teen pregnancy

Section 1: What I know, Assume, or Imagine
I became interested in Teen Pregnancy because there are a lot of things I really want to know and throughout the years, our population of teens getting pregnant has increased. What I know about my topic is that teens now a days are getting into serious types of relationships such as being sexually active with their partner. Many guys also force some girls to have sex with them or try to manipulate with their form of sweet talking. That’s how it all starts, a guy tries to say the cutest things to make the girl fall in love and give them their virginity. Some teenagers think that just because they think that they are older means that it is okay to have sexual activities but in reality, they have no idea what they are capable of doing and how they’re putting their lives at risk.
Since there are plenty of teenage girls that are easily manipulated by a guy, they are not as smart as they say they are. I assume that the whole process of having sex begins by having a boyfriend at a young age and making out with them. Sex can lead up to many problems because when you are in the mood, things could go wrong; such as forgetting to put a condom on. There are many things that can cause a girl to get pregnant. Before a guy is ready to ejaculate, they sometimes pre-cum and sometimes they can’t feel when that happens which can lead to putting the girl at a higher risk of being pregnant. Young teens that get pregnant have to go through so much because of one little mistake that they did. Being a teenager mother is never easy because now not only do you have to take care of yourself but you also have to take care of your child. Another thing about teen mothers is that by having a big responsibility on them can lead to teens to drop out from being so stressed out.
I imagine that sometimes getting pregnant doesn’t always mean that your having intercourse with your exact partner, but someone could have raped you. A lot of reasons why teen pregnancy occurs is because of peer pressure. Peer pressure could lead up to having unwanted pregnancies. Sometimes seeing your own friends getting pregnant can automatically mean its okay to have sex but its not. One of the worst parts of being a teen mother could be because you have nobody helping to support the child. You would think that just because your pregnant your boyfriend would stay and help but that usually never happens. Guys are only interested at getting one thing at a certain age and that’s just to get into a girls pants. Having to carry a baby in your stomach for 9 months with no help whatsoever can be one of the worst feelings ever during your pregnancy. Using protection is 10x better than being a single parent, dropping out of school, or losing everyone you know just by making one big mistake in your life because you thought you could handle being a teen parent when you really can’t. Becoming a mother at a young age is very difficult, especially when there is no help involved whatsoever. You now need to grow up, save money to buy your child his or her supplies. It inspires me how some teen parents are capable of taking care of their child alone and do whatever it takes to succeed for their baby. Maybe one day when the time is right for me, ill be able to put in effort to raise my child and take responsibilities.

Section 2: The Search As I was researching my topic about Teen Pregnancy, I realized that there are many teenage students in my high school campus that have had or are having a baby are managed to stay in school while some other teen mothers decide to drop out of school or think about putting their child up for adoption. Being a teen mom is general is never easy, especially when still in high school. It takes a lot of work and courage to take care of a newborn. One has many more responsibilities due to the fact that one is no longer just taking care of themselves but of two lives. There are many forms of protecting themselves, yet many young teenagers tend to not give it much importance. Because of this, there are high rates of teen pregnancy. “The birth rate among teenagers 15 to 19 in the United States rose 3 percent in 2006.” (New York Times “Teenage Birth Rate Rises for First Time Since ‘91”). While on the other hand, there are some teens who wish to have a baby. They come up with some outrageous reasons for getting pregnant. For instance, “they think it will keep their boyfriends from leaving them.” (Teen Pregnancy Statistics) In reality a baby won’t make him stay. Teens think it will make the relationship stronger. “The fact is 8 out 10 fathers don’t marry the mother of their child.” (www.stayteen.org) There are many different possibilities for teens to get pregnant such as pressure from a boyfriend who is older. The media allows shows about teen pregnancy that it is accepted in our social world. Even though teens don’t see how difficult their life would be by bringing a baby into the world, it still happens.(Teen Pregnancy Statistics, “Reasons for Teen Pregnancies.”) Students in high school should be experiencing the excitement and independence of being a teenager instead of having time for themselves, they are now having to be responsible for an infant. They no longer get to go through all the experience of a teenager with no responsibilities. They are now forced to feed, bathe, and change diapers for their babies. For instance, my friend claims that her life has changed completely. “I focus more on my baby boy than anything else, although I do wish I would have waited. (Personal Interview) With this being said, “Almost 50 percent of teens have never considered how a pregnancy would affect their lives.” (Facts about Teen Pregnancy) Teens then realize how difficult it is raising a child when they’re still young themselves. Having to go to school, staying up late to finish homework, while feeding a crying baby is very difficult. That is when teens start to drop out of school. I asked my classmate what was her hardest struggle after giving birth was and she said, “It’s extremely hard having to focus in school while thinking about my baby.” (Personal Interview) Teen mothers and fathers tend to drop out and put their education on hold. They need to start making an income. “About 70% of teenage girls who give birth leave school.” ( Mangel, Linda. Discrimination and Drop-Out Rates Teen Pregnancy). They need to focus on their baby now rather than themselves. The hardest part about having a baby is that there will be no more freedom. It’s all about the baby now. Reasons why teenagers are having sex can be because they can feel pressured by their boyfriends or friends who are sexually active. There are many ways that society accepts teen pregnancy. For example, on MTV there is a show called 16 and pregnant and Teen Mom. These shows are giving teens the impression that being a teen mom is accepted. Teens can feel pressured to have sex because “everyone is doing it”. (Teen Pregnancy Statistics, “Reasons for Teen Pregnancies”) Students talk about wanting to have sex, go to the next level with their boyfriends. They feel the need to have sex because it is portrayed as being okay with our society. I asked my friend who is sexually active what made her decide to have sex and she said, “ I think it was time because I have been with Emilio for over 2 years.” (Personal Interview) She is not the only person who has told me that. It is just the way some teenagers are thinking now a days. Some teenagers are not informed correctly about the risks of having sex and what the out comes could possibly be. There are many ways of preventing sex from happening in the first place. The first one that anybody can get a hold of would have to be condoms. Younger teens are more likely to use condoms than older teens because some teens could be scared of the out come. In the teens and sex book, the report said that “68 percent of sexually active ninth-grade students reported using condoms.” (Teens and Sex”) Another form of protection would be birth control for the girls. It is a bit safer because there are many ways of birth control such as the pills, patches, and or the one that can go inside your body. “18 percent of teenage girls reported taking birth control pills.” (Teens and Sex) The biggest form of protection would have to be abstinence. Not only does it prevent pregnancies, but it also prevents sexually transmitted diseases. The real question everyone wants to know is why do teens want to have a baby at a young age. My friend who got pregnant at 17 said, “ I wanted to get pregnant because I thought things would be better. I remember when people first found out they were telling me how stupid I was but all those negative comments people were saying about me never mattered and till this day it still doesn’t. All that matters is my baby.” (Personal Interview) Many teens that have gotten or are pregnant think their lives are still going to remain the same as it was before they got pregnant. “Almost 50 percent of teens have never considered how a pregnancy would affect their lives.” (11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy) Having a child to take care of is a huge impact due to the fact that they would need money to maintain their baby. During my friend’s pregnancy I asked her if she regrets going through labor and she stated, “Never. My baby was meant to be here he’s my little miracle.” (Personal Interview) There are many people in this world where there will be judging due to teen pregnancies but when you really think about it, maybe teens who have no family or live miserable might want to have a baby to make them happy again and let them become their own little part of family. The last question I had asked my friend was what advice does she give for teens to prepare themselves and she said, “Honestly, I would have to say just to wait until you are 100% sure and ready you want to have a child because it really is hard to take care of a baby especially if you are trying to stay in school and raise a baby.” (Personal Interview) Now from getting some feedback from an actual teen mother saying its hard to raise a child teens should really start to show that they care about using protection if they don’t want to take responsibilities and step up to the plate. Every child born is a blessing, whether some people like it or not their opinions won’t matter.

Section 3: What I discovered
Throughout this whole experience on my I-Search project, I learned a lot of things about teen pregnancies. I learned that being a mother young is very stressing and difficult when you have no one around to help you out. I also learned that peer pressuring someone to have sex is challenging as well because that person who was getting peered pressured could have been younger than their partner or worst part they could have been raped at a younger age and that’s what made them want to be sexually active. This experience made me realize so much about growing up. Having a baby is such a blessing but waiting until you are actually ready to go to that level and become a mom is better than having an unwanted pregnancy. The hardest part about being a teenage mother is the responsibilities you need to take in such as staying on task with school, making money to take care of themselves and their baby, being a single parent with no help from family members or the father of the child. I think all that is too much to handle at the ages of 15 to 19. No girl should ever feel so stressed out like that especially at a young age to take in so many responsibilities. Discovering this experience of teens getting pregnant at a young age made me realize that I should enjoy my teenage years and not worry so much about dealing with big responsibilities until I am actually ready. I know that I would want to raise my child at a certain age and graduate before I even think about having a baby. Even at the age of 30 taking care of an infant would be as stressful as it would be for a teenager to take care of their own.
When I began my project, I honestly thought that it would be harder. When I read the grade requirements for an A paper I automatically started to panic because I thought to myself how am I going to write 7 to 9 pages about teen pregnancy. It turns out that with all the research that I got online made this project a bit easier for me. It was a great experience because I learned plenty of things that I didn’t know about pregnancies before I started researching. I want to be able to focus on graduating first before I end up thinking about other things I want such as having a baby. I learned that there are many teens that have to handle taking care of their child alone and that somewhat inspires me because they aren’t putting their education on hold like most people do and are actually working harder than ever for their baby. That made me open my eyes more to appreciate my teen years before I worry about anything else. I’ll be taking life as it goes by and if I ever have to experience something like this anytime soon, I will know how difficult it would be to raise a child and how much work and effort you have to put in for both yourself and your baby.

Work Cited
Marcovitz, Hal. Teens & Sex Book. Pennsylvania, 1999
Moralez, Elizabeth. Personal Interview. 28 Febuary 2013.
“Reasons for Teen Pregnancies.” Teen Pregnancy Statistics 7 March 2013. http:www.teenpregnancystatistics.org
“11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy.” http:www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-teen-pregnancy
Harris, Gardiner. “Teenage Birth Rate Rises for First Time Since ‘91” New York Times. 11 March 2013
“Teen Pregnancy.” www.stayteen.org/teen-pregnancy

Questions

1. Do you think you should have waited?
2. What are some hardest struggles of your pregnancy?
3. What is one thing you regret missing because of your pregnancy?
4. Did you regret going through with your pregnancy?
5. What was the real reason why you got or wanted to get pregnant?
6. In what way has your life changed due to the fact that you have a baby?
7. How old were you when you found out you were pregnant?
8. What advice do you give teens to prepare them for what lies ahead for them?

Cited: Marcovitz, Hal. Teens & Sex Book. Pennsylvania, 1999 Moralez, Elizabeth