When I think of a topic that can typically spark a conversational debate the topic of teen pregnancy comes to mind. I took a little time to research the facts today about teen pregnancy and I found the following quite interesting. Research shows that one in five girls have had sex before the age of fifteen and almost half (forty-six percent) of high school aged teens in the United States have had sexual intercourse at some point. Six in ten teens that have had sex for the first time wish they hadn’t. Approximately one in seven sexually experienced fourteen year old girls report having been pregnant. Half of the pregnancies in the US each year are unplanned, that equals about 3 million each year. I always find the pressure on young teens to have sex interesting. The pressure can create unwanted bad first experiences and could ruin the life of a teenager when he or she must face the consequences. I feel bad for the youth that do have to go through that tough pressure because I can’t imagine being faced with the choices and sacrifices that come with being pregnant as a teen.
-- Anon
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This is going to be a topic that catches the public eye once again, given that John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin just announced that her teenage daughter (17 y.o.) is about five months pregnant. It will be interesting to see if public opinion on that issue is shifting.
In those 3 million unplanned pregnancies, how many actually carry the baby to the due date? I really dont feel bad for those teens who have to go through the tough pressure, because it was their own mistake. Most of the time, people know what they are doing, and the consequences that come with that choice, but few ever back down. I dont think its right for them to have abortions because I feel like its excusing them from making that choice. They will live in constant reminder of what they chose, but I really think that its wrong to kill a baby just because its parents were negligent and young and stupid. Adoption is a great thing for unplanned kids..people who cant have kids would gladly adopt them. Imagine if you can, your parents being stupid one night, and your mom choosing to have an abortion..how do you feel knowing that if your parents were those tyoe, that in the blink of an eye you could have not been born? In the case of them being too drunk/messed up to know whats going on..that's their own fault too. What's the point in going "out" to the clubs, if you arent going to remember what happened? I find it pointless to get so drunk, the only thing you remember from the night is getting ready and arriving at the bar.
I'm inclined to agree with whoever made the anonymous comment. While there is a lot of pressure on teenagers to have sex (from both peers and the media), that doesn't mean that anyone HAS to do it. I am a 19-year-old female, and I'm a virgin. Now before you all start thinking that I must be so homely that no one would lay a finger on me, let me assure you that I've had plenty of pressure to have sex myself. When I was 13 I looked more like a 16-year-old, and I had the biggest crush on my neighbor, who was 17 at the time. Unfortunately, a relationship without sex wouldn't do for him. Obviously, I had to say good-bye to that one. I'm not saying that I wasn't upset by it, but I knew I definitely wasn't ready to lose my v-card, no matter how great my friends were telling me sex is. As I grew older, more and more of my friends became sexually active, and became more pressured to have sex. I began to feel outnumbered, and my boyfriends expected me to put out. At the age of 19, everyone I meet automatically assumes I've had sex... oh, how shocked they are when I tell them otherwise. However, I feel that it's necessary to point out that everyone is "ready" at a different age; I am not trying to tell people that everyone should wait to have sex as I have. Yet, I find it important to stress that one has to be ready to take on the responsibilities of being sexually active (i.e. know how to protect yourselves from unwanted pregnancies and STDs) because the two lovers aren't the only ones affected by their decisions.
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