Teenage pregnancies in the USA - Essay Example

 Teenage pregnancies in the United s were estimated at 614,400 for teenagers in the ages of 15 to 19 as at Miscarriage in the same age group stood at 98,300 while there were 157,500 legal abortions. This means teenage births were approximately 367,700 just in 2010 alone. Of all the births that occurred in the United States in the year 2013, 7% were accounted for by teenagers and 15.4% of births the same year that were out of marriage were among teenagers. The statistics clearly indicate that teenage pregnancy in America is a real subject of concern and must be addressed. In this paper, I examines current efforts at addressing this national problem, how successful have the efforts been and what can be done going forward. Giving birth during teenage, has negative outcomes in terms of health and social welfare not only for the teenage mothers but also the children. In increases the chances of dropping out of school and as such lowered educational achievement among the mothers which in turn increases unemployment, dependence on welfare and poverty. Teenage mothers are also at a high risk of experiencing repeat pregnancies as well as well as divorcing in case they marry. Their children on the hand have a higher likelihood of being premature and experiencing child mortality. There chance of receiving inadequate healthcare and social welfare is almost given. Being Cognizant of the many negative consequences of teenage pregnancy and childbearing, one of the America’s objectives is to prevent their occurrence. The united still leads in teenage pregnancies among industrialised countries of its league despite the rates having been on a consistent decline in the recent past (Solomon-Fears, 2015). Consensus is therefore growing about the need for the use of a combination of strategies aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy. The current trend of declining rates of teenage pregnancies in America is something to smile about more must be dome to bring it to the bare minimum. One reason that has been cited for the downward trend between 1991 and 2005 is an increase in uptake of contraceptives such as condoms among women who are sexually active. Campaigns preaching abstinence and specifically targeting teenagers have also been also found to positively impact the efforts of preventing pregnancy (Wind, 2014). A very notably encouraging observation is that most teenagers view casual sex in negative light as it is associated with higher risk for contracting STDs and in fact could be more fatal with the reality of HIV/AIDS. The downward trend was interrupted briefly between 2006 and 2007 but returned in 2008. The Centres for Disease Control observes that strong messages of pregnancy prevention are to thank foe the declining rates (CDC, 2014). Other factors that are crediting for the decline in teen pregnancy after 2007 include the economic recession, increased usage of IUD, an MTV show that is against teen pregnancy and the use of morning pills as plan B. Internet has increased the access to sexual information among teenagers and this also has a positive impact as they can now easily make informed decisions. A lot is being done at the level of federal government in terms of reducing teen pregnancy in the United States. The Welfare Reform Law (P.L. 104-193) for instance has teenage pregnancy reduction as one of its explicit goals. The law therefore provides funding and spearheads programs such as the abstinence-only strategy to prevent and reduce pregnancies among teenagers. Pregnancy, birth and or abortion rates among American teenagers have gone down in the recent past but still remain high as compared to many industrialised nations such as the UK, Japan and Denmark. Until just recently, the united was sharply divided in terms of option on preventing teenage pregnancy. One side of the debate held the opinion that “abstinence-only education” strategies are the most effective and healthy option while the other side stood for a comprehensive approach to provision of sex education. Despite enabling youth make the best decisions on abstinence, a comprehensive would provide them with information required for setting relationship limits, resisting peer pressure using contraceptives and also preventing exposure to sexually transmitted diseases. With the reality being that as high as 47.74% of teenagers in high school have already had an intercourse, abstinence-only approaches may not prevent teen pregnancies and their exposure to disease. There is also a very high number of women below 25 years having STDs and these calls for more effort in persuading against sexual activity or encouraging the use of contraceptives with aim of not only preventing pregnancy but also reducing the risks of STIs. A national study in the year 2012 found that 74%ofa American adults and 49% of our teenagers would prefer teens being given information on contraception further to abstinence and 62% of American parents want their teenagers provided with information on sex abstinence and control or prevention of teenage births. The American public therefore generally supports efforts to persuade teenagers to delay sexual activity and provide them with contraception information but see the two strategies as being contradictory. The HHS Secretary in the year 2010 recognised the problem of teen pregnancy as a nations issue requiring deployment of the science of what works in addressing. Such an investment would avail evidence-based initiatives to communities while at the same time testing new strategies for effective intervention (Copen and Abma, 2011). The United States through various federal efforts is therefore trying every approach at addressing the problem of teenage pregnancies. The efforts and strategies have been evolving over time but ultimately avail resources in our communities to fight the teen pregnancy issue. The adolescent Family Life (AFL) program of 1981 for instance focussed on direct funding of adolescent issues such as sexuality, childbearing and even parenting. Under AFL community efforts such as sexual education, prevention services and a combination of both are funded. Title V Abstinence Education Block Grant, Community-Based Abstinence Education and AFL have focused communities but majorly took an abstinence-only approach. The passage of P.L. 111-117 and P.L. 111-148 in the year 2010 for the first time availed funds for evidence based initiatives at preventing teen pregnancies. Programs such as the Teen Pregnancy prevention (TPP) and Personal Responsibility Education Program were thus established. Consensus is therefore on the increase that there is not one particular approach that completely addresses the issue and therefore an evidence based approach is the way going forward. President Barrack Obama’s administration prefers an evidence-based approach to expanding those programs that work best and eliminating those not supported with results evidence going into the future. The administration therefore supports rigorous evaluation of programs of current and proposed strategies of addressing the issue. it recognises that the future will favour the scientific method where experimentation is used in determining whether programs that have not been tested before can be more effective. The HHS has therefore has a list of programs thought to effectively delay sexual activity among teenagers, increase contraceptive uptake among those already active sexually and reduce teen pregnancies. The programs are designed to inform the young ones on abstinence, contraception, and the need for avoiding teen pregnancies. An evidence based approach to the issue is of the opinion that those programs evidenced to be effective need to be replicated and their usage expanded by those seeking federal financing in preventing teen pregnancy. An evidence based approach has an advantage in that the programs will be varied and will approach the entire issue of teen pregnancy from different angles. Some of evidence-based programs aim at delaying the initial sex experiences among teenagers while others aim at deciphering the root causes of pregnancies and childbearing among teenagers. Other programs have the objective of preventing repeat pregnancies and births among teenagers already affected. Success in the programs therefore must recognise the need for different approaches at addressing the issue of teen pregnancy which is now a national problem in the United States of America. Research has found that inclusion of components like mentoring, increased management of cases, regular home visits by professionals such as nurses and classes on parenting in programs of preventing teenage pregnancy can be very effective. Going forward therefore the efforts at addressing the problem of teenage pregnancy must take a multi-strategy approach that is anchored on evidence based practice (Solomon-Fears, 2015). In conclusion therefore the issue of teenage pregnancy has a problem of the nation and calls for a careful approach. For a very long time there was a sharp division of opinion on the arena as there were those favouring abstinence-only education for the youth while others vouch for a comprehensive approach that gives information on abstinence, contraception, need for preventing pregnancies as well as caring for those already affected. A comprehensive approach may have more advantages as it could make it possible to address many different perspectives of the entire problem buts must also be built upon to increase effectiveness. An evidence-based approach where experimentation is used to determine and expand on the programs working best while avoiding those not working will be the way forward going into the future. Such an approach will combine and experiment with different models to determine the best and will also attack the problem from different perspectives. References. 1. Carmen Solomon-Fears. (2015). Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Statistics and Programs. Congressional Research Service. Available at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20301.pdf 2. CDC. (2014). Teen Pregnancy in the United States. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm 3. Kohler PK, Manhart LE, Lafferty WE (2008). Abstinence-only and Comprehensive Sex Education and the Initiation of Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy. J Adolesc Health. 2:344-351. 4. Martinez G, Copen CE, Abma JC. (2011) Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive use, and Childbearing, 2006–2010. National Survey of Family Growth. National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Health Stat. 23(31). 5. Rebecca Wind. (2014). U.S. Teen Pregnancy, Birth and Abortion Rates Reach Historic Lows. Guttmacher Institute. Available at: https://guttmacher.org/media/nr/2014/05/05/index.html Read More