TEENAGE PREGNACY

Diana Becerra

Pregnancy in girls aged 19 or below is termed as teenage pregnancy. There are many
social, emotional and health problems associated with teenage pregnancy. Even though
increased awareness about sexual health and greater used of condoms has brought down
the cases of teenage pregnancy in countries like U.S., the responsible factors like low
education standards, poverty, inappropriate knowledge of sex amongst adolescents
contributes to cases of teenage pregnancy. Some developing nations are faced with
problems of early marriage and non-awareness about contraceptives, which also
contributes to cases of teenage pregnancy. (Ruth Chambers, 2001)

Since unplanned sexual intercourse is more common in age group 12-14, who are not
aware of protected sex, the concern becomes grave for younger girls who get pregnant.
If an adolescent girl gets pregnant in such an early age, abortion is one option to be
considered if the pregnancy is tested and detected in time. (Flavin, 2008)
In cases, where girl is in later adolescence, adoption or support of community to raise
the child are some ways to help the teen pregnant emotionally, and also if she is
financially incapable of nurturing a child. It is highly important to seek support from
parents of the girl or the father of the expected child, so that appropriate prenatal care
can be offered. (KELLY, 2011). Teenage mothers may not be educated enough, and have
complete awareness about precautions to be taken during pregnancy. It becomes
therefore essential to offer education and community support to such young girls, and

also create awareness about contraception to keep them safe from any such experience
later upon. (Kitzman, 1993)

Pregnancy in teenage is also a very troubling time for parents of the teenager who have
dreamt a bright future ahead for their children. However since the teenager who gets
pregnant also undergoes feelings of anger and frustration for the situation that has
arrived, it is important that parents keep their anger in control so as to reduce the
adolescents stress. (Emmy E. Werner, 1992)
The parents should get complete medical check up done for the child by a qualified
physician in the field, and ensure that she gets counseling as well from outside if needed
to overcome emotional stress. If both the families of the girl and boy are ready to raise
the child properly, it is good. Else adoption should be chosen as the way where some
appropriate organization should be chosen to adopt the child.
Teenage pregnancy is not socially acceptable in many communities, and cultures.
Therefore the social problems needed to be considered besides giving medical and prenatal care to the expecting adolescent girl. Children, who are born to teenage parents are
more likely to face problems with good education, because social support may lack in
their case. If appropriate community support is offered through child-care support, and
social services, such children can also get good education and settle as independently
earning individuals in the society. (Jill Denner1, 2001)
A teenage pregnancy is certainly debilitating for the girl child, who is often faced with
societal and family pressure, because of the indiscretion that resulted into her
pregnancy. (Males, 2010). If a teenage girl suffers all the hostility from friends and
family, she is not likely to understand and know the aspects of nutrition associated with
pregnancy and may give birth to low-weight or malnourished child. Behavioral
problems are also common in such children as they do not get to witness the right
parental skills that they can imitate.

Teen pregnancy becomes an issue of embarrassment for most parents and as a result
they do not find it easy to accept the situation and deal with it positively and patiently.
Moreover a teen girl is also not bodily prepared to give birth to a child that adds to all
other problems that she faces. It is important that such teen parents reenter educational
institutions after giving birth to the child so that they can be educated about being better
parents in rearing their child. Child care should be accessible and within financial reach
of such teen mothers.
Many teen parents begin to abuse their children as early as 6 months of age if they also
suffered abuse as children. Even more there are higher chances of death associated with
teenage pregnancy for the mother as well as the child. (Charles H. Zeanah, 2012)
Therefore early prenatal care is essential to save the child as well as mother from any
complications or serious medical conditions. Teen pregnancy prevention programs like
abstinence education, knowledge based programs that guide them about their bodies,
clinic focused programs for easier access to sex education and peer counseling programs
are some measures that can help control the teenage pregnancy rates in the world.
Teens experimenting are the leading cause in the unplanned pregnancies. As a teenager
in high school ages there are a lot of peer pressures. Such as experimenting with alcohol
and unprotected sexual intercourse. Drinking and the use of narcotics also largely have
an impact on the judgment of the teen before the pre-pregnancy comes about.
Experimenting can cause many effects on the teen and the relationships at hand,
including the relationships with the babys mom or dad and also the parents of the teens.
Another way of experimenting is the pregnancy caused in the sequel of either a longtime dating of the boyfriend or the other case of those random one night stands or hookups. Experimenting can be well avoided which can cause less of a chance of the
unplanned pregnancy. (Fogartyc, 2012)
Another very important concern for preventing teen pregnancy is having a good
guidance throughout the teenagers teen years. The guardians of the teens play a crucial
role in guiding the teen to making the right choices in his/her life. The teenager then is
faced with obstacles that would normally happen to a 20-30 year old woman. Not
having the proper guidance will cause the teen to find the alternatives. For example,
finding someone to be with to be cared for by in replace of a strong guidance, by the

guardians in the teenagers life. For not having the proper guidance the teenager has a
higher chance of dropping out or failing out of a school, such as being a high school
dropout to have time to give birth and time to raise the young child. So by becoming
pregnant at a young age and not finishing your education. It definitely doesnt sound
like too much fun, now does it? The guidance in life is the most important thing
throughout so this can be less of an issue.
It is then caused, in effect, to put a lot of responsibility in the teenagers life once they
find out that they are pregnant. (Christopher Jencks, 2001)There is 100% more
responsibility in the teenagers life. The early responsibility causes changes the
teenagers overall personality. Going from being in school full time getting your
education to having the responsibility to bringing a child into the world, then being
alone able to possibly finish your high school education. Finishing your education in a
regular 4 years of your high school years will be hard. Not even to mention the financial
costs it has to have a newborn. What makes it hard is when you need money for the
simple things for the child, but you dont have the time to get a job because youre
nursing and getting ready to bring a child into the world. So as a teenager you need a
support system so that a newborn is taken care of in the safest, best place for the child.
A lot of this early responsibility can be unbearable for some teens, expesically the ones
that choose to get pregnant while they are still in high school.
With all of this going on in their lives its affecting the health risks and medical
negatives a teenage pregnancy can cause. For example, there is an increased chance of
mothers from ages 15-19 of birthing a child that is underweight at birth. A low birth
weight will increase the chance of the newborn to have health risks. It is definitely not a
great thing to have the chance of health risks in you or the child. Another way that the
health problems can start is because teens might not have all the knowledge of proper
behavior in knowing how to nurse the child or the proper ways during the growth of the
child. Teenage adolescents tend to develop poor eating habits during pregnancy, they
tend not to take the proper vitamins, and in the worst scenario the teen drinking and/ to
doing drugs during the pregnancy. That is the worst that can be done; it will increase the
chance greatly of the baby being born with some type of birth defect or a weak part of
the baby. Now that can be the worst you can possibly do to an unborn child.

To wrap it all up, teen pregnancy is a major issue that should try to be prevented as
much as it can. It causes countless, dodge able problems if the right choices are made
and you have a good support system around you. It would be in the best advice to not
take the chances to get pregnant as a teenager. It is not the age to get pregnant. Teens are
not fully ready to become adults like the stress that follows during the pregnancy.

NAME: DIANA BECERRA

TITLE: INFORMATIVE ESSAY OF THE
TEENAGE PREGNACY.

TEACHER: KELLY FAULKNER

SUBJECT: WRITING AND COMPOSITION

DATE: JUNIO 23 DEL 2015

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