Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pregnant (Essay 3)

Specifically, teenage pregnancy.

What are the negative effects of teen pregnancy?

Teenage pregnancy affects the children that will be born. Effects of a teenage pregnancy on the born child include:
Teenage pregnancy also negatively affect the teen mom's themselves.The teen mothers are affected by:
  •  Unemployment Article Alley
  • Educational failure-They have much lower levels of educational attainment than other women. Only 70% of teen moms earn a GED. This limits their job options. Article Alley
  • Poverty Article Alley
  • Low-self esteem Article Alley
  • The majority of teenage mothers also face a bleak future. Often forced to drop out of school, these young women face a life of diminished expectations. Teen Pregnancy
  • Miss out on adolescent experiences. MSNBC
Teenage pregnancy negatively affects the economy and public health as well. The economy is affeceted by the following:
  • Job options are limited for teen moms because of a low level of education. This increases the likelihood of economic dependence for their family. Article Alley Teen mothers are also much less likely to attend college. Questia  College graduates on average earn 40% more in wages over the course of their lifetimes than those with only a high school education Questia  
  • Contributes to higher poverty rates. Article Alley
  • Under-educated citizens beacuse teen mom's have to put their education on hold. After they stop, only 70% go on to recieve a GED. Article Alley
  • Single-Martial status which affects a financial situation within a family. Article Alley
  • Special education needs or mild education needs that require extra attention. Article Alley
  • In 1992 the Federal government spent more than $34 billion on welfare for families begun by teenagers, up from $16.6 billion in 1985.6 In 1995, Indiana spent $7.4 million in Aid to Dependent Children for approximately 2,700 teen parents. Information About Children and Families
  • For every federal dollar spent on giving contraceptives to low-income women the government saves more than $4 in welfare payments, medical costs, etc. Information About Children and Families
  • Of all the women aged 15-44 who received welfare or AFDC in 1993, over half (55%) became mothers when they were teenagers. Only 5% were currently teenage mothers; of these, 83% were aged 18-19. Information About Children and Families
How many teen moms are there are in the United States on average per year?

The teen birth rate is declining. However, there are still about 1 million teen pregnancies in the United States. 85% of the pregnancies are unplanned. This causes a problem. The biggest risk for a teen mom is delaying prenatal care and 7.2% recieved no care at all.


Who is most susceptible to become a teen mom?

Some life conditions increase the likelihood of a teenage pregnancy such as:
  • Poverty
  • Poor school performance
  • Growing up in a single parent household
  • Having a mother who was an adolescent mother
  • Having a sister who has become pregnant

Is it more common for teens in the United States to keep the baby, put it up for adoption, or get an abortion? (conclusion info?)

One of the reasons a woman may opt for abortion is to be free from the burden of raising a child. Time, circumstances, finances, and emotional health may leave them unprepared to consider a pregnancy.
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Others may feel pregnancy is an inconvenience. Younger women may consider that they haven't completed their education and realize they still have their whole lives ahead of them. Some feel it will take too much to give a child up for adoption; plus, they are not willing to carry the child for 9 months and go through delivery.
Women who give in to the idea of abortion are often pressured into it by their partners. In many cases, these women find it difficult to choose the life of their child over their partner.
Whatever the reason, abortion should never be entered into without careful thought. The procedures can be dangerous, even life-threatening, and emotionally devastating.

The facts are that a youngster whose time is taken up with school, sports, family and community is far less likely to drop out, take drugs -- or find themselves inadvertently pregnant.


Statistics (Intro info?)

Trends in nonmarital childbearing. It may surprise some to learn that the teen birth rate was 50% higher in 1957 than it is now. Today's widespread concern over teenage pregnancy may have less to do with actual numbers and more to do with the growing percentage of teen mothers who are unmarried. Teens who have babies outside of marriage fit within a broader nationwide trend--unmarried women of all ages are having babies in increasing numbers. Births to single teens actually account for a smaller percentage of all nonmarital births than twenty years ago.

Economic forces. In the 1950s when men with little education could find well-paid jobs, young people married if a pregnancy occurred. The loss of those jobs makes marriage less attractive today--an effect that can be seen on teens of all races. In 1955, for example, only 6% of white teenage childbearing occurred outside of marriage; today it is 42%. Economics may also be responsible for the lower percentage of poor adolescents who terminate their pregnancies, since Medicaid policies in most states do not pay for abortions, but do pay for services related to childbirth.

Information About Children and Families

The United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually. Keep reading for more interesting facts on teen pregnancy statistics.
The fact that just under 1/3 of all girls in the United States will get pregnant in their teenage years is a sobering thought. Obviously, teen pregnancy is a problem in the United States. And the following statistics back that up:
  • Every year around 750,000 teenagers will get pregnant. 
  • Depending on the state, teenage birth rates are incredibly different. Nevada has the highest rate: 113 per 1000 and North Dakota the lowest 42 per 1000. 
  • Unmarried teenagers having children account for 24 percent of all unmarried expectant mothers. 
  • More than 2/3 of all teenagers who have a baby will not graduate from high school. 
  • Billions of dollars are spent taking care of teenage mothers and their children and they are more likely to be in the poverty bracket. On the flip side, millions of dollars are spent in prevention programs.
The good news is that teen births have dropped by almost a third since the beginning of the 1990s. With pregnancy prevention programs and more understanding and teaching about safe sex, this number will hopefully drop even more. Here are a few other statistics that hopefully point to even better prevention rates in the years to come:
  • In 2002 the abortion rate among teenager mother was 50 percent lower than its high point in 1988. 
  • Among black teenagers, the pregnancy rate dropped around 40 percent since 1990. 
  • Among Hispanic teenagers the pregnancy rate dropped around 19 percent since 1990. 
  • Among white teenagers, the pregnancy rate dropped around 34 percent since 1990.
So while teenager pregnancies are dropping, it is still a constant problem as there are more and more kids who enter their teenager years each year. Teenager pregnancy programs are important to as the above statistics are showing that these programs yield good results. These programs should be continually studied to make sure they are up-to-date and working in the education of teenagers on the problems of teenager pregnancy.
One way of making sure to keep the programs fresh is to talk with the teenagers themselves, asking what they think about sex and how it is portrayed in their school life, by their friends, in their families, and in the media. How much do each of these contribute to how a teenager views sex? Parents and educators are in a position to somewhat monitor how sex and especially unsafe sex is being digested by the teenagers today. As more questions are answered and prevention programs initiated and/or updated, hopefully these statistics can continually to fall.
As mentioned above, billions of dollars are spent taking care of teenage mothers and their children while only millions are needed to provide good prevention program

Pregnant Teen Help
Quotes from Experts:

"We need to look at teen pregnancy as one consequence of a deeper health issue — teen sexual activity," Huber said. "One in four girls has at least one (sexually transmitted disease) and the rate in African-American girls is one in two."  -Valerie Huber National Abstinence Education Association

"I believe we must work together to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. I support legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventative services to help reduce unintended pregnancies." -President Barack Obama


Bristol Palin and boyfriend Levi Johnston

"I'm pro-life. I'll do all I can to see every baby is created with a future and potential. The legislature should do all it can to protect human life." -Sarah Palin
Brainy Quotes

"Bristol Palin: Teenagers need to prevent pregnancy to begin with -- this isn't ideal. But I'm fortunate to have a supportive family, which is dealing with this together."
TheHollywoodGossip


"Abstinence is not about morality, it is about reality.It is the only thing that works every time.My message is a simple one: Don’t make the same decision I made, just wait.Young ladies, please hear me." -Bristol Palin
The Daily Beast

"By enacting welfare reform in 1996, taking executive action to require young mothers to stay in school or lose welfare payments, cracking down on child support enforcement, and launching a National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, the Clinton-Gore Administration has sent a clear message to young women and young men alike: don't get pregnant or father a child until you are ready to take on the responsibility of parenthood. "
-Bill Clinton
Teen Pregnancy

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