Against Teen Pregnancy Essay

Many adolescents are sexually active today. Whether it personal decision or being forced into it, teenagers are still involved. According to Sue Christensen and Ann Rosen, of those sexually active, only one in five use contraception (Williams). These teenagers who do not use contraception set their selves up for hardships in life. Being sexually active and using contraception as a teenager is a choice that may determine the rest of your life. Is â€Å"it† really worth it? One major outcome of those sexually active is pregnancy, which leads to many other choices: adoption, abortion, or keeping the child. Pregnancy all begins with talk of sexual activity. According to Ilene Lelchuk, out of 618 California high school students, 44 are engaged in some type of sexual activity during the years of 2002 – 2004. These 44 students have had sexual relations by the end of tenth grade (Lelchuk 1). Statistics from The Family Connection of St. Joseph County, Inc., stated that â€Å"56 percent of young women and 73 percent of young men today have had intercourse by age 18†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Williams 3). Beginning in the 1950s, there are records of teenagers having intercourse and many unwanted pregnancies. Shockingly, pregnancy trends from the 1950s to present. According to Christensen and Rosen, the teen birth rate in 1957 was higher than it is today (Williams 1). Although teenage pregnancy has become more socially acceptable in this day and age, so have pregnancy terminations and abortions. This meaning the birth rate may have gone down but the pregnancy rate has not. Yet, â€Å"In 1955†¦only six percent of white teenage childbearing occurred outside of marriage; today it is 42 percent† (Williams 1). Although a teenager becoming pregnant was very common in the 1950s, after discovering they were pregnant, it was perceived as the right thing for the father to marry the woman he impregnated. The father was often forced into marrying the mother of his child. In the eyes of the public, this was a social norm for a teenage couple soon to have a baby. Even though the couple may not necessarily have been in love with one another, they still followed what was expected of them. Therefore, today pregnant teenagers don’t marry the father as often. Prior to the 1970s, demographers and family planners were focused on health aspects of both mother and baby in unplanned pregnancies of middle-aged women. Meanwhile the sexual activity of teenagers was being overlooked and in turn on the rise. With these occurrences, more attention was devoted to teenagers having children. By the mid-1970s, it was common to see teenagers â€Å"pregnant and carrying an armload of schoolbooks†. This seemed to be the start of moral decay of young men and women as well as our society in believing this trend to be socially acceptable. According to Christensen and Rosen, sexual activity was lower in the 1970s than today (Williams 3). These statistics should have directed the educators to target the use of contraception over abstinence, since sexual ac tivity was obviously going to continue to increase. Surprisingly, even though sexual activity in teenagers has risen, the birthrate from 1990 to 2005 has decreased according to Sandra M. Alters (Teen Birthrate 1). There are good and bad reasons for this decrease. A positive force was the education of teens in the use of contraception, which lowered the likelihood of becoming pregnant. With the legalizing of abortion in 1973, teenagers started relying on abortion as an easy way out of a difficult situation. From 1972 to 1990 the pregnancy rate increased per one thousand women from 95 to 117. As stated earlier, the birth rate went down in these same years due to the abortion rate increasing from 19 to 41. In their bizarre way of thinking, this may have helped their situation but they gave no thought to the health and well-being of the unborn child. There are two choices a teenager has before she has the chance of becoming pregnant. There is the obvious choice of abstinence. Abstinence means that teenagers do not have sexual intercourse. Abstinence protects teenagers from STD’s and pregnancy 100 percent. According to the Center for Young Women’s Health, more teenagers are choosing abstinence, including those who have already been sexually active. Three out of four teens already sexually active are now choosing abstinence (Why 1). Abstinence may be hard to live by with peer pressuring interfering, but in the end it is the best decision. Although there are many temptations that lure teenagers into sexual activity, they must stay strong in what they believe and realize the outcome may change their life. There are teenage boys who will say ‘If you love me, you’d have sex with me,’ but girls must remember, if it is really love, they would be willing to wait until marriage (Why 1). Contraception is th e second option. Contraception also has a better chance of reducing the risk of pregnancy. There are many different forms of contraception. One in five teenagers do not use contraception. Those who do not use it, have a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant (Williams 5). Many schools have tried to have sex education classes teach about the dangers of being sexually active as a teenager, yet teens overlook them. Therefore, if adults cannot stop sexual activity in adolescents, they must provide a safer way to decrease the risks of pregnancy. Contraception is a must if teenagers refuse to stop sexual activity. Teens often make mistakes of ignoring these two options, leading to unwanted pregnancies. Far too often they do not realize the impact it has on themselves and also the family because their parents do not talk to them about being sexually active. To reduce these misunderstandings, parents need to be confident and open with their children, and converse about the risks engaging in sexual activity. According to Olivia Ferguson, â€Å"Parents, as teens themselves reveal, are the ones who have the most influence on their children’s decisions about sex†. Teenagers who delay sexual activity have â€Å"an intact family structure, parentsâ⠂¬â„¢ disapproval of adolescent sex, teens’ sense of belonging to and satisfaction with their families, parental monitoring, and parent-child communication about teen sex and its consequences†. Family structure means the number of parents living in a family along with the relationship they have with their children. Adolescents who live in an intact family structure are less likely to have sexual activity. Adolescents living in a non-intact family tend to begin sexual activity sooner because of the relationship differences between parents and children. For example according to Ferguson in 1960, 88 percent of children lived with their parents; in 2007 only 68 percent lived with parents. With this in mind, in 1960 five percent of births were to unmarried women, in 2006 these numbers increased to 38.5 percent. Therefore with the increase of parent-child communication, there is a decrease in teen sex, leading to a decrease in teen pregnancy. Teenagers have three alternatives after becoming pregnant. Adoption, keeping the baby, and abortion are options pregnant teenagers will have to face. Many parents are unable to have children; hence they adopt children. Pregnant teenagers hav e the wise option of putting their baby up for adoption. Adoption is a great way to give the baby a better life. Adoption agencies are very helpful in procedures. They offer financial help and therapy to cope with both the pregnancy and the emotions of giving their baby up for adoption. They help young men and women realize it is the best decision for both the parents and the child. The pregnant mother can rest assured that the baby will be given to parents that will love the child as much or more than they could have themselves. Not only will the parents love them, but will give them the life they deserve, a good life. Abortion is seen more frequent in more successful women because they have a career to pursue. They do not think they have time to take care of a child. Teenage girls who have higher goals and greater ambitions are more likely to seek an abortion rather than those who have few goals and future plans. Abortion is also a common choice in scared teenagers or girls pressured by the father of the child. The words of boyfriends, peers, or parents have a major influence in the choices made about a baby. Abortion is often said to be an easy way out. Abortion is a horrible decision for teenagers. The pregnancy of a teenager is not the baby’s fault, therefore the baby should not be punished for the selfish decisions the mother or father make. Why have an abortion when the baby can be put up for adoption? The third option is to keep the baby. Keeping a baby means that young teenagers must learn to become young parents. They must be able to care and provide for another life, other than their own. Keeping a baby is the toughest decision because you must learn the dos and don’ts of properly raising a child. More than love is required for a baby, but the lifetime of hardships will explain. Teen pregnancy is quite common. According to USA Today, every day more than three thousand teenagers become pregnant. There were 4.31 million babies born in 2007. Of these babies, 23 percent were from teen mothers .39 out of 100 girls at the age of fourteen will get pregnant once before they reach the age of twenty (Jayson 1). Most pregnancies are unintentional, yet it is the teen’s decision to become sexually active. Teen pregnancy is definitely not worth all the hardships. Teens should choose abstinence and completely reduce the risk of becoming pregnant. If pregnancy does occur, of those sexually active, adoption is the greatest choice a teenager can make. Providing the baby with a better life is the most important. Every teenager must ask themselves, is â€Å"it† really worth it? Works cited Jayson, Sharon. â€Å"Teen Pregnancy, Abortion Rates Rise.† Teen Pregnancy, Abortion Rates Rise – USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Aug. 2013. Lelchuk, Ilene. â€Å"SAN FRANCISCO / UCSF Explores Teens’ Post-sex Emotions.† SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Aug. 2013. â€Å"Why Is Teenage Pregnancy Declining? The Roles of Abstinence, Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use.† Why Is Teenage Pregnancy Declining? The Roles of Abstinence, Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Aug. 2013. Williams, Anna. â€Å"Teenage Pregnancy-Ann Rosen and Sue Christensen.† : Teenage Pregnancy- Ann Rosen and Sue Christensen. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Aug. 2013.