The Teen Pregnancy

Teen m otherliness wasnt always a problem. so far a hundred years ago, men and women married and started their families unfledged person life expectancy was far shorter than it is straight off school wasnt nearly as important or widely available and young families conformed to the established neighborly norm. However, today in the developed world, teen pregnancy is a problem that causes a wide blow of social and frugal problems. The United States leads the developed world in teen pregnancies, with over twice as many per year as Great Britain or Canada, four times as many as France, and ten times as many as Japan or the Netherlands (Popenoe).As many as 34% of all teenage girls become pregnant at least once before they argon 20 years old, resulting in an astounding rate of 820,000 pregnancies a year. Nearly all of those pregnancies atomic number 18 off of wedlock and unwanted and so astir(predicate) half of those pregnancies result in abortion. Poverty and race ar correlat ed with teen pregnancy, too, as teen mothers are more likely to be poor and preserve poor if they start a family. Teen mothers are unlikely to finish in high spirits school fewer than one-third of teen mothers bring in their spirit level and a mere 1. 5% receive a college degree before they are 30 (The National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy).Additionally, teenage pregnancies a great deal result in short- and long-term health problems for both mother and child. Long-term social effects entangle the perpetuation of poverty and the weakening of the economic muscle of the nation clearly something must(prenominal) be make to clog teen pregnancy in the United States. Many people conceptualize mistakenly believe that wind up fosterage and birth examine distribution pull up stakes solve the epidemic of teen pregnancy. The inherent message is that if the birth control methods and education fails, then at least the teen can aim an abortion to prevent starting a family.Sex education focuses on safe sex the straitlaced use of birth control devices including prophylactics and hormonal contraceptives. Barrier birth control devices like condoms can prevent sexually-transmitted diseases as headspring as pregnancies. Many schools, community and health centers distribute condoms for free to encourage teens to practice session safe sex. The birth control approach to teen pregnancy is based on an assumption that teenagers are going to retain sex no matter what, because sex is a natural biological brain or because of peer pressure.By get a lineing safe sex, teachers and parents feel that at least they are minimizing the chances of causation a pregnancy or spreading a sexually transmitted disease. Sex education to a fault eliminates the need to address the complex moral and psychological issues associated with teen pregnancy issues that are controversial politically and difficult to discuss. In spite of the rationale behind the prophylactic approach to te en pregnancy, distributing birth control freely to teenagers willing fail to solve the epidemic and in fact contributes to the problem of teen pregnancy. tell teens that they should use birth control and then handing them birth control devices is frankly condoning and even encouraging antenuptial teen sex. The practice is ircreditworthy and irrational, because teen pregnancies are far more common now than they were in the 1960s, when birth control and sex education were not a part of the school curriculum. Moreover, sex education starts at a young age, in many cases before the young person is even provoke in having sex, increasing the likelihood of misunderstanding, misinterpreting, or misapplying the information.In many cases students do not pay worry either. Contrary to what many people believe, teenagers in the modern industrialized world do not have the mental or emotional maturity to understand the ramifications of sexual intercourse. In the old days, teens married young an d their pregnancies usually occurred within wedlock and in a socially-sanctioned setting. Now, teen pregnancies lead to social and economic problems. Furthermore, all birth control devices fail occasionally and many are difficult to use properly by adults, let alone inexperienced teens.At least half of all teen pregnancies result in abortion, which many teens begin to view as a form of backup birth control. The emphasis on birth control and sex education compound the underlying moral degeneracy that causes teen pregnancy in the United States, contributing to racial, gender, and social inequity, to poverty as to the denigration of life. Teaching abstinence is the simply meaningful way to reduce teen pregnancy because teaching abstinence addresses the root causes of the problem and provides an potent long-term solution.Abstinence is not a religious root or a superstitious idea abstinence is a practical solution to a serious problem. Parents and teachers should teach abstinence firs t, before they teach children about birth control. Teaching abstinence now wont be easy because teens expect to have sex and because the media targeted at teens reinforces a view that having sex is normal, cool, and healthy. A message of abstinence goes against what teens see on picture so many teens as well as adults whitethorn resist the idea. The idea of abstinence may be linked to religious beliefs and therefore many will construe the teaching as cosmos biased.Its not biased. Teaching abstinence is a universal, practical, simple way to prevent teen pregnancies and the concurrent health, social, and economic problems that go along with it. Teaching abstinence requires a two-fold plan. First, abstinence must be taught from an early age, in school and at home. Second, abstinence teaching must be continued throughout junior-grade and high school and reinforced through community messages and outreach. Teaching abstinence from an early age ensures that the individual will develop a n emotional and cognitive framework that will last through their lives.When taught from an early age, abstinence becomes the norm, replenishment sexual promiscuity or experimentation as the norm. Teaching abstinence at a young age, from late elementary school, is inexpensive and easy, requiring no special materials or funding. The education does not need to be presented from a religious perspective, but young students should learn about the moral and social ramifications of pregnancy so that they can independently choose abstinence when they reach puberty. Abstinence is a preventative teaching that must be reinforced throughout the pre-teen and teen years.Because they are influenced heavily by the media and by their peers, teenagers must receive continual guidance and support, and regular exposure to the message of abstinence. Therefore, abstinence education must continue into junior high and high school, if not in a formal class setting than through posters, pamphlets, and other a ccessible material. Parents must also participate by regularly talking to their teenage children, asking them questions about their social life, answering the teens questions as honestly and frankly as possible. Basically, abstinence must become a state of mind, a new social norm.Reducing the alarming and embarrassingly high rate of American teen pregnancies requires not a more aggressive birth control campaign but a more systematic abstinence campaign. If we fail to teach abstinence soon, from an early age, and systematically, then teen pregnancies will continue to plague young American women, contributing to social and economic injustice as well as widespread health issues. All Americans can see the negative of teen pregnancy it is a problem shared by all of us and therefore all of us are responsible for changing the underlying social norms that contribute to the problem and promoting abstinence.