Here is your essay on Teenage Pregnancy !
Pregnancy in girls aged 19 or below is termed as teenage pregnancy. There are many social, emotional and health problems associated with teenage pregnancy. Even though increased awareness about sexual health and greater used of condoms has brought down the cases of teenage pregnancy in countries like U.S., the responsible factors like low education standards, poverty, inappropriate knowledge of sex amongst adolescents contributes to cases of teenage pregnancy.
Some developing nations are faced with problems of early marriage and non-awareness about contraceptives which also contributes to cases of teenage pregnancy.
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Since unplanned sexual intercourse is more common in age group 12-14 who are not aware of protected sex, the concern becomes grave for younger girls who get pregnant. If an adolescent girl gets pregnant in such an early age, abortion is one option to be considered if the pregnancy is tested and detected in time.
In cases where girl is in later adolescence, adoption or support of community to raise the child are some ways to help the teen pregnant emotionally and also if she is financially incapable of nurturing a child. It is highly important to seek support from parents of the girl or the father of the expected child so that appropriate prenatal care can be offered. It is essential that teenage mothers stay away from smoking, drug abuse and so on.
Teenage mothers may not be educated enough and have complete awareness about precautions to be taken during pregnancy. It becomes therefore essential to offer education and community support to such young girls and also create awareness about contraception to keep them safe from any such experience later upon.
Pregnancy in teenage is also a very troubling time for parents of the teenager who have dreamt a bright future ahead for their children. However since the teenager who gets pregnant also undergoes feelings of anger and frustration for the situation that has arrived, it is important that parents keep their anger in control so as to reduce the adolescent’s stress.
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The parents should get complete medical check up done for the child by a qualified physician in the field and ensure that she gets counseling as well from outside if needed to overcome emotional stress. If both the families of the girl and boy are ready to raise the child properly, it is good. Else adoption should be chosen as the way where some appropriate organization should be chosen to adopt the child.
Teenage pregnancy is not socially acceptable in many communities and cultures and therefore the social problems needed to be considered besides giving medical and pre-natal care to the expecting adolescent girl. Children who are born to teenage parents are more likely to face problems with good education because social support may lack in their case. If appropriate community support is offered through child-care support and social services, such children can also get good education and settle as independently earning individuals in the society.
A teenage pregnancy is certainly debilitating for the girl child who is often faced with societal and family pressure because of the indiscretion that resulted into her pregnancy. If a teenage girl suffers all the hostility from friends and family, she is not likely to understand and know the aspects of nutrition associated with pregnancy and may give birth to low-weight or malnourished child. Behavioral problems are also common in such children as they do not get to witness the right parental skills that they can imitate.
Teen pregnancy becomes an issue of embarrassment for most parents and as a result they do not find it easy to accept the situation and deal with it positively and patiently. Moreover a teen girl is also not bodily prepared to give birth to a child that adds to all other problems that she faces.
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It is important that such teen parents reenter educational institutions after giving birth to the child so that they can be educated about being better parents in rearing their child. Child care should be accessible and within financial reach of such teen mothers. Many teen parents begin to abuse their children as early as 6 months of age if they also suffered abuse as children. Even more there are higher chances of death associated with teenage pregnancy for the mother as well as the child.
Therefore early prenatal care is essential to save the child as well as mother from any complications or serious medical conditions.
Teen pregnancy prevention programs like abstinence education, knowledge based programs that guide them about their bodies, clinic focused programs for easier access to sex education and peer counseling programs are some measures that can help control the teenage pregnancy rates in the world.