Abstract
Teenage pregnancy represents one of the most pressing public health and social policy challenges in both developed and developing nations, with consequences that extend well beyond the individual young woman to affect families, communities, and health systems at a systemic level. In this paper, teen pregnancy is discussed, including insight into contraception, abortion, sex education, peer pressure, parental influence, and social situations. As stated in the paper, teen pregnancy is very serious, and it is also a deeply complex situation to navigate especially as a teen. Teen females usually don’t purposely want to get pregnant; they are mostly pressured or want to explore their sexual curiosities. Sometimes however, girls purposely try and get pregnant because they want to be a mother. In this paper you will learn all about teenage mothers and their babies and how it affects the both of them.
What are the effects of Teen Pregnancy?
Once upon a time, there was a baby who gave birth to a baby — a metaphor that captures the profound developmental mismatch at the heart of adolescent motherhood, where a young person who is still physically and psychologically maturing is thrust into the demands of parenthood. The teenage pregnancy rate is constantly increasing. In Louisiana alone there were 54 per thousand teen births as of 2006. In the U.S. 43 per thousand teen births took place in 2007. There are many risks for both the child and mother when giving birth to a child as a teenager, and there are also ways to avoid pregnancy and other options when becoming pregnant as a teenager.
In research, the Save the Children foundation found that approximately 30 million children are born to mothers under the age of 20 — not just in America but in more than 90% of the world’s developing countries. The birth rate in the U.S. is 53 per 1000 women (ages 15-19) as of 2009. In socioeconomic damage, teen pregnancies cost the United States over $7 billion annually. The public cost arises not only through healthcare expenditure but through the long-term implications of educational disruption, reduced lifetime earnings, and intergenerational cycles of poverty that may affect both the teen mother and her child. With adolescent pregnancy rates rising, costs are rising as well.
The risks for teen pregnancies are numerous, for both mother and child. As a teen your bones are not fully developed, and you are not finished maturing body wise. To prevent some early risks teens should see their primary healthcare provider to reduce complications. Many moms put their selves at risk in fear or because of denial. In order to have a healthy pregnancy, the mother requires a healthy diet, prenatal care, exercise, and rest because as an adolescent the body is still maturing. The child is put at risk because as a teen mother, the baby is more likely to be premature along with a low birth weight which leads to problems in their later life. The problems range both mentally and physically. The child may also be born with birth defects. The teen mother is at great risk as well. The body is strained in order to birth the child. If the bones are not entirely developed the pelvic bone is injured as well as the spine with permanent damages. Hodgkinson et al. (2020) found in a systematic review of perinatal outcomes for adolescent mothers in high-income countries that rates of pre-eclampsia, anaemia and postpartum depression were significantly elevated compared to adult mothers, underscoring the importance of specialised antenatal care pathways for pregnant teenagers.
In psychological ways, when a teen becomes pregnant she may slip into a depression and she also is fear stricken because she feels she is too young to be pregnant. Sometimes they don’t finish school because their pregnancy is too much to handle along with their education. If they do finish school they are alone. Stranded, people look at them strangely because they are young and pregnant. They are shunned from society in schools and public places; people use profanity against them and call them inappropriate names. The friends they once had don’t hang around them anymore because they don’t want to be caught with someone pregnant, or because their parents think it is inappropriate. Social stigma may also dissuade young mothers from seeking antenatal care promptly, which compounds both the physical and psychological risks already present in adolescent pregnancies.
In most high schools, students are taught sex education. However, in the state of Louisiana and several other states, schools are not required by law to provide sex education. If any of the school districts inside Louisiana would like to offer the course they must teach abstinence as well. They do not have to teach of HIV/AIDS, contraceptives, or any STDs at all. When sex education is taught it cannot be taught in grades first through sixth and it must be incorporated into another course curriculum. Research from multiple countries has found that abstinence-only programmes do not significantly reduce teenage sexual activity or pregnancy rates, whereas comprehensive sex education that includes information on contraceptive methods consistently demonstrates better outcomes.
The options when dealing with teen pregnancy are not very broad. Adoption is one option, with many types: agency adoption, independent adoptions, closed adoption, semi-open adoption, and open adoption. When dealing with teens, most lean towards open or semi-open adoptions. In open adoptions, the parents get acquainted with the adopting parents. In semi-open adoption, the parents exchange information with the adopting parents and receive pictures, e-mails and updates about their child. In closed adoption, the parents never meet the adopting parents. Abortion is another option, in which there are many types, ranging from early vacuum aspiration procedures at eight weeks through to later procedures used in the second and third trimesters, each with its own medical, ethical and emotional considerations. The range and availability of these options varies significantly depending on legal jurisdiction, gestational age and access to healthcare services. The final option is for the teen to raise the child; they may or may not be able to finish school, but their child is cared for by their biological parent. The parents may be forced to seek employment to provide for their children. In some cases, the teen’s parents offer help and take care of the child while the teen completes their education.
Adult pregnancies are difficult but as teens the situation is extremely complex because the teen is still young and their bodies have not fully matured. The teen has responsibilities such as their education and social lives that are at stake because of their pregnancy. To avoid teen pregnancy they can try abstinence, and a plethora of contraception devices ranging from condoms, to birth control, to intrauterine devices. Shunned from society and possibly their own families, teens are put under a substantial load of stress that may have long-lasting consequences for their own wellbeing and that of their children. Early and sustained support — from healthcare providers, schools, and social services working collaboratively — has been shown to significantly improve outcomes for both teenage mothers and their infants.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this paper has illustrated a great deal about teenage pregnancy. Prevention remains critical: abstinence provides 100% prevention, protection reduces risk by approximately 89.9%, and combined hormonal contraception reduces risk by approximately 99.9% with consistent use. The risks and social stigma are noted. With improved access to comprehensive sex education and contraception, the active sex rate among teenagers may be better managed — yet teenage pregnancy remains a significant and preventable public health challenge in many communities worldwide.
References
Hodgkinson, S. C., Beers, L., Southammakosane, C., & Lewin, A. (2020). Addressing the mental health needs of pregnant and parenting adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(2), 233–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.03.001
Kost, K., & Maddow-Zimet, I. (2020). U.S. teenage pregnancies, births and abortions, 2014: National trends by age, race and ethnicity. Guttmacher Institute. https://www.guttmacher.org/report/us-teen-pregnancy-state-trends-2014
Patton, G. C., Olsson, C. A., Skirbekk, V., Saffery, R., Wlodek, M. E., Sachdev, P. S., & Azzopardi, P. S. (2018). Adolescence and the next generation. Nature, 554(7693), 458–466. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25759