Maria Oklahoma

Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is an issue that needs more attention!

Dear Next President,

We have many issues in our country. Teenage pregnancy is a problem, in my opinion; teen pregnancy is a pretty big issue that'll never end, but there are ways where we can help so it can be avoided. I strongly believe that teens who get pregnant are less likely to get a full education. I have a friend who got pregnant at the age of 15 the dad of the child left her and now she is struggling to graduate. It's not okay for this topic to not be taken care of. You may be wondering how it affects our country, and these are the possible ways: it interferes with one’s education, the government loses money, and it affects the families.

In an article "A Growing Problem," they explain what some of the causes of teenage pregnancy are. The author Cortina Betty strongly believes that young adults in this generation are exposed to teenage pregnancy because they do not know sufficient information about sex education. Many people may think it's their fault for getting pregnant, but young adults usually need somebody of an older age to explain to them. In my opinion, if a teenage girl has a role model or in general someone they look up to, they will have more background knowledge about the situation. Her statistics showed us that 2% of teenage girls who get pregnant are able to graduate by the age of 30, 3 in 10 girls get pregnant by age 20, and 54% of mothers who are Latinas don't graduate.

Responsibility is a major effect in the situation. If young adults knew about all the responsibility that bringing a child into life would be, I feel like they would try to avoid getting pregnant at such a young age. 66% of the kids who get pregnant are exposed to living in poverty. Every year, 400,000 babies are both to mothers 19 or younger. Teenage pregnancy also affects our countries economy. Every year so much money is spent on making new programs to spread the word about what teenage pregnancy really is. The public thinks that young girls who get pregnant are stupid, but majority of them just don't know much background about it. Money is spent on medical and public welfare. The more the word is out the more people know about it. 

What's the not great news about teenage pregnancy? I'm not quite sure if some people disagree with me or not, but the more we know about the outcomes about teenage pregnancy will benefit everyone. Well, although a child is always a blessing there are things you do not look forward too. In the article "The Not-So-Good News about Teenage Pregnancy," the author tells us that Hispanic girls and African American girls are more likely to get pregnant because they're not burdened with multiple environments. 40% of girls are not helped and live in very poor circumstances, although some girls get pregnant because they themselves have young parents. Some young adults even have parents who expose them to drugs, alcohol, and just a low life. They see nothing better at their home so when they get pregnant they think that it's okay. Getting pregnant at a young age increases our population a lot more, and it can really affect the education of the person. They miss more school and they can also get really distracted which causes them not to do great in school.

Finally I would hope that you'd put thought into teenage pregnancy. There are many ways we can help by upping our programs, and letting kids have more knowledge about both the pros and cons of having a kid at such a young age. I can assure you that the number of teenagers getting pregnant would lower and they’d also be benefited because they would know a lot more about what the outcomes would be. It would also help the generation after us so that it won’t be worse when they are teens. I strongly believe that for of our country, as the next president, this should be a topic of interest.

East Central High School - Tulsa

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