Stop Teenage Pregnancy
Adolescent pregnancies are a global problem occurring in all countries. Around the world, however, teenage pregnancies are more likely to happen in marginalized countries, commonly driven by poverty and deficiency of education and employment opportunities.
Various factors contribute to teenage pregnancies and births. In many countries, girls are forced to marry and get pregnant early.In poor countries, at least 39% of girls marry before they are 18 years old and 12 percent before the age of 15. In some places girls choose to be pregnant because they have limited educational and employment prospects. Frequently, in such countries, motherhood is valued and marriage or union and pregnancy can be the best of the limited options available.
Teenagers who may want to avoid pregnancies cannot be able to do so due to knowledge gaps and misconceptions on where to obtain contraceptive methods and how to use them. Teenagers face barriers to accessing contraception including restrictive laws and policies regarding provision of contraceptive according to age or marital status, health worker bias and/or deficiency of willingness to acknowledge teenagers’ sexual health demands, and teenagers’ own inability to access contraceptives because of knowledge, transportation, and financial constraints. In addition, teenagers may need the agency or autonomy to assure the correct and consistent use of a contraceptive method. At least 10 million unintended pregnancies happen each year among adolescent girls aged 15–19 years in developing regions.
An extra cause of unplanned pregnancy is sexual violence, which is widespread with more than a third of girls in some countries reporting that their first sexual encounter was coerced.
Health consequences
Early pregnancies across teenagers have major health consequences for teenage mothers and their babies. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the major cause of death among girls aged 15–19 years globally, with low- and middle-income countries accounting for 99% of global maternal deaths of women aged 15–49 years. Adolescent mothers aged 10–19 years confront bigger risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis and systemic diseases than women aged 20–24 years. In addition, close to 3.9 million risky pregnancies between girls aged 15–19 years happen every year, attributing to maternal mortality, morbidness and lasting health problems.
Early pregnancy may increase risks for newborns as well as young mothers. Babies born to mothers under 20 years of age confront higher risks of low birth weight, preterm delivery and severe neonatal conditions. In some scenes, rapid recurrence pregnancy is a worry for young mothers, as it shows additional health risks for both the mother and the child.
Social and economic consequences
Social consequences for unmarried pregnant teenagers can include stigma, rejection or violence by partners, parents and peers. Girls who become pregnant before the age of 18 years are more likely to experience violence within a marriage or partnership.Teenage pregnancy and childbearing often leads girls to drop out of school, though efforts are underway is some place to enable them to return to school after child birth, this can well jeopardize girls’ future education and employment opportunities.
Teenage Pregnancy Prevention
Teen pregnancy and childbearing bring significant social and economic costs along quick and long-term effects on teen parents and their children.
Pregnancy and birth are substantial contributors to high school dropout percentages among girls. Only around 50% of teen mothers obtain a high school diploma by 22 years of age, although roughly 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school.
The children of teenage mothers are presumably to have inferior school accomplishment and to quit high school, have more health problems, be incarcerated at some time during adolescence, give birth as a teenager, and confront unemployment as a young adult.
On a positive way, between 1991 and 2015, the teenager birth percentage declined 64%, which resulted in $4.4 billion in public reductions in 2015 only.
Fact-based teen pregnancy prevention plans have been mentioned by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) TPP Evidence Review external icon, which used a systematic process for reviewing evaluation studies against a rigorous standard. Currently, the Evidence Review covers a variety of diverse programs, including sexuality education programs, youth development programs, abstinence education programs, clinic-based programs, and programs particularly designed for diverse populations and settings. In addition to fact-based prevention plans, teens necessitate accessibility to youth-friendly contraceptive and reproductive health services and support from parents and other trusted adults, who may play an essential role in serving teens make healthy choices about relationships, sex, and birth control. Initiatives at the community level that address social and economic factors associated with teen pregnancy also play a critical role in addressing racial/ethnic and geographical disparities observed in teen births in the US.
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