Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is a real problem in this country. Most of these girls are not mentally, emotionally or financially ready for the responsibilities of having a baby, another life dependant on the yet teen pregnancy continues to remain on the rise. So many bright futures are taken from young girls because they got pregnant before they were ready to start a family. Often they have to do it all alone as well. Boyfriends often don’t stick around, and many parents are reluctant to reward such behavior with help, leaving these girls on their own. This problem has many different causes.

Some girls are just wildly misinformed. They believe stories such as that you can only get pregnant one day a month or that if the boy stops just before ejaculation she can’t get pregnant. This leads to teen pregnancy. There are also stories about how you can’t get pregnant in a hot tub or water, or that there are certain positions that cannot lead to pregnancy. None of this is true, but their friends say it, so they believe these lies. Teenagers are going to have sex, but they should be better informed about sex and given the truth.

As uncomfortable as it is, parents need to talk to their children about sex more. They need to tell them what myths they may hear and what the actual truth is. If they hear it from their parents than it may be awkward, but it will also make the believe in the truth and maybe even help them educate their friends about what is true. Most parents never have this talk with their kids or have a brief discussion about the science of sex only.

Schools should also educate kids more about sexual issues. Most schools are required to only teach abstinence. This leaves kids to learn the truths about sex through the grapevine from friends who don’t know what they are talking about either. If teachers in sexual education were to go in depth about how pregnancy occurs, when it can happen and what myths they might hear than teens might know better and not get pregnant before they are ready.

Teenage pregnancy is one hundred percent preventable yet still we have this problem. If education about the truth about sex were more readily available to teens rather than them having to go looking for it then maybe times would change, and the rate of teen pregnancies would go down.