How would you feel if you found out that you were expecting a baby? Most people would be filled with joy and would be speechless to the fact that there is something beautiful inside of them. I can tell you that I was speechless in both a good and a bad way. I was only 15 when I found out I was expecting a baby. I was starting to learn about my body and about life but now I had to focus on learning about being a mother. It was July of 2010 when I realized that I was pregnant. I wasn’t sure of much but the only thing I was confident about was that my life was about to change drastically.
This topic has been a very controversial subject for way too long. I as well as others can understand that this has more bad sides than good sides and it is very important that we discuss it and make the pros and cons very clear. There is no way to fully prevent this from happening, there are many things that play into this situation. We as a community should be able to speak about teens being sexually active without making teens feel like its a bad thing or making them feel uncomfortable. Some people may think that teens shouldn’t be having sex and yes that can be true but we all mature in different ways and sometimes sex might come sooner to some than others. We should speak about this with an open mind, we should have options and alternatives for when this happens. Parents should be able to speak to their children in hopes that they will be open about if they are sexually active or not, even when teens say they aren’t I believe that parents should take precautions and explain how this could affect them and their future. Schools should focus on teen pregnancy just as much as they do on sexually transmitted diseases and such things. Not everyone will agree with schools speaking about this but it’s very important for teens to know that it’s something that is okay to talk about.
Condoms have always been peoples go to when it comes to preventing things from happening while being sexually active but there are so many more options. Condoms have not been proved to be 100% effective. Doctors and nurses should encourage teens to practice safe sex. They should encourage teens to not have sex until they know that they are ready, they should be able to recognize LARC ( Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives), IUD’s ( Intrauterine Device) , and so many more types of birth control that are more effective than just condoms and pills. Science has stepped up their game and has developed more options that we should take advantage of.
Lets go ahead and knock the pros out,as there are more cons than pros. There are often thoughts that nothing good comes out of this but to be honest there are. Teen moms are able to mature and grow faster than more teens, we can agree that this is and can be a good thing for themselves and the people around them. Teens are often able to handle responsibilities better when having a child which yes, it sounds a little ironic. On the bright side it has been proven that teens who do have children at an early age tend to have much more energy by the age of 30.
Now let’s talk about the cons of being pregnant at a young age. This is where people start to think that being pregnant at an early age is the worst thing that could happen to someone. According to an article written by HealthResearchFunding.org there is a total of 750,00 teen pregnancies in the United States every year which causes the country to spend over $9 million dollars each year. A large percentage of those $9 million dollars come from people who pay taxes every year so this is why a lot of people are against this idea or may disagree with the idea as it does affect them more than we think. 113 out of every 1,000 teens tend to be teen moms, only 30% of them get their high school diploma and only 1.5% of them get a college diploma by the age of 30. Nevada has the highest teen birth rate in the country, another fact is that girls who are born to teen moms are most likely to be teen moms as well and boys born to teen moms are most likely to end up in prison.
Yes this idea might seem a bit dumb or a bit ignorant but there is a reason to why this actually happens. Often teen moms tend to not be as well educated or have a job to provide to their families and this causes their kids to be easily influenced to do things to help their families that might make them end up in prison. This goes back to the way that teens are spoken to about sex, parents tend to be old schooled about things and speak about how sex is going to be and what to expect but they fail to explain the ways in which they can prevent pregnancy other than to use a condom which isn’t always 100% effective. Girls who are born to teen moms can be influenced to be sexually active at a young age because they may look at it like an okay thing. I am not saying that it is a bad thing nor that teens should not be able be sexually active but I do think that they should be prepared when the time comes.
I think that adults should influence teenagers to participate in different activities such as sports and clubs just as much as they promote this in school. This can help them focus more on other things rather than focusing on trying to fit in which older kids. Oftentimes teens do things that make them seem cooler so that they fit in with the “big kids” . I think that it would be a great idea for older teens to speak to younger teens about different options and to encourage them to not have sex too young.
