I went to a small high school and the amount of pregnant teens was very small and if word got out that a girl was pregnant it spread through the halls like wildfire and was a shock to everyone. Through sites like Facebook it is easy to keep in touch with people after graduation, however you can always find interesting facts about people you haven't seen in awhile. I was shocked to see how many people I knew from high school that already have children, many of whom are in no way capable to raising a child. I often watch the MTV shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant and I can't believe how many of these teenagers are getting pregnant with so many contraceptives on the market. When we were asked in class to pick a controversial topics I decided it would be interesting to find the exact numbers of teen pregnancies there are. When I found that the number had been on a decline until recently I knew it wasn't from a lack of birth control availibility.
Birth Control No Longer Affects Teen Pregnancy
It is no longer a shock in high schools to see a pregnant teenager walking down the halls. It seems that everywhere you look you can find a young teen mother with a newborn baby. We live in a world where birth control is now more easily accessible to teens and is more successful at preventing pregnancies but still many teens find themselves with a baby on the way. More birth control availablity no longer affects the pregnancy rate in teens.
According to thenationalcampaign.org, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, the United States has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in western cultures. The rate has been on the decline since 1990 when some believe that the availability and education of birth control advanced. In 1990 the National Center for Health Statistics reported 117 girls out of 1000 between 15-17 years old became pregnant. This number declined 37 percent to only 70 pregnancies in 2005. Between 2005 and 2006 rates have risen five percent with preliminary results for 2007 and 2008 have dropped three percent. During these years, between 1988 and 2005, there have been numerous organizations federally funded to aid in sex education and birth control to teens. All the numbers and studies seem to show that birth control has positively affected pregnancy rates in teenagers.
Although studies have shown that over the past 14 years teen pregnancy rates have overall declined, many believe that this rate is stalling out. In 2009 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) performed a survey of teen sexual behavior and contraception use. The study showed that “Nearly half of US teens have had sex with one-third being sexually active, they also found that only two-thirds of sexually active teens reported using a condom the last time they had sex and only one in five girls reported using birth control pills”(CDCP). The survey showed that while there was a decrease in sexual activity and an increase in condom use in high school students through the 1990’s, there seems to be little change in these percentages through the current decade. Because this rate has stalled it would only make sense that the teen pregnancy rate will stall as well.
Researchers do not know why these rates have seemed to stall out through this decade, however they seem to forget to look into society and how teen views on pregnancy have changed. Up until the past two decades, in society the thought of a woman having premarital sex was a shame to the girl as well as the family. During these times, religion was also more included in family values and it was taught that sex before marriage was a sin. Then sex was only used to produce children after marriage and anyone who engages in random sex was look at with loose morals. Today, however sex and marriage do not seem to be connected at all. With the use of internet and television, sex is now looked at as just a fun thing to do, often with people others barely know. Our teens are also exposed to this and are raised with the ideas of free love. Not only do teens believe that having sex makes them adults and makes them feel older, many teen girls also believe they are mature enough to raise children. With many television shows already on the market that show unrealistic teens becoming pregnant and raising children, it has become the cool thing to do rather than the shame it used to bring.
Along with sex and pregnancy being more accepted in society, teens also are spoiled and have a false sense of security. Many are taught that when they are young their only responsibilities are to do well in school and to figure out what they want to do when they grow up they have no other worries and therefore they feel invincible and nothing bad will happen to them. What they watch on television like teen pregnancies or even teens that die while driving drunk will never happen to them. Because of this they never believe that not using a condom or another form of birth control could possibly result in becoming pregnant. Adults can tell teens until they are blue in the face how not using protection will have consequences but a teenager will just look over at the next person and think it will happen to someone else. This also adds to pregnancies where protection is used just not used correctly. The CDCP survey in 2009 of contraception use in teens does not include the fact that while a teen may say they used a form of birth control, they may not have used it correctly.
What is interesting with the CDCP survey is that the use of contraception in teens has stalled throughout this decade, even though the access to birth control has become easier to get as ever to teens. Condoms are perhaps the easiest form of contraception to use and are available at most stores, yet only 61 percent of teens have reported using them. The affordability of birth control is not even a consideration. At the many Planned Parenthood facilities around the country teens can receive many different forms of birth control at no cost to those under the age of 18, those above 18 such as college students are put into a sliding fee scale according to their income those with little to no income can receive their birth control with no fee either. Because of federal laws, doctors cannot disclose medical information and teens do not even have to worry that their parents will find out they are having sex.
Between 1990 and 2005 there has been a constant decline in the pregnancy rate in teenagers, this could be due to the availability and effectiveness of birth control. However recent studies of the pregnancy rate and contraception use show that the rates have stalled off during this decade. Birth control is still as available or even more so than ever yet the percentages of teens using them have not increased. This problem comes from society, we no longer see teen parents as shameful to their families and that sex before marriage is no longer a sin. Teens also feel invincible when it comes to problems, through television they are taught that things will always work out. Teenagers also only think that bad things will only happen to the person next to them so things like becoming pregnant will never happen to them, this could explain why there is not an increase in birth control use or those that do use it do not feel the need to always use it as directed. The current numbers show that pregnancy in teens has been declining which may have had to do with birth control in teens but birth control is still as easy to get and yet the rate is no longer declining, which shows that the availability of birth control no longer affects pregnancy rate in teens.
Works Cited
"Birth Control." Planned Parenthood. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
The National Campaign. Publication. June 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
"Sexual Behaviors - DASH/HealthyYouth." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
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