Teenage Pregnancy Essays

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Teen Pregnancy Teen pregnancy has evolved to become one of the most pressing problems faced today. In the United States, around three out of ten girls will get pregnant before the age of 20. Of these teenage moms, less than two percent earn their high school diploma or college degree. Over the years, teen pregnancy has been twisted into a societal issue, shifting the focus onto the impacts on society at large instead of the impacts on the mother and baby. Teenage girls already have enough stress in their lives; now add a baby and their stress level can reach a ten. As a teen mom their education will be disrupted, their finances will no longer be put towards college but rather the baby and society will never look at them the same. Mothers must be one hundred percent committed to their baby, and often times that means that school gets pushed aside. Thirty percent of girls drop out of high school in the U.S. because of pregnancy or parenthood. My mother is a homebound teacher and one girl she taught was put on homebound during her junior year in high school because she became pregnant. After she had her baby she continued on homebound but her grades dropped as she decided to stay at home with the baby. She did graduate, one year late, but could never continue on to college and pursue her love for teaching. Because she decided to keep her baby, her dreams were disregarded and help was never given to give her a better future. While the rate of graduating teen mothers is growing, many are still giving up their futures and are forced to settle at low paying jobs. Babies are expensive. Even before they are born they can cost up to two thousand dollars with just prenatal care. And after they’re born the first year can cost up to twelve thousand dollars. On minimum wage, a year’s salary is only around seventeen to eighteen thousand dollars. In many instances the father of the child is not there to support the child, and the mother is shunned out of her own home. This leaves only what the mother makes to support both the baby and herself. If the mother is lucky, she will receive help from her family and can afford the first year. Day cares are a popular option for teenage or single moms, but they are often another expense that the woman cannot afford. Child care costs in the United States are the highest around the world, averaging around fifteen thousand dollars a year. Assuming that they can find a job, there are very few jobs above minimum wage available in the US to women who do not posses either a high school diploma or college degree. Teen pregnancy does not only affect the mother’s future, but her present as well. When a girl becomes pregnant, she looks to her friends and family for support. More often than not, however, the people she once admired like teachers, parents, or even other students are the ones that bully and shun her. Society has labeled these teen girls as irresponsible, abusive, and destined to a life of poverty, but have still hold teen girls to a stereotype that has rapidly devolved over the years. This ideal teenage standard has forced many teen girls to take drastic measures to fit into this reputation and lifestyle. Many girls turn to abortion as a way to keep their image “pure” and their reputation “clean.” Being so young and uneducated, however, they do not realize that they are pregnant until a surgical procedure is the only abortion option left. Teenagers are often scared to tell their parents or even friends so they go to unprofessional clinics, putting themselves and their baby at risk. The percentage of teens ending their pregnancies through abortion has decreased from 40 percent in 1985 to 26 percent in 2010. Despite this drop however, two out of every five unplanned teenage pregnancies still end in abortion because society has them believe that this drastic measure is the best way to end the pregnancy. During the adolescent years a teenager’s brain is
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