TEEN PREGNANCY

Teen pregnancy is one of the biggest problems in the United States today. More than 1 million teenagers give birth a year. Among African American girls, the most dramatic reduction ever has occurred. Pregnancy among African American girls aged from 10 to 17 changed in 2003 from a rate of 25.4 per female of 1,000 populations to a rate of 23.6 in 2004.  It’s also known that 25% of teenage girls within 2 years give birth to their second child. Also a third of teenage mothers obtain only high school diplomas and are, sometimes, most likely to drop out. About 7 billion dollars a year is spent dealing with teen pregnancy. Being an underage mother sometimes leads to poor nutrition, neglect, abuse, healthcare, and simply a lack of social attention of the baby. Statistics also show that 22% of females born to teenage mothers will most likely become teenage mother and 13% of males will end up being incarcerated.

RISKS IN HAVING A BABY UNDER AGE

Teenagers, when having a baby, can sometimes produce multiple health risks for the baby. Not eating the proper foods necessary, not seeking the prenatal care needed, and gaining inadequate weight can result in low birthrate, respiratory distress syndrome, and undeveloped organs. Also being young, teenagers tend to eat the wrong foods, drink alcohol, and take drugs. The most important things when having a baby are feelings, eating well, being a mother, caring for the baby, choices, prenatal care, and expenses when dealing with a child.

PREVENTION

There are three main ways to prevent pregnancy. They are abstinence, contraception, and simply the smart things to do when choosing to have sex. When abstinence occurs, people are basically taking careful steps to prevent pregnancy. Waiting to have sex, having their mind about sex, and doing it only if/when comfortable are all forms of abstinence. Contraception is the performance of birth control. Using condoms- female and male- and using birth control. All types of effective birth controls are condoms, diaphragms, IUDs, Spermicidal gel, the pills, contraceptive patch, vaginal ring, injection, contraceptive sponge, cervical cap, and male/female sterilization all are from 91 to 99% effective. And there is also abortion.

SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY

There are vivid symptoms to pregnancy. Some of which are early signs while others aren’t. The most common signs a missed menstrual cycle, vomiting, nausea, “morning sickness,” tiredness, fatigue, bloating, weight gain, stress, mood swings, darker color of the areola (surrounding the nipple), and tenderness of breast. When experiencing any of these symptoms, a pregnancy test should be taken. If a store-bought test is taken, a visit to a clinic should still be done- just to be positively sure.

CHOICES OF HAVING THE BABY

There are three choices that you’re to choose from when you’re pregnant. One is to have and raise your child, have an abortion, and/or adoption once baby is born. When having your baby, there are many risks in trying to do the right thing. Also, when having an abortion, the procedure to terminate an embryo, should be up to the mother and best for the mother. Lastly, when going through with adoption, when the baby’s born, it’s put up for adoption which also should definitely be up to the mother.