Teen Pregnancy: Understanding The Causes and Prevention

A big issue nowadays is the pregnancy among teens. They do not realize the consequences involved and just for a moment of fun they end up either pregnant or having to take care of a child at a really young age. Teen pregnancy involves having to think about abortion, any consequences such as medical issues and knowing how to continue living your life. Being a teen that is pregnant means getting involved into many consequences. We do not realize how hard it is at our young age to raise and be responsible for any other human rather than just yourself. We do not realize how many teenage girls are pregnant until we see all the different rates. Rates differ from ages and all ethnicities. Including girls below the age of fifteen get pregnant. Imagine having one of your family members going through teen pregnancy. It is honestly not the best thing to go through. All these girls really need is the support of their family members.

Teen pregnancy rates are not what we expect it to be. Even though it runs through different ethnicities, one of the highest is Hispanics. It is a common situation nowadays and it is one of the biggest things. According to HHS GOV, in only Texas hispanics have the highest teen pregnancy rates at a “65%”. Hispanics have the highest rate on teen pregnancy in the whole United States. According to the Office of Adolescent Health, Hispanics range number one in the state of Texas with most teen pregnancies. Texas is range 5 from all of 51 states in the United States. Teen pregnancy is more common than what we think it is. It has become a local issue because many young girls still in High School get pregnant and sometimes don’t even finish school.Adolescent pregnancy is more common than what we think it is. It went from being a small thing to a big thing. Teens do not realize it has been a problem. They only see the fun side of it. They do not see the consequences out of this situation.The amount of kids having kids has increased a lot lately. It has always been a major issue that teens have babies at a really young age and they do not know what to from there.

In El Paso the idea of teen pregnancy is more common than in other cities. Reason being the amount of Hispanics and hispanics are rated to be on top of teen pregnancies. Moms are responsible to educated, but being a teen mom complicates all of that. Teenage mothers have it complicated because they themselves are still learning and now they also have the responsibility of another human being. Many of these teens decide to drop out of school just to be a full time mom. This honestly is not good because they do not finish their education as is. Education is a big decision they have to take as well. Teenage mother have a lot of decisions to make.Many teens believe the solution out of pregnancy is abortion. Reason being, they either just cannot take responsibility to take care of the child, their parents do not let them keep the child, and even in situations that involve rape incidents so they rather just abort. Abortions are huge part of dealing with teen pregnancy because it is always one of the choices. Teenagers believe that terminating the pregnancy is the way out of this one problem. 'It's a decision that's usually made in panic and in fear,' Taylor said. Teenagers do not think they just do it. Abortions do not happen in any simple clinic. There is special clinic for abortions and there is not many, so they are not just anywhere. Las Cruces opened an abortion clinic in 2014. Girls now don’t have to travel to get an abortion like they used too. “The clinic will be the second clinic in the Dona Ana County to offer abortions”. There are not many clinics that offer abortion.Teen’s solution is mainly always abortion and there’s limited clinics to abort in. Texas lawmakers want to close one of those abortion clinics. In the state of Texas, teenagers do not need parental permission for abortion. This makes it a lot easier for those teens who do not want their parents to find out about their pregnancy. In Texas all they need is a court approval.

Lately many abortion clinics have been closing down. “Recent state laws have forced dozens of clinics to close and left some regions without a place for women to go”. Closing Bypass is going to make things more complicated for those girls who want to have an abortion. Texas is having a striker law now which means teenagers will need more of a parental approval for a termination of pregnancy. Abortion has made a huge impact in pregnant teens’ lives. Many do not now, but there are programs to prevent teen pregnancy. In those programs they are encouraged to be better persons and do the right things. They can start as soon as in a kids program with a parent’s permission. Teen programs are very beneficial. Helps them understand the consequences they can lead too. As any other program, a program to prevent teen pregnancy is expensive. “The Trump administration cut more than $200 million from teen pregnancy prevention programs and research across the country last week. It was a surprise to a lot of people on the receiving end of those grants – including many here in Texas, where teen pregnancy is a big problem.” This makes it more complicated because the programs need that money to be able to run as a whole program. Not only are these programs beneficial, but they are really worth it. Teen pregnancy is a major issue now a day. Motherhood is not as easy as it seems it is. The first time as a mother is really complicated. Even more complicated when you’re a teen mom. Being a mom involves dedicating a lot of attention and time to the baby, and still has enough time to take care of your own. As a teen mom you have to include your education and maybe a job to get everything you need for the baby.

Dealing with teen pregnancy is not easy not many are capable of doing it. Either they are terrified of doing it or they just can't handle it with all that is going on. Pregnancy is a big thing to deal with due to the fact that it is not easy to take care of a child. Children are expensive to begin with. All the things they need are not cheap. Consequences involved the health of the baby as well as the teen. The teen if under the age of 17 is at a higher risk of any sort of illness. They will get any medical complications. They are in the risk of it. “ The majority of mothers ages 15-24 gained excess weight during pregnancy, a strong risk factor for later obesity”. Teen pregnancy involves many consequences.

Pregnancy is not as easy as it seems. Sometimes pregnancies can be dangerous and they are always in any risk. Being pregnant means having more responsibilities. Reason being you are responsible for yourself and another human being. It really is a lot of responsibility. Consequences are more at risk if you’re under the age of 17. Teens at the age of 15 are in more risk. Reason being their bodies are still developing. Having a baby does affect you. Not in the reason that you won’t continue to live. Reason being that you will not have as much freedom as a teen does. You won’t be able to live the same way other teens do. You will have more responsibilities.

Teen Pregnancy has become an issue nowadays. They only thing of the fun at the moment, but do not realize the consequences involved or the changes that may occur in their lives. Once they realize they are having a baby they have to start thinking about living life as parent, any medical issues and even the possibility of aborting. Risks involved are hard to believe until being in that situation. Teenagers and pregnancy is not easy at all.

Works Cited

1. Chang, Tammy, et al. “Characteristics of Women Age 15-24 at Risk for Excess Weight Gain during Pregnancy.” Plos One, vol. 12, no. 3, 2017, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173790.
2. Lopez, Ashley. “Texas Programs To Prevent Teen Pregnancy Scramble After Federal Funding Cut.” KUT, kut.org/post/texas-programs-prevent-teen-pregnancy-scramble-after-federal-funding-cut.By: EVA RUTH MORAVEC, Associated Press.
3. “Texas Lawmakers Want to Close 'Bypass' for Teen Abortions.” KFOX, kfoxtv.com/news/local/texas-lawmakers-want-to-close-39bypass39-for-teen-abortions-01-21-2016.
4. Health, Office of Adolescent. “Texas Adolescent Reproductive Health Facts.” HHS.gov, US Department of Health and Human Services, 30 May 2017, www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/facts-and-stats/national-and-state-data-sheets/adolescent-reproductive-health/texas/index.html.
5. Ortegon, Josie. “Clinic Offering Abortions to Open in Las Cruces.” KVIA, KVIA, 24 Aug. 2016, <a>www.kvia.com/news/clinic-offering-abortions-to-open-in-las-cruces/56276911.