Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is rising in the UK (those aged between 13-19) and Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in any country apart from America.

Just recently in the news, a 13 year old boy was reported to have fathered a child with his 15 year old girlfriend, this only adds to the importance of the problem. The government has said that it would place an extra £20m into schemes to help teenagers get better access to contraception and information on the risks of UN protected sex. This is based on evidence that showed it helped reduce teenage pregnancies, in places it was implemented, by up to 29%.

The £20.5m government support package includes:
• £7m for a new "contraceptive choices" media campaign to raise awareness of the different contraceptive options;
• £10m for local health services to ensure contraception is available "in the right places at the right time";
• £1m to support further education colleges develop and expand on-site contraception and sexual health; services – 80% of under-18 conceptions are among 16 to 17-year-olds;
• £2.5m to help develop a healthy college programme.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/26/teenage-pregnancy-rise

Some teenagers may intend to get pregnant, but for the majority, as research shows it is accidental and unplanned. Most commonly as a result of broken condoms, contraceptive pills taken incorrectly, ‘withdrawing’ too late and also completely unprotected sex.

I personally don’t think teenage pregnancies are a good thing; it’s basically a child looking after a child. It’s a huge responsibly for the young mum, and takes away their own childhood.It can ruin your education, and prevent you being able to work as often as you would have liked, isn't it better to wait until you are in a secure position before having a baby?

I don’t think you can be mature enough at such a young age, and you don’t realize what you have let yourself in for until it happens. I’m not suggesting that all young mums are bad mums just that more often than not they may have been better to wait. I know people in this position who have said as much. I do however applaud, anyone who has had a baby at a young age, and brought them up. I am definitely in no rush to have a baby; I love my independence to much, just being able to do what I want when I want.

There are consequences to being a teenage parent

• Pregnant teenagers have an 80% dropout rate, and schools ''neither seek nor want an active role'' in dealing with the problem, as reported by the National Institute of Education.


• Around 40% of these parents are under 18 years old. Over 75% are unmarried, and most parenting teens do not have the economic or social resources to provide for themselves or their children.


• Additionally, teenage mothers are more likely to have more children in quick succession, limiting their life options even further than having only one child. (New York Times)

It is important to remember that is not just teenage mothers who have to face up to the consequence so to do teenage fathers.

• Teenage fathers usually have lower incomes, less education and more children than men who wait until the age of 20 to have children.


• One reason for this is that a teenager who has gets his girlfriend pregnant often drops out of school. "When they leave school, they head right for a low-paying job," says Amy Williams, the executive director of the Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting Project in San Francisco. (Time magazine)

Something definitely needs to be done to prevent so many unplanned teenage pregnancies.http://www.teenissues.co.uk/TeenagePregnancy.html