teen pregnancy

TEEN PREGNANCY'S

• 31% of teenage girls get pregnant at least once before they reach age 20.*
• 750,000 girls get pregnant in the United States every year.*
• About one in three pregnancies in America are unwanted.*
• Despite recent focus on reducing teen pregnancy rates in the United States, the overall teen birth rate increased in 13 states between 2003 and 2004 and remained stable in 3 others.*
• In many developed countries, teen pregnancies rates have gone down due to changes in sex education that include contraceptive education.  Teen pregnancy rates in the United States are at least twice that in Canada, England, France, and Sweden, and 10 times that in the Netherlands.****
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that at least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease.  

The Increase of Teenage Pregnancy Teenage parenthood is by no means a new social phenomenon. Historically, women have tended to begin childbearing during their teens and early twenties. During the past two decades the U. S. teenage birthrate has actually declined (Polit and others, 1982). In the late 1950s, 90 out of 1000 women under 20 gave birth as compared with 52 out of 1000 in 1978. Several factors contribute to the current attention focused on teenage pregnancy and parenthood. There is currently a large number of young women in the 13 to 19 age range, so that while the birthrates are declining, the absolute number of teenagers is increasing.
The mother also risks the life of the baby due to the premature birth. The teen mother experiences a tremendous dilemma after realizing that some physical changes are substantiating her pregnancy. Mostly such teen’s lacks the courage to explain what they are going through to her parent. Generally, many perform their duties routinely as they lack the knowledge of what is awaited from their womb. Nature takes its cause and before the parent realizes the pregnancy, abortion becomes an option to many teenagers. The Causes of Teen Pregnancy There are many different situations that teenagers get themselves involved in that can lead to teen pregnancy. Many teenagers do not understand the risks that are involved with having sex. Teenagers today are growing up in a culture in which peers, TV and motion pictures, music, and magazines often transmit either covert or overt messages that unmarried sexual relationships (specifically those involving teenagers) are common, accepted, and at times expected, behaviors.