Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant

Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant

        In today’s society teenagers are getting pregnant at such a young age.  The United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the industrialized world.  Since 2010 there was a drastic decline in teenage pregnancies but the numbers are still high.  Teenagers are not informed about contraceptives like they should be because high school administrations have decided to take the approach of talking about abstinence and not informing students about safe sex.  In today’s society you have to put in consideration of the parents morals. There are movies and shows that make teen pregnancy look “cute” and not what actually the reality of having a kid at such a young age.  MTV television shows Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant show the reality of having a baby and the difficulties that they go through at their age, being a mother and trying to maintain school.  

        In the United States, about 750,000 teenagers get pregnant every year.  Out of the 750,000 teenagers that get pregnant every year, 85 percent of the pregnancies are not planned and this can increase risks for serious problems.  The biggest risk that teenage mothers face, is that they are too afraid to tell their parents or someone that can help them. By the pregnant teenager prolonging telling someone, they don’t receive the appropriate prenatal care due to delaying to go see a health care provider and 7.2 percent of these teenagers that become pregnant do not receive care at all through the nine months they are carrying their child.  The one thing that most teenagers do not know is that most states have a health department or even university clinics that can provide prenatal care for a low cost or free and a confidentiality agreement that no one can tell the teenagers parents.  

The nutritional support that a teenage mother needs is very crucial throughout the pregnancy.  Since the mother is still growing she will need extra nutrition so she and the baby can be healthy.  Lack of proper nutrition can result in low weight gain for the baby and the mother and low iron in their red blood cells.  Another issue that most teenage mothers face is that they use drugs, alcohol and smoking cigarettes at the beginning of their pregnancy because they don’t know they are pregnant or they are in denial.  Using these substances during pregnancy can cause premature birth and other complications.  These complications can cause severe damage to a child including physical disabilities, brain damage and many other side effects.  This puts a lot more stress on the mother.   However, if the teenage mother takes appropriate action after finding out she is pregnant, she and the baby can live a healthy life together.

Many of high schools around America do not give the information to students about contraceptives and safe sex.  In December 2011, Obama resurfaced a debate on abstinence education programs, which he set aside fifty million dollars for the program in which they do not teach students about birth control but instead teachers encourage students to wait until marriage before they have sex.  The University of Pennsylvania conducted a study with sixth and seventh graders, one-third of students who enroll in the abstinence education program are sexually active after two years, where as half of the students who enroll in comprehensive sex education became sexually active after two years.  Studies has proven that if you educate students on waiting to have sex and what the real meaning of sex is, then they will be less likely to have sex at a younger age.  Although, students who are having sex and are not being educated on contraceptives and do not know where to go to get free condoms; studies have proven that teenagers who are sexually active who are not using contraceptives are 90% more likely to be pregnant within a year.

Some parents have very strict morals for their kids and there are other parents who just want their kids to know about safe sex, in case they decide to have sex.  For example, the study from the University of Pennsylvania, I discussed in the pervious paragraph, there are many details left out of the study that the reader does not know.  I would assume that most parents that would put their kids into abstinence education program are more than likely to be very religious.  Kids grow up the way their parents raised them and if they are brought into a very religious home, they are more than likely to stick by their morals and not go sleeping with the opposite sex at a young age.  However, there are some parent’s that are religious but would their kid into comprehensive sex education and non-religious parents putting their kids into abstinence education program.  Needless to say, parent’s morals are very important role in how their kids are going to be taught about sex.

There are many shows on television today that are about pregnant teenagers.  Most of the movies and television shows are showing how “cute” teenage pregnancy is and not what these teenagers go through on a daily basis trying to raise a child and go to school. For example, The Secret Life of an American Teenager and Juno is a popular television show and movie that describes being a teen mom as “cute” and they don’t have all the worries that a real life teenage mom would have.  In the television show The Secret Life of an American Teenager is based off a girl who struggles being a mom and deciding who she wants to marry.  However, in the MTV television shows Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant are based off the real life situation that teenage mothers go through on daily basis.  Most of the drama between the family and father of the child is pretty over exaggerated but other than that it shows the struggles they have to go through everyday.  For example, maintaining a family at home, going to school full time and having a job to make enough money to buy diapers, clothes and food for their child.  Teenage pregnancy has cost the United States $9 billion dollars each year for public health care sector and child welfare. MTV thought bringing this show onto the air would help decrease teens getting pregnant in their teenage years because they want to show that being pregnant and having a child is a lot of responsibility for someone so young.  Since the show has come out on television, the teenage pregnancy percentages have decreased six percent since 2008.