the community and we have to work together to address these concerns. Teen pregnancy is a traumatic and difficult issue a young person might experience. Having a baby as a teenager makes it much harder for a them to reach their goals in life, such as finishing high school, going on to college, getting a good job, or getting married when they grow up, and it also poses additional challenges to the child as well. These children are far more likely to grow up in poverty, to have more health problems, to suffer from higher rates of abuse and neglect, to fail in school, to become teen mothers or fathers themselves, to commit delinquent acts and adult crimes, and to incur failed adult marriages and other relationships. Being a teenager myself, I have seen 2 friends of mine become a teen mother and father. Their lives have changed drastically, and they struggle emotionally and financially. They did have to drop out of school, but are trying to get their GED, and they were forced to go on welfare to help pay for prenatal care and medical expenses. The United State spends approximately $40 billion each year due to the costs of teen pregnancy. Shocking!! That is a major amount of money to spend on something that is totally preventable with the proper education. Several causes for teen pregnancy is the need for affection, acceptance, and unprotected sex. One may have a poor home life and look for affection from a peer. The simple desire to feel loved by another person may be a cause for an unexpected pregnancy. A teen may also have a low self-esteem and simply be looking for acceptance in the bedroom. In addition, some teens get pregnant for all the wrong reasons. Convinced that they are smart enough and fully capable of handling such a mature task, a considerable amount of girls become pregnant as a secret plan to hold on to their boyfriends. They assume that by giving birth to their boyfriends' babies, he will stick around longer and the relationship will improve as a result. However, the reality is that if a relationship is not strong enough to survive on its own, the presence of a baby will simply make it much more difficult. Or lastly, they want to have a child so they always have someone to love them unconditionally. I believe if you are going to be sexually active, teens must know the facts and consequences of sex and use protection every time they have sex. There are condoms, birth control and many other forms of protection that are accessible to almost everyone. And if something goes wrong, there is the Plan B pill, which is not birth control but an emergency contraceptive. It’s not as reliable as regular birth control which is why you shouldn’t use it every time you have sex, but it’s a backup plan for those you are concerned with getting pregnant. However, if you are concerned about getting pregnant, remember abstinence is always the safest way to go!