Teenage Pregnancy Essays (3555 words) - Adolescence, Midwifery

It started when she noticed that she was a few days late. Her period was supposed to start Tuesday, and now it?s the following Sunday. Her breasts feel achy the way they do when she?s about to start her period, only she hasn?t started her period. Well, maybe she got the dates wrong. Maybe she was supposed to start the next Tuesday, rather than this past Tuesday. It?s pushed to the back of her mind and she goes on with her day. Another week goes by and still nothing. No bleeding, no spotting. She wakes up in the morning, her stomach queasy. It can?t be morning sickness, because she?s on the pill, so she can?t be pregnant. Another week, and her stomach is getting worse. She can?t stand the smell of bacon nor the burgers her father?s grilling for dinner. She finally swallows her pride and buys an at-home pregnancy test. Two lines appear. She?s pregnant. And the reality is that this is quite common. Walk into any public high school and you?ll count five women who are very much pregnant and expecting to give birth soon. And how many more among them are pregnant but early enough so that they don?t show? How many have been pregnant but opted to not go through labor? According to Bruggink (2007), the United States? teen birth rate, teen pregnancy rate, and teen abortion rate all remain the highest in the world. Kicking off with numbers, Lindsay (1989) states that more than a million adolescents (ages 19 and under) become pregnant each year, and nearly 500,000 of those teens deliver babies. Why are the numbers so high, and why do teens so frequently have sex? Why teenagers have sex, as stated by Smith (2006), can be explained by numerous variables. For one, she says, adolescents become sexually mature approximately four to five years before they reach the level of emotional maturity required for them to choose the right partners and responsibly protect themselves from these ?accidents.? Henslin, author of ?Essentials of Sociology,? may relate it to the way teens are socialized. In chapter three of his book, he states that a person?s values, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by outside sources, such as family, friends, media, and schooling. Looking at his claim that ?in the industrialized world, adolescence must ?find? themselves,? it can be assumed that teen sex is influenced by today?s pop culture; a culture in which friends, TV and movies, music, and magazines send obvious messages that premarital, sexual relationships (especially in teens) are common and accepted, and sometimes even expected. Now, surprisingly, teenage sex has actually declined since reaching a major high in 1990, and it can be presumed that it is due to an increase use in condoms (Smith, 2006). Research also shows that the birth rate among girls ages 10-14 has reached the lowest level in almost 50 years. Not what I?d expect when looking at the families of my ?Brady Bunch? parents. So she finds out she?s pregnant. Now she?s at the beginning of a long, tough road and has three options ahead of her. Luckily for her, she doesn?t have to make the decision on her own. All over the country, pregnancy counseling services are available to many young women; whether by phone service, counseling center, or Internet services (Lindsay, 1989). With their help and the support and aid of friends, family, and the baby?s father, she will have to decide between abortion, adoption, or keeping and caring for her child. The first option I will talk about is abortion. In his latest edition of his book, Henslin makes the well known fact clear: no other issue can divide Americans as abortion. Politics and social movements have restricted abortions as well as made it illegal for states to prohibit abortion, and prolife groups repeatedly challenged the ethics and morals of abortion. Research by Burke and Reardon (2002) have shown that for over 30 years, the people of the United States has argued repeatedly over abortion, while at the same time, over 30 million women have had at least one abortion. They also point out that, and I sadly agree, while this political (and very much ethical) battle ensues, very little has been done