Teen Pregnancy

About 750,000 teens in the United States will get pregnant each year, which makes the U.S. the country with the highest teen pregnancy rate. This is a large number which could have been prevented by informing the teens in the United States about teenage pregnancy, birth control, and their options when dealing with methods of safe sex.

One alarming fact I came across was that 1 in 3 teens in the United States will become pregnant by the age of 20. That is a HUGE number of teenage girls who get pregnant due to lack of prevention, knowledge, or some getting pregnant on purpose due to not enough information about the struggle teen parents actually go through.

One good thing is that the number of teen pregnancies actually dropped six percent between 2008 and 2009. Many people are trying harder to prevent teenage pregnancy by informing as many teens as they can about becoming pregnant, and preventing it.

The new hit MTV reality series “Teen Mom” and “Teen Mom 2” is one way of informing teens of the hardships of being teen parents. This show contains a set of teen couples who got pregnant and either kept their babies, or chose adoption to give their child a life they couldn’t. You see the teens struggle with money, jobs, education, and emotional setbacks due to being teen parents. You also see the teens who chose adoption for their child fight their emotions everyday of missing their child and wishing they themselves could have given them the life they deserved. I believe this series is a huge impact of the percentage downfall of teen pregnancies within the last few years. Now teens not only see the joys of parenthood, but also the tough times teen parents go through to support themselves and their children.

Teenagers who have children will see a negative impact on their education. Teens who have babies in high school only have a 1/3 chance of graduating, and teens who do graduate only have a 1.5% chance of receiving a college degree by the age of 30. Without a proper education, how will you support yourselves and your children? Like I mentioned in my about me, due to my lack of education at the age of 19, working at Starbucks was my only option in job choices while pregnant. Luckily, I am continuing my education to obtain a career for myself. But with only a high school degree, teen parents will not be able to get the job they need to support their families throughout life.

Teen pregnancy will effect not only the teen’s life, but also the life of the baby. It is a fact that the daughters of teen moms will often become teen moms themselves. When you think about your future children and the lives you want for them, having your child become a teen parent usually isn’t high on the list of goals you want them to have. If you wait to have children, your children will have a better chance of being successful, and live out of poverty growing up.

Pregnancy is 100% preventable, and knowing what to do and how to prevent pregnancy is very important to continue to have a successful life ahead of you.