5/12/2014 11:34:00 AM

Office Of Adolescent Health. Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing. Office Of Adolescent Health, 25 Feb 2014. Web.
14 Apr 2014.
Parenting at any age can be challenging, but it can be particularly difficult for adolescent
parents. In the year 2012, over 305,000 babies were born to teen girls between the ages of 15 and
19. Childbearing during adolescence negatively affects the parents, their children, and society.
Compared with teens who dont have babies, those that do have babies are: Less likely to finish
school, more likely to rely on public assistance, more likely to be poor as adults, and more likely
to have poor educational, behavioral, and health outcomes over the course of their lives than do
kids born with older parents.

Many people believe that teen pregnancy leads a teen into becoming a failure at life. The reason
being this is because the majority of poor people now are the teens that have had children in the
past. It is factual because statistics show that teen pregnancy in the USA is higher than other
countries like Canada and the United Kingdom even though the teen pregnancy in the country
decreased by about half (from 61.8 to 29.4). Because of this, I have come to believe that teen
pregnancy is still a major problem because it ruins a teens life, and it actually sets them up for
failure in the future.


Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Teen Pregnancy. Reproductive Health, 21 Feb 2012. Web. 14 Apr
2014.
In the year of 2011, 329,797 babies were born to girls aged 15-19 years, for a birth rate of
31.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. Birth rates fell 11% for women aged 1517 years, and
7% for women aged 1819 years. While reasons for the declines are not clear, teens seem to be
less sexually active, and more of those who are sexually active seem to be using birth control
than in previous years. Teen birth rates declined for all races and for Hispanics except for 1819
year old Asian/Pacific Islanders, for whom rates did not change. The decline was greatest for
Hispanic teens, with a drop of 11% from 2010.

People have come to assume that most teen pregnancies are concepts that should be
looked into more deeply. Most critics assume that teen pregnancies have risen because most
teens are becoming sexually active nowadays. It is actually quite the contrary. Teen birth rates
have decreased by about 11%, and it is actually getting better. It has declined for all races, and
that is an amazing feat now in present. I used to think that it has increased, but now I stand at a
neutral state because there is much to know because some say it increases, and some say it
doesnt.


WebMD. Health & Pregnancy. Teen Pregnancy: Medical Risks and Realities, 21 Nov 2011. Web. 16 Apr 2014.
In 2008, the latest year for which statistics are available, the U.S. pregnancy rate among
girls between 15 and 19 was 67.8 per 1,000, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen
and Unwanted Pregnancy. The rate has steadily declined since 1991, when it was 117 per 1,000
teens between the same ages. U.S. teen birth rates have also declined. In 2010, according to the
Centers for Disease Control, the rate was 34.3 births per 1,000 teens, compared to 61.8 births per
1,000 teens in 1991. Fewer babies were born to teenagers in 2010 than in any year since 1946.
Among society today, they believe that the teen pregnancy rate has fallen. It has been
proven because between 1991 and now, it has decreased by about 20%. Therefore it has
decreased and it couldnt have had increased, or stayed the same. But, I believe that it has its
ups and downs because it increases while it decreases therefore, there is some contradictory
that has to be addressed.