Teenage Prevention

Though teenage girls get pregnant, there are ways to avoid this from happening. Personally, I beleive that girls that have sex when they are in high school is a very dumb thing to do. They say that they love him, but teenagers don't know the true meaning of love. It just really irritates me when teenagers have sex! Anyways, if you are so "in love", then use contriceptives. Or the best way to avoid it is to not have it at all. In the article, http://www.aafp.org/afp/2004/1015/p1517.html, it says that the pregnancy rates for adolecents have gone down in the last ten years, but i really doubt it. I don't see how it could go down when I know of so many people that are having sex. It also says that there are community programs to improve social development, and my first thought to that is, really? Why would people need help with their social life. Maybe I think like that is because I see so many people that thing they are "popular" that I assume everyone is "popular" in some way. Another thing that I read from this article, http://www.solutionsforamerica.org/healthyfam/teenage-pregnancy.html, that shocked me, was that it was more likely for teenage mothers to give birth before term, to have low birth weight, and to have developmental delays. I dont see why that would happen. Is it because the mothers are so young? But then again in the very olden age, girls would get married at the age of fourteen and give birth to a lot of babies so I dont understand why. It also says that teenage mothers are less likely to finish their education then moms over twenty years of age. I could see that happening because it is harder for a teenager to take care of a child then it is for an older woman, especially if the young mother's family or father of the baby doesn't help out. It goes on to talk about prevention programs and planning and I believe that if someone wants to prevent pregnancy, they shouldn't have sex in the first place. I know there are programs out there and classes like sexual education that students can take part of because I took part in some of them. During my health class as a freshman there was an organization that came to talk to us for I think a week or two, I can't remember, about sex and how to prevent for getting pregnant and the main way to not get pregnant was to be abstinent. I agree with what they were trying to teach us because I know for a fact that staying abstinent is the only 100% way to prevent pregnancy, and I don't plan on getting pregnant myself so I dont see why teenagers have sex at all. Though I know adults try to help young teenagers on how to not get pregnant with all these classes and programs teaching us about this stuff, I dont think it will ever fully stop teenagers from having sex and getting pregnant. It's kind of sad.

Other Sources: http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/articles2.html

Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy can be very expensive. In the article, http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html, it costs the United States at least seven billion annually. The percent of young woman that get pregnant at least once under the age of 20 is thirty-four percent, that is 820,000 a year. For me, when I read that, I was really shocked. I think that is a big percentage and I also think its really sad. Most of these pregnancies are unexpected and unintended. The other sad thing about teen pregnancy is that these teens are getting pregnant and they are not even married. When I think of two people having sex I think of it as their way of showing their love for one another, but I also think that sex is made for marriage. And when these teens are not even married and they are having sex, it is very disappointing to me. There always has to be a reason of why people do things, and getting pregnant is no exception. When expert Deborah L. Devine was asked what were some reasons for teenagers to get pregnant at such a young age, she said that it happens for three reasons. The main reason is for love. Also love from a boyfriend. They can't search anywhere else for that love so they get it from their boyfriend. Also the last reason is that they never think that they could ever get pregnant. Teens always think that nothing could ever happen to them because they are invincible, but the truth is, they aren't invincible. Therefore they never expect it. Many teenage girls, even under the age of 15, feel pressured to have sex, and the more someone has sex, the more possibility they can get pregnant. Some girls could even get raped. That is another source of unwanted pregnancies. Men that rape woman, in my opinion, are very sick minded. I couldnt imagine what could be going on through their head, but what i do know is that what is going on though their head isn't pretty. Sure there are ways to prevent pregnancies, but sometimes they dont always help. Teenagers can misuse the contraceptives, or not use them consistantly. That could also lead to unexpected pregnancies.

Additional information gotten from:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Teen-Pregnancy-862/3-main-reasons-teens.htm
http://www.teenhelp.com/teen-pregnancy/teen-pregnancy-reasons.html