Teen Pregnancies
By: Victoria Ambrose
Teen pregnancies have become so common
that 3 in every 10 girls will become pregnant before the age 20. In fact, each year
there are more than 700,000 teen pregnancies. Surprisingly, 50% of teens have
never thought about how having a baby would change their lives. Teen pregnancy
changes the lives and futures of teens in many ways. First off, the mother’s
education may suffer. The main reason that teenage girls drop out of school is
due to pregnancies. Did you know that less than 50% of teen mothers ever end up
graduating from high school? Also less than 2% of these teens earn a college
degree by the time they are 30. Having a baby at a young age not only effects
the life of the teenager, but also the life of the child. These children are in
fact 50% more likely to repeat a grade. They are not as likely to complete high
school as children with older mothers are. They also do not have as high of a
performance on standardized tests. Some girls may think that they should try to
have a baby with their boyfriend to force him to stay with them. But did you
know that 80% of fathers do not marry their baby mama? And these fathers pay
less than 800$ a year towards child support, because they are broke too (or
they are spending their money on other things). Teen pregnancy can be especially
hard on kids whose fathers live in a separate setting. These kids are five
times more likely to be poor than kids with both parents living at home. Also
the daughters of teen mothers have triple the chance of becoming teen mothers
themselves. And the sons of teen moms have double the chance of landing in
prison in their future. [1]
In my opinion teenagers need to
think about the risks involved in having sex. I think that teens need to be
careful so that they do not end up poorly affecting their lives and the lives
of their children. I watch the show Teen Mom on MTV and I’ve noticed that all
of the teen mothers lose their boyfriend, drop out of school, and their kids’
lives do not appear to be good. Teenagers should take whatever precautions
necessary to avoid becoming parents at a young age. Before you have sex, think
about how it could impact your life and how it could impact the life of the
baby you may be creating.
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