Effects of Teenage Pregnancy

Abstract

In this paper, teen pregnancy is discussed. You would get an insight on contraception, abortion, sex ed., peer pressure, parental influence, and social situations. As stated in the paper, teen pregnancy is very serious, and it’s also a very sticky situation to go through especially as a teen. Teen females usually don’t purposely want to get pregnant; they are mostly pressured or want to explore their sexual curiosities. Sometimes however, girls purposely try and get pregnant because they want to be a mother. In this paper you will learn all about teenage mothers and their babies and how it affects the both of them.

What are the effects of Teen Pregnancy?

Once upon a time, there was a baby who gave birth to a baby…Babies giving birth to babies? The teenage pregnancy rate is constantly increasing. In Louisiana alone there were 54 per thousand teen births as of 2006. In the U.S. 43 per thousand teen births took place in 2007. There are many risks for both the child and mother when giving birth to a child as a teenager. There are also ways to avoid pregnancy and other options when becoming pregnant as a teenager.

In research, the Save the Children foundation found that approximately 30 million children are born to mothers under the age of 20. Not just in America but in more than 90% of the world’s developing countries. The birth rate in the U.S. is 53 per 1000 women (ages 15-19) as of 2009. In socioeconomic damage, teen pregnancies cost the United States over $7 billion annually. With adolescent pregnancy rates rising, costs are rising as well.

The risks for teen pregnancies are numerous, for both mother and child. As a teen your bones are not fully developed, and you are not finished maturing body wise. To prevent some early risks teens should see their primary healthcare provider to reduce complications. Many moms put their selves at risk in fear or because of denial. In order to have a healthy pregnancy, the mother requires a healthy diet, prenatal care, exercise, and rest because as an adolescent the body is still maturing. The child is put at risk because as a teen mother, the baby is more likely to be premature along with a low birth weight which leads to problems in their later life. The problems range both mentally and physically. The child may also be born with birth defects. The teen mother is at great risk as well. The body is strained in order to birth the child. If the bones are not entirely developed the pelvic bone is injured as well as the spine with permanent damages.

In psychological ways, when a teen becomes pregnant she may slip into a depression and she also is fear stricken because she feels she is too young to be pregnant. Sometimes they don’t finish school because their pregnancy is too much to handle along with their education. If they do finish school they are alone. Stranded, people look at them strangely because they are young and pregnant. They are shunned from society in schools and public places; people use profanity against them and call them inappropriate names. The friends they once had don’t hang around them anymore because they don’t want to be caught with someone pregnant, or because their parents think it is inappropriate to have a pregnant friend and that the friend might influence them.

In most high schools, students are taught sex education. However, in the state of Louisiana and several other states, schools are not required by law to provide sex education. If any of the school districts inside Louisiana would like to offer the course they must teach abstinence as well. They do not have to teach of HIV/AIDS, contraceptives, or any STDs at all. When sex education is taught it cannot be taught in grades first through sixth and it must be incorporated into another course curriculum.

The options when dealing with teen pregnancy are not very broad. One option is adoption. There are many types of adoption such as agency adoption, independent adoptions, closed adoption, semi-open adoption, and open adoption, etc. When dealing with teens, most lean towards open or semi-open adoptions. In open adoptions, the parents get acquainted with the adopting parents. The parents are also allowed to be a part of the child’s life as they mature. In semi-open adoption, the parents exchange information with the adopting parents and receive pictures, e-mails, updates, etc. about their child. In closed adoption, the parents never meet the adopting parents, and know very little about them. Another option for teen pregnancy is abortion, in which there are many types. One type of abortion can be done at eight weeks in which a tiny tube is inserted into the cervix and the body is vacuumed out. At twelve weeks suction aspiration abortion can be done, the mother’s cervix is dilated and a knife like curette is stuck into the womb and vacuums out the body. Dilation and curettage is another type in which the baby is cut into pieces and the body is then scraped out. At eighteen weeks, the mother can have dilation and evacuation abortion. Dilation and evacuation is the use of forceps to break the baby into pieces and then scrape the inside of the womb. Saline injection is the injection of a salt solution into the amniotic sac. It slowly kills the child in approximately one hour and then the mother gives birth to a dead or dying child. In prostaglandin chemical abortion, a chemical is used to induce labor. The mother goes into labor but it is more violent and the child is usually killed or decapitated during the birth. In the last three months caesarean abortion is used. The womb is cut open and the umbilical chord is cut. The oxygen supply is cut off to the child and the child dies. As a last minute option, the teen may under go partial-birth abortion. Partial abortion is cruel and painful for both mother and child. An ultrasound guides the abortionist. The abortionist grabs the babies’ legs with forceps, pulling the legs out into the birth canal; the whole body is delivered excluding the head and scissors are inserted to enlarge the skull, the babies’ brain is then sucked out and the dead baby is delivered. One final option for teen mothers is to raise the child, they may or may not be given the ability to finish school but their child is happy. The parents may be forced to get jobs to supply for their children. In some cases, the teen’s parents offer help to the teens and take care of the child as they finish school.

Adult pregnancies are difficult but as teens the situation is extremely complex because the teen is still young and their bodies have not fully matured. The teen has responsibilities such as their education and social lives that are at stake because of their growing embryo. To avoid teen pregnancy they can try abstinence, and a plethora of contraception devices ranging from condoms, to birth control, to inter-uterary devices. Shunned from society and possibly their own families, teens are put under a truck load of stress.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this paper has taught you a lot about teenage pregnancy. This is 100% preventable with abstinence, 89.9% with protection, and 99.9% with birth control. The risks and social astigmatism are noted. With the exploration of psychological situations, the active sex rate is declining yet its still a problem.

Bibliography

“Effects of Teenage Pregnancy.” 2004: 16. Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.thewomanschannel.com/Effects_teenage_pregnancy.html>.

“Teen Mom.” MTV Teen Mom. Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.mtv.com/shows/teen_mom/series.jhtml>.

“16 and Pregnant.” MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.mtv.com/shows/16_and_pregnant/season_1/series.jhtml>.

“Abortion Methods.” Life Site News. 2009. Life Site Mews, Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.lifesitenews.com/abortiontypes/>.