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Alexis Pratt English I- 2nd Block Mrs. Knowles 29 January 2013

Teen Pregnancy: The Effect of Life and Education After all these years, I never knew that my family members would go through teen pregnancy because they knew the risk, but I was wrong. Many of my family members such as my cousins went through teen pregnancy and I wont be one of them. My parents always talked to about me about teen pregnancy and how responsible it is to balance education and your child. I remember the time when my 16 year old best friend Keisha got pregnant when she was a sophomore, she was so smart and had good grades and we almost did everything together until I visited her one day and she was crying in her bathroom. I asked her whats wrong and she said the shocking word PREGNANTI didnt believe it. Every time we arrived to school, she always went to the bathroom and cried and I could tell that she was embarrassed and angry at herself because of the gasp she made when shes breathing. I doubt that the rest of my friends didnt understand because they was judged her and didnt want to be around her, but I stood by her side no matter what it took to be there for me to support her. I knew then that as her friend, I need to learn more about teen pregnancy before I was the next victim. Keisha was the smartest girl I ever met because she remembered facts and stats about me that my mind was into; she would listen to my point of view of things that I was confused about or what were my problems. She was powerfully talented also, she could write her own songs, dance, and sing as well. She wrote strong and touching poetry, and more poetry until she was

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satisfied and she made all As in school. I look into her eyes that she didnt mean to make that mistake, but she was learning from it for her own good. Down to her downswings, she would only tell me what was going on in her life. She never got alone with her father or her mom because they wouldnt pay attention to her except her grandmother. Her grandmother was everything to her until she died and she felt like she lost her whole family, she was agitated and angry all the time because she really didnt know why people didnt accept her for who she was and was crying every day that her eyes were very unpleasantly red like a person was on fire. She wouldnt come to school unless people would stop judging her, it was like crowded with full of suffering and wanted the pain to go away. I knew Keisha was not psycho but I knew that she know thats a part of life, but life goes on. She was pregnant and as soon as she began to realize that she was about to become a teen mom, it worked out the best of her. Keisha usually didnt listen to other people because she thought she knew everything and now having a true understanding of being a teen mom scared her and she lived with it every step of the way. In my initial research, I found the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions research, which contains information about teen pregnancy. According to CDCP, teen pregnancy and childbearing bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children and to prevent pregnancy, if you dont use protection theres possibility if you will get pregnant, you might get have a risk of HIV or STD(sexually transmitted disease). In 2011, 329,797 babies were born between 15-19 years of ages and all together, birth rates dropped 25% between 15-17 years of age. Teens also become sexually active and more who are sexually active seem be using birth control than in previous years. Sometimes teens prevent pregnancy by curing STD that can put a child in dangers and birth rates are declined between 18-19 years old. Also, ethnicity experience disadvantaged youth of any race

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with 57% of U.S. teen birth in 2011. A teen pregnancy prevention effort includes teens in foster homes, and juvenile justice system and living condition of risk. Parents have to also talk to their children about sex and how would it affect their body by talking about perception of HIV risk, attitudes toward condoms, and teen pregnancy if youre not careful. Teen pregnancy is not an easy thing to deal with; its all on you about how it might your education. I rather not experience teen pregnancy because its a lot of work and it might affect my education for good. Everybody predicts its easy to get pregnant as well as my best friend, has shown me that how much responsibility, work, and effort it would be to suffer so much and how people are going to judge you the wrong way. I think schools should have a sex education class so teens can learn the awareness of teen pregnancy and becoming a teen parent. I want to inform people to be more careful and understand how much hard work you have to put into it. I hope to tell teens today to dont go down the wrong pathway and let your dreams come into a wreck, just wait and follow your dreams and then thinking about having a family and dont let nobody pressure you from making that mistake and its important to keep going and remaining in the right pathway, which will help them lead to bigger dreams.