Enough Teen Pregnancy!

Ok – ENOUGH! There is an issue happening and I must speak on it! I saw Private Practice on Thursday and not only did they touch on this issue of sex pictures that is sweeping teen cell phones across America but now there is yet again, another teen pregnancy only this time, she’s not even a teen; she’s 12.

Juno was 16, the American Teenager is 15, Andrea on 90210 is 16, and now 12? Enough is too much! I recognize these are fictitious situations but they are coming from a real place and the message is not a good one. In real life your issues are not resolved in 30-60 minutes. These children are not giving birth to Sponge Bob! It is a real human life and today’s media is making light of a very serious epidemic.

The birth rate rose by three percent between 2005 and 2006 among 15-to-19-year-old girls, after plummeting 34 percent between 1991 and 2005, the National Center for Health Statistics reported. In 2000, teenage abortion rates were highest in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Nevada, and California. The number of babies born in the US reached record levels in 2007, outpacing the birthrate from the late 1950s. Official figures showed that 4,317,119 babies were born in 2007, the highest number on record. Unmarried mothers accounted for almost 40% of births, and while three-quarters of them were over the age of 20, teen births, after declining for much of the past 15 years, rose for the second year in a row.

These statistics should be very sobering. We have a real problem but lately there has been an unacceptable acceptance of this behavior. What happened to good old fashioned values? What happened to waiting until you were married or at least in love instead of having sex because there’s nothing good on TV? We can’t say ass before 9pm on network television but THIS is ok? I don’t think so!

Teenagers today are faced with so much more than the Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers before them with the accessibility of the internet. This puts them at a needed maturity level that is far beyond anything we have faced before. However, as human beings, our Gen Y’s don’t come with different DNA so these children still don’t know their ass from their elbow when it comes to the realities of the world let alone raising another human life. You have to get a license to drive a car, get married, and even start a business. You have to pass a test to get into higher education but becoming a parent is free. The most important job in the universe can just happen, usually by accident.

But what can we do? Abstinence groups aren’t working. There are lots of people that agree with this opinion but how do we help?

Adolescent girls today deal with body issues, peer pressure, and low self worth. These issues are not new. The today show did a report, July 9, 2007 about parenting and teaching kids what “Attractive” really means. Half (54 percent) of women around the world see family relationships as having the greatest impact on their self-esteem. Two-thirds (63 percent) of women believe that they are expected to be more physically attractive than their mother’s generation. Dissatisfaction with body image increases as girls progress to adolescence. While 75 percent of girls 8 to 9 years old say they like the way they look, only 56 percent of girls 12 to 13 years old feel that way.

Many state organizations have been working with schools to implement proven teen pregnancy prevention curricula in middle and high schools, including working with parents about talking with their children to make healthy decisions.

While 85 percent of the teenage girls who become pregnant every year do not plan their pregnancies, an alarming 15 percent of these pregnancies are intentional. Some girls are under the false pretenses that having a baby will provide them with a certain amount of love that is currently missing in their lives. In, What Ever Happened To Daddy’s Little Girl, a book by Jonetta Rose Barras, she tells how your father is the first man in your life as a young girl. With so many absentee fathers across ethnic lines, our girls are devoid of a role model to demonstrate how they should be treated by a man. The result of this is that many young girls seek that acceptance through promiscuity at a young age.

There are several myths surrounding teen and adolescent pregnancy. Some of these myths are misunderstandings that many teenagers have regarding sexual activity and pregnancy. A common deception among teens is that it is impossible to impregnate someone, or become pregnant the first time they have sex. Other misconceptions are that you can’t get pregnant if you have sex standing up or that you can’t get pregnant unless you are over the age of 16.

It all boils down to parenting. In a time when our children are having children, parenting has ceased. I don’t believe this has happened because suddenly it is no longer important, they are just not equipped. If you were not given the tools, you can not build a sound foundation, let alone a solid house. Our teachers, mentors, and even outside organizations can only do so much. Parenting must be the job of the parent or parents. There is a reason why it takes two to make the child. That does not preclude anyone whether they have a partner or not from teaching consequences. Teen pregnancies delay the progression of our young girls and possibly the future first ladies or presidents of future generations.

Nationally, only two percent of teen moms have a college degree by age thirty. Studies of teenage mothers conclude that between a third and a quarter of them will have a second child within two years. And those who do are less likely to obtain a high school diploma and more likely to live in poverty or receive public assistance than those who don’t.

Let’s work together and get back to parenting our children. Libraries are free and have a plethora of resources to help parents talk to their children about sex. Programs like Teen Success through Planned Parenthood as well as many other women’s organizations can help. Spend time with your children both girls and boys. Television shows like “Sex with Mom and Dad” are showing how to have those conversations and what other things to talk about. Show them the benefit of waiting and having a life of their own and finding out who they are before they become parents. Only then can we save our children from ending their childhood way too soon.


Resources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/05/AR2007120501208.html
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/18/birth-rate-us-baby-boomers
https://www.dreamessays.com/customessays/Society/12734.htm
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=centers+to+prevent+teen+pregnancy&page=1&qsrc=2106&ab=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2FReproductiveHealth%2FAdolescentReproHealth%2FScienceApproach.htm