Teen Pregnancy

Teen Pregnancy

According to research published by The Alan Guttmacher Institute on their website regarding teen pregnancy, “a sexually active teenager who does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within one year” (www.agi-usa.org). How to prevent teen pregnancy has been a question for many years now. Statistics have been running wild trying to keep up with the teenage generation; in work published by Stanley K. Henshaw - U.S. Teenage pregnancy statistics with comparative statistics for women aged 20- 24, it states that “Each year, almost 1 million teenage women--10% of all women aged 15-19 and 19% of those who have had sexual intercourse--become pregnant” (p. 5). Many people have their opinions on the subject (teen pregnancy), because teens seem to be getting pregnant all so fast these days. People fail to realize that having a baby is supposed to be a sort of privilege. Many people take having a baby as a joke. Getting pregnant and having a child involves many pros/cons. For example, having a child can be harder on some people than it is on others. When having a baby there are a lot of things to worry about, for the most important part, financial problems seem to be the most talked about of teen pregnancy's. In the prevention of teen pregnancy, there are many things that are helpful; For example, Abstinence is a for sure factor of not getting pregnant. There are also other helpful ways to help prevent teen pregnancy, such as sex education and birth control. All of these things are essential in the helpful prevention of teen pregnancy.

Abstinence is when you give up something you desire or of pleasure to you. Abstaining from sexual activities is a great way to prevent teen pregnancy, and the risk of getting a disease. In the past years, less sex and more condoms use has meant lower rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease; according to the data compiled by childtrendsdatabank.org, “Birth rates among teen females ages 15 to 19 declined by nearly a third between 1991 and 2003”. Abstinence is not a crime, as most teenagers and their peers seem to think. Most teens have sex because of their peers being sexually active. According to Allan Guttmacher Institute, “the percentage of sexually active males declined from 57.4 percent to 48.8 percent, essentially erasing the gender gap. In high school students alone the rate for being sexually active went from being 66.7 percent to 60.9 percent in the years of 1991-1997”. Abstinence is very important, but the peers your child hangs around are just as important. “The Nurture Assumption” says that peer groups matter a lot more than parents influencing how kids turn out, because you can pass your genes, but not your values. CDC's National Survey of Family Growth stated that “teens are having less sex”. CDC's also states, “more teenagers surveyed that their closest friends were involved in some sort of sex education class, and they were not sexually active”. Abstaining from sex and learning more about sex are good ways to assure your knowledge and decrease teen pregnancy.

Sex education is the study of the characteristics of being a male or a female. Such characteristics make up a person's sexuality. Traditionally children have received information about sexuality from their parents, church, friends, their doctors, and many other people. Many young teens learn about their bodies first. They learn their body part and why they are essential for the body to keep going each day. Many people believe that sex education being taught in schools assures children of correct and complete information about sexuality. How sex education is taught varies greatly from on program to another, whether in school or any other program. Sex education starts in kindergarten and continues through high school. From kindergarten through 4th grade, sex education teaches children about their bodies and attempts to promote a whole some attitude toward the self-development process. During these years, teachers attempt to correct any false ideas children may have learned about sex. In the grades 5th through 6th teachers try to prepare students for puberty. For example, the children learn about nocturnal emissions, menstruation and changes that will take place in their bodies, they also learn and study reproduction. From grades 7th through 9th most young adults interest in sex increases, so they learn more about responsibility, and boy/girl dating. In high school, students learn more about the social and psychological aspects of sexuality. Many other subjects come up at this time in a