Teen Pregnancy: Promoting Abstinence
Teen pregnancy wasn't always a problem. Even a hundred years ago, men and women married and started their families young: life expectancy was far shorter than it is today; school wasn't nearly as important or widely available; and young families conformed to the established social norm. However, today in the developed world, teen pregnancy is a problem that causes a wide range of social and economic problems. The United States leads the developed world in teen pregnancies, with over twice as many per year as Great Britain or Canada, four times as many as France, and ten times as many as Japan or the Netherlands (Popenoe). As many as 34% of all teenage girls become pregnant at least once before they are 20 years old, resulting in an astounding rate of 820,000 pregnancies a year. Nearly all of those pregnancies are out of wedlock and unwanted and so about half of those pregnancies result in abortion. Poverty and race are correlated with teen pregnancy, too, as teen mothers are more likely to be poor and remain poor if they start a family. Teen mothers are unlikely to finish high school: fewer than one-third of teen mothers receive their degree and a mere 1.5% receive a college degree before they are 30 ("The National Campaign To Pre
Many people believe mistakenly believe that sex education and birth control distribution will solve the epidemic of teen pregnancy. The underlying message is that if the birth control methods and education fails, then at least the teen can have an abortion to prevent starting a family. Sex education focuses on safe sex: the proper use of birth control devices including prophylactics and hormonal contraceptives. Barrier birth control devices like condoms can prevent sexually-transmitted diseases as well as pregnancies. Many schools, community and health centers distribute condoms for free to encourage teens to practice safe sex. In spite of the rationale behind the prophylactic approach to teen pregnancy, distributing birth control freely to teenagers will fail to solve the epidemic and in fact contributes to the problem of teen pregnancy. Telling teens that they should use birth control and then handing them birth control devices is frankly condoning and even encouraging premarital teen sex. The practice is irresponsible and irrational, because teen pregnancies are far more common now than they were in the 1960s, when birth control and sex education were not a part of the school curriculum. Teaching abstinence from an early age ensures that the individual will develop an emotional and cognitive framework that will last through their lives. When taught from an early age, abstinence becomes the norm, replacing sexual promiscuity or experimentation as the norm. Teaching abstinence at a young age, from late elementary school, is inexpensive and easy, requiring no special materials or funding. The education does not need to be presented from a religious perspective, but young students should learn about the moral and social ramifications of pregnancy so that they can independently choose abstinence when they reach puberty. It's not biased. Te
Some common words found in the essay are:
Pregnancy Additionally, Netherlands Popenoe, , birth control, teen pregnancy, teaching abstinence, teen pregnancies, sex education, Britain Canada, birth control devices, social economic, control devices, prevent teen, safe sex, teen mothers, approach teen pregnancy, prevent teen pregnancy, teen pregnancy united, control sex education,
Approximate Word count = 1250
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
