The Issue of Preventing Teenage Pregnancy - Essay Example

Preventing Teen Pregnancy of Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction This thesis addresses the issue of preventing teenage pregnancy, which remains a controversial subject in the United States. It draws attention to the significance of various strategies that can be useful in preventing teenage pregnancy, which include; sex education, safe sex, and abstinence-policy, contraceptives, abortion as well as birth control clinics. Many methods have been applied to protect the youth from unplanned pregnancies but they have not fully addressed the problem. Teenage pregnancy is a major source of problem not only for the youth but also for the families of the girls as well as the children brought up by the teenagers that are immature mothers who in most cases do not have the capacity to provide for their basic needs. Preventing Teenage Pregnancy in United States According to Williams (43), studies indicate that teen pregnancies are associated with ignorance regarding safe sex. When teens do not get the necessary education from guardians, schools or other reliable sources of information about risky sexual behavior, they are likely to ignore the dangers involved until they fall victims of teen pregnancy. Brown observes that the various methods of birth control are not known to a large number of teenage girls (12). The girls usually have sex at an early age because they do not know how to deal with their male friends who influence them to engage in sexual intercourse before marriage. They are left with no choice but to expose themselves to pregnancy. Most of the teenagers have no information regarding the core details of human sexuality. Surveys indicate that a large number of teens get pregnant after their first sexual experience, and that most of them are pressurized by their male friends to have sex (Williams, 55). This is an indication of the dangers that teenagers are exposed to as a result of lack of information on their sexuality, which makes sex education a significant and relevant subject for school-going teenagers. However, sex education is one of the issues that generate mixed reactions among parents and stakeholders in schools. Even though health experts advocate for sex education as a way of minimizing teenage pregnancies, some parents and churches would not wish to believe that teenagers will have sex and therefore view the subject as a motivator towards having sex at an early age. Nevertheless, failing to acknowledge the fact that teenagers engage in risky sexual behavior due to ignorance regarding their sexuality and coping strategies will not help. Sex education generates self awareness and is an appropriate way of controlling teen pregnancy (Luker, 83). Few teenagers understand the meaning of safe and unsafe sex. It is common for them to confuse the terms with some understanding safe sex as the sexual intercourse with a person whom they trust while unsafe sex is regarded as involvement in sexual activity with a strange person or one who is thought to cause harm. This to them means that having sex with a boyfriend is safe, totally disregarding the possibility of getting pregnant so long as they derive pleasure from it. They forego the use of condoms in favor of uninterrupted pleasure (Sullivan et al. 1128). The policies supporting sex education in US schools are significant in enlightening the youth regarding issues of safety in sex. Most of the schools in the US offer sex education between grade 7 and 12 (Bleakley et al. 1151). They understand human reproduction, family planning methods, conception and child bearing. With this knowledge, they are able to avoid involvement in risky sexual behavior and hence the avoidance of teen pregnancy can be accomplished. However, opponents of sex education argue that it promotes pre-marital sex, which puts the teens at risk of contacting sexually transmitted diseases. In the opponents’ point of view, teens are made to fear pregnancy and ignore moral values as well as other risks and therefore as long as they can avoid pregnancy, they are free to engage in premarital sex (Luker, 81). Bleakley et al. observes that teen pregnancy in the United States is on the decline, falling from 20% in majority of the states since 1991. The highest decline was noted beginning from 1996 when the welfare reform law was enacted, leading to the commencement of the abstinence education program (1152). This was a strategic approach that emphasizes the avoidance of sex among teenagers until marriage. It is a program that promotes good morals through counseling and mentorship. The program delays the onset age for sex thereby allowing teens to make informed decisions regarding sex when they have attained maturity. They are taught on coping strategies that help them to deal with the pressure of having sex at an early age. Teens are made to understand that sex is an affair of married people. They are also educated on the physical and emotional stress associated with teenage sex. In essence, abstinence only policies are significant in the derailment of the onset age. Nevertheless, opponents of abstinence-only education policies claim that they deny the teenagers the knowledge of their sexuality thereby exposing them to the dangers of ignorance (Luker, 67). The use of contraceptives is a controversial subject in the United States, with religious groups campaigning against the use of contraceptives. For example, Williams observes that the emergency contraception pill is considered to be a form of abortion in religious circles (37). Religious women therefore may not opt for the pill even when they engage in an unplanned unprotected sex. However, it is important to note that an unwanted pregnancy may cause greater emotional and physical stress than the guilt of taking an emergency pill or other contraceptives. Teenagers need to understand the use of contraceptives even though they should not be encouraged to use them as the only approach to prevent pregnancy due to the other dangers associated with sex such as sexually transmitted diseases. Similar to sex education, opponents of contraceptives argue that their use promotes premarital sex as the teens are only focused on avoidance of pregnancy. Access to birth control pills had been made difficult for women in the US due to the influence of religious groups leading to pharmaceuticals failing to dispense the medications until the government intervened through the “Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act” of 2005 that obliged pharmaceuticals to dispense birth control pills. The act also protects women’s right to purchase and use regardless of state legislations (Silverstein, 56). Abortion is a controversial subject that many women in the United States do not like talking loudly about especially if they are involved. Teenagers who have early sexual encounters usually find themselves in a dilemma of whether to allow the pregnancy to mature or to terminate it. In religious circles, abortion is a sin and should not be allowed in the society. Studies indicate that more than 26% of the abortions recorded in the US between 2006 were carried out in teenagers who were too young to give birth (Hamilton et al. 48). It is a matter of logic to know that a child born by a minor is likely to be brought up under difficult conditions especially due to lack of basic needs and the desired maturity to bring up a child by the mother. Abortion can be used as a solution to such pregnancies although it is associated with health complications especially when it is not conducted by a qualified physician. It should only be used as a last resort and not frequently (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 23). Access to a birth control clinic for teenagers is a significant way of helping teenagers on a one-on-one basis. It is an important strategy to deal with shyness that may be a major impediment for controlling pregnancy among teenagers. For example, female teens may not have the courage to ask for birth control pills in pharmacy’s that are operated by adults. Adams & Souza observe that many teenagers have unwanted pregnancies because they fear purchasing emergency pills from pharmacies (123). The fear of what others will say is a major problem that can be solved through the establishment of birth control clinics to offer family planning services to teenagers, yet according to the Contraceptive Technology Update, “a woman needs a back up pregnancy control method”. This is necessary when other methods fail to prevent the success of fertilization such as busting of the condom (98). The “Family Planning Services and Population Act” of 1970 allowed the establishment of birth control clinics in the US even though there are many opponents of birth control especially among religious leaders (Adams & Souza, 37). Conclusion The thesis has highlighted the significant strategies that can be useful in preventing teenage pregnancy in the United States. They include; sex education which has been presented as an important approach for awareness creation on human sexuality among teens that helps them to avoid unplanned pregnancies, safe sex which enhances caution among teens whenever they are involved in sexual intercourse, and abstinence-policy that is a government strategy aimed at delaying the onset age of sexual activity among teens. The thesis also points out the significance of teenagers’ access to contraceptives that can help in controlling pregnancy. Abortion is highlighted as the last resort to terminate unwanted pregnancy, not withstanding the health risks associated with it, which put birth control at an upper hand. Birth control clinics have been highlighted as important avenues for teens to meet with reproductive health professionals for family planning services. References Adams, A., & Souza, R.. “Teenage contraception”. General Practice Update, 2009: 2.6, pp 36-39 Bleakley A, Hennessy M, Fishbein M. “Public opinion on sex education in US schools”. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006: 160 pp1151-1156. Brown, S. “The critical link: Preventing teen & unplanned pregnancy”. Policy & Practice, 2010: pp 11-14 Contraceptive Technology Update. “FDA panel recommends approval of new emergency contraceptive pill”. Newsletter for Health Professionals, 2010: 31(9) pp 97-108 Hamilton, B. E., Martin, J. A. & Ventura, S. J. “Births: preliminary data for 2006”. National Vital Statistics Reports, 2007: 56 (7) pp 47-62 Luker, K. When Sex Goes to School: Warring Views on Sex—and Sex Education—Since the Sixties. New York, Norton and Company, 2007. National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  Fact Sheet:  A Look at the Real costs of Teen Pregnancy.  Washington, DC:  National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003. Silverstein, H. Girls on the Stand: How Courts Fail Pregnant Minors. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007 Sullivan, F. O. Udell, W. Montrose, V. A. Antoniello, P. & Hoffman, S. “A cognitive analysis of college students’ explanations for engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse”. Arch Sex Behav, 2010: 39 pp 1121-113 Williams, M. E. Sex: opposing viewpoints. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2006 Read More