The Number of Teen Pregnancies in the USA - Term Paper Example

Teenage pregnancy Teenage pregnancy The United s records the highest number of teen pregnancies amongst the industrialized nations. According to the reports published in 2006 shows that about 750,000 teens of the age bracket of 15-19 years get pregnant each year in the United States (Klemas et al., 2009). The report further points out that almost 90% of these pregnancies were unintended (Klemas et al., 2009). In 2006, there were 435,436 infants who were born from mothers aged between 15-19 years (Klemas et al., 2009). Teenage pregnancy has become a complicated issue in the United States because of the wide range of consequences associated with pregnancies. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States government could save $9 billion dollars annually if teenage pregnancy were prevented. As a result of increasing cases of teenage pregnancy, most of the funds are spent primarily in foster care, health care, and incarceration costs. Teenage pregnancy is a matter of concern in the State of Mississippi, which is among the top five states with the highest number of teenage pregnancies (Klemas et al., 2009). The majority of teenagers who were pregnant are those of non-Hispanic origin. In a survey study conducted in 2006, Mississippi was the leading in teenage pregnancies amongst the 50 states (Klemas et al., 2009). Additionally, Mississippi was the leading with teen births all over the country and it has led to a loss to the State government of Mississippi due to heavy spending on various programs aimed at addressing the challenges (Klemas et al., 2009). From the above discussion, teenage pregnancy is a topic of concern in the American society. It has attracted the attention of all the stakeholders including the health, government, and nongovernmental organizations. Additionally, the government has spent considerable millions of dollars derived from the public funds to finance the health care and other incarnations related to teenage pregnancy (Klemas et al., 2009). Teenage pregnancy affects everybody, and its a duty of everyone to rally support to stop the issue. The most important solution to the problem includes the government use of resources to offer education to the targeted group and the use of media to educate and inform on the consequences of teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy can stop if the government increases awareness amongst the targeted group through the use of its resources to campaign against the vice. Problem Analysis Many of the teenage pregnancies are unplanned for and mostly occur due to poverty and lack of information. It mainly affects the poor communities most of which are uneducated. In some countries, girls who conceived during their teenage are forced to marry in order to have children. In this scenario, girls from middle-income countries marry before the age of 18 years (World Health Organization, 2014). Additionally, there is a lack of information on how to avoid pregnancy in most countries. In most cases, girls feel ashamed to seek for contraceptives or the contraceptives are not legally available for the young girls who seek for them. Consequently, due to lack of knowledge amongst the young girls, they are less likely to use the contraceptives when compared to the adults (World Health Organization, 2014). Moreover, sometimes young girls may be easily convinced to have coerced sex that in most cases is unprotected. Teenage pregnancy seems to affect all demographics; some populations are at high risk than others. According to 2009 vital statistics, shows that African- American and Hispanic women had the highest number of births (Klemas et al. 2009). There are serious consequences associated with teenage pregnancies. Those teens that get pregnant, research shows that they are likely to remain single parents in the future. Additionally, their counterparts who wait until their twenties to get children finally have a stronger financial background than their peers with early pregnancy. Moreover, teen pregnancy is associated with health and psychological risks (Klemas et al. 2009). Teens that get pregnant below the age of 17 years are at risk of poor maternal weight gain and maternal mortality. Figure no 1. Teenage Pregnancy Figure 1. Photo showing a pregnant teen school girl. Source: Courtesy of (This is your Concience.com, n.d). Teenage pregnancy has got problems such as health effects, economic, and social consequences. Research has shown that pregnancy related complications are the leading cause of mortality among the 15-19 years old teen mothers globally. However, since the year 2000 there has been a decrease of deaths in all regions in the World with South East Asia making a notable drop from 21 to 9 per 1000 girls (World Health Organization, 2014). Additionally, there are also 3 million abortions each year that also contribute to lasting health problems and mortalities. Furthermore, research has also shown that teen pregnancy increases risk both to the child and the mother. Most babies who are from mothers below the age of 20 years face up to risk of 50% or higher ; hence, the younger the mother, the greater the risk that is exposed to the baby. Moreover, children born to teenage mothers are likely to have low birth weight posing a long-term risk to the child. Additionally, there are negative social effects that are to the girls, their families, and the community as a whole. In most cases, many girls who get pregnant are forced to drop out of school (World Health Organization, 2014). Consequently, a girl with little or no education finds it difficult to find a job due to the fewer skills. The country also faces economic consequences for losing a young woman who would have earned in her lifetime, but drops out of school due to pregnancy (World Health Organization, 2014). Solution The world Health Organization has published several publications to control of teenage pregnancies by providing guidelines aimed at reducing early pregnancies. Some of the measures in the guidelines include; reducing cases of early marriage before the age of 18years (World Health Organization, 2014). Additionally, the regulation also ensures that there is reduced coerced sex among the adolescents; increase of skilled postnatal and antenatal care amongst the adolescents, reducing cases of abortion among the adolescents. The governments should also create awareness aimed reducing pregnancy below the age of 20 years. Moreover, there are many programs that have come up like the UNICEF, H4+, UNAIDS, UN,UNFPA and the world bank are working positively towards achieving the millennium development goals that seeks to improve the maternal health, and reduce the child mortality rate (World Health Organization, 2014). Additionally, in order to reduce the teen pregnancies, various community programs should be improvised to reduce teen pregnancies and birth rates related to teen pregnancies where the risk is highest. Sex education should be available to the teens so as to provide the accurate information concerning the importance of abstinence and birth control amongst the youth and enhancement of communication between the parents and the Youth. Furthermore, the government should also avail affordable birth control methods on sexually active teens (World Health Organization, 2014). On healthcare, the government and nongovernmental organizations should support cultural practices that are youth friendly. Moreover, the healthcare providers should talk to parents and teens on sex education and on how to prevent pregnancy amongst the youth. There is the need to use hormonal contraception amongst the teens, and they are trained on how to use them. In community-based programs, all stakeholders should support community prevention programs that reduce the risk of pregnancy amongst the youth. Additionally, there should be support for the youth development strategies aimed reducing risk behaviors amongst the youth. Finally, awareness can also be availed to the policy makers and other stakeholders on different ways in which teen pregnancy can be (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). On the side of parents and Guardians, they should learn on teen pregnancy and provide their kids with sex education and ways on which pregnancy can be. Moreover, teen schools should be provided with evidence-based education relating to early pregnancies. Teens should be free to their healthcare providers and talk to them freely about how to prevent pregnancy. Likewise, teens should be encouraged to be open to their parents and talk freely about their relationships contraception and pregnancy (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Benefits The various strategies laid out by the stakeholders have led to many benefits, and now the young parents can learn by providing the childcare costs so that the young parents can continue with their education and training. Additionally, the family nurse partnership programs have provided positive results for the first time mothers to parent their babies so as the teen mothers can attend college so as to secure employment (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2010). The strategies have also addressed the lack of housing that affected many teen parents, and various poverty schemes have been improvised to support teen parents. Since the launch of the teen pregnancy prevention programs, the number of college-based contraceptive and other sexual services has increased. Figure 2 showing the number of births and birth rate for teenagers aged 15-19: United States, 1940-2009 The graph is courtesy of (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). This has given the young people a chance to access vital information concerning teen pregnancies and also access to confidential advice from the health professionals (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2010). In the United States, thousands of nurses, support staff, and teachers have been trained to deliver various social support services to cover all schools. On matters of communication, there has been an inclusion of awards winning campaign that is at reducing teen pregnancy. The transformation of the society has seen more young people from various communities talk freely on matters concerning sex education and their preventive measures. Additionally, the young people are now more confident talk the sex relationships (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2010). Moreover, preventing teen pregnancy is essential because it reduces the economic burden to the parents of the child. If teen pregnancies are, then it will save the government millions of dollars that is currently using in the campaign against teen pregnancies (Fears, 2014). With the provision of sex education to the youth, it will ensure that teens are well informed on sex matters and hence make use of the available pregnancy preventive measures at their disposal. Consequently, if teen pregnancies are, then the teen children will be able to complete their studies and secure a good job thus reducing the economic pressure on them. Teens that do not complete their studies are disadvantaged in that they are unable to secure a good job due to their level of education, and the burden of early parenthood can put them on vicious cycle of poverty. Conclusion Teenage pregnancy has been on the rise in recent years. The results of teenage pregnancy are worrying because the government is spending millions of dollars on healthcare for the teen mothers and their children. There are many disadvantages associated with teenage pregnancy like dropping out of school and poverty. Teenage mothers fail to secure a job due to their low level of education thus integrating them into the vicious cycle of poverty. Additionally, research has shown children who are from teen mothers have higher vulnerability to diseases and are unable to complete school due to their poor performance. Teenage pregnancy can be in many ways, and the stakeholders should avail sexual education to the youth to prevent the rising cases of teen pregnancies. Teens should get access to birth control mechanisms like condoms and hormonal injections to prevent the early pregnancies. The government could save billions of dollars of taxpayers money if it puts special tools to prevent teen pregnancies. Moreover, it could be cheaper for the government to offer preventive measures than caring for thousands of teen mothers in terms of health care as these could be a burden to the country. Maternal mortalities are highest amongst the teen, and these have raised the future concerns on the safety teen pregnancies due to the complications involvement. On the other hand, the government should also train its health workers, teachers, and the support staff on matters related to sex education in the teens. These will ensure that the teens are well informed and also can encourage free interactions between teachers and parents thus gaining more information on sex education. References Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). U.S. Teenage Birth Rate Resumes Decline. Retrieved on 22nd Jan. 2015 from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db58_fig3.png. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Reducing Teen Pregnancy: Engaging Communities. Retrieved on 21st Jan. 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/Features/TeenPregnancy/. Fears, C, S. (2014). Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Statistics and Programs. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved on 21st Jan. 2014 from http://crs.wikileakspress.org/RS20301.pdf. Klemas, A, Millenky, Simon, E, Smith V. (2009). Introduction to the Issue of Teen Pregnancy. Retrieved on Jan. 20th 2015 from http://www.ssrc.msstate.edu/mskidscount/downloads/AKlemas_TeenPregnancy.pdf. Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group. (2010). Teenage pregnancy. Retrieved 22nd Jan. 2015 from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181078/TPIAG-FINAL-REPORT.pdf. This is your Concience.com. Teenage Pregnancy. Retrieved on 22nd Jan 2015 from http://www.thisisyourconscience.com/2012/09/should-high-schools-have-morning-after-pills-unfortunately-yes/teenage-pregnancy/. World Health Organization. (2014). Adolescent pregnancy. Updated September 2014. Retrieved on 21st Jan. 2015 from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs364/en/. Read More