Teen Pregnancy

Teri Darnell

Dual English

Melton

0ctober 9th, 2012

Teen Pregnancy

Babies are great—they’re cute and cuddly and they love you. But they’re also needy and selfish—they want all your time and attention and they want it NOW. Be honest—there are a million things you'd rather be doing than changing a diaper, right? So if you decide to have sex, have you considered the consequences of getting pregnant/ causing a pregnancy? Weirdly enough, almost 50% of teens have never thought about how a pregnancy would affect their lives even though having a baby could be one of the most life-changing things to happen to them. Consider this:

School comes second. Parenthood is the leading reason why teen girls drop out of school; after all, it’s really difficult to juggle homework and a baby.  Less than half of teen mothers ever graduate from high school and fewer than 2% earn a college degree by age 30. Children of teen mothers do worse in school than those born to older parents—they are more likely to repeat a grade, are less likely to complete high school than the children of older mothers, and have lower performance on standardized tests. About one-fourth of teen moms have a second child within 24 months of the first birth—which can further delay their ability to finish school or keep a job.

A baby won’t make him stay. You may think having a baby will make your relationship even stronger, but the fact is 8 out of 10 fathers don't marry the mother of their child.  It's also true that these absent fathers pay less than $800 annually for child support, often because they are poor themselves and can’t afford legitimate support payments. Now who is the one who is alone, taking care of the baby?

It’s hardest on the child. More than half of all mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager. Children who live apart from their fathers are 5 times more likely to be poor than children with both parents at home. The daughters of young teen mothers are 3 times more likely...