A Closer Look at Teen Pregnancy





Teen pregnancy, is it a good thing, or is it a bad thing? That may be the question that goes through your mind at least once in your lifetime. Teen pregnancy is no laughing matter as it enters teenage girls in the life of motherhood, now giving her more responsibilities to take on, but as for others; For example like my sister who had my nephew at 17, may feel that if there in a good position, that they can handle on that responsibility. Teens that have sexual intercourse can sometimes end up pregnant if not protected right, which can go three ways, keeping the baby, adoption, and abortion. It’s clear that teen pregnancy is an interesting and controversial issue.
  When becoming a teen parent, there are many issues that come along with it like, being judged. For example according to “the guardian.com” Jendella Benson had interviewed once teen moms, to get an insight at their life.(http://www.theguardian.com/society/teenage-pregnancy)  And here’s what they had to say: Lucy a once teen mother had said: “But young motherhood is a big deal, as Lucy testifies”. Benson, another teen mom had to say this “As soon as it happened people were saying, ‘that’s it; you’ve ruined your life". And these are just two of the many, but most of the mothers jendella interviewed felt they were being written off. Motherhood is hard enough at any age, but the hardest thing for these women wasn’t the baby; it was existing in a society that condemned them from the outset. So as you can imagine teen parenting must be hard for any teen mother.

Teen pregnancy, in my opinion, is a blessing and a curse.  The reasoning behind that is because my mom, and also my sister, were both teen parents and my nephew and my sister both came out fine and well raised .My only negative comment on teen pregnancy for me, is when they put the baby up for adoption, or they are a dead beat mom, who doesn’t take care of their baby. I believe that every child is a blessing because, a child is a replica of you, something you have created, your DNA, and when that child grows , the process and everything else would’ve all been worth it. However, having a child as a teenager is difficult because if you want the child to grow big and strong and healthy, you have to feed it, and give it the proper nutrients it needs, and if you don’t have support or help, and cant handle the baby on your own, things can turn out bad. Teen mother need a lot of support to be successful. Upon writhing this, I was able to get the opinions of people, on how they felt about teen pregnancy. When I asked EGHS staff member Ms. Jobe, the following question, How do you feel about teen pregnancy?
 Her response was : ‘’I think it is an epidemic, there are more and more teens who don’t realize the responsibility it is to starting a relationship, and then a relationship that turns sexual, which of course can then end up in pregnancy”.
I then, asked her, why do you feel that way?

Her response: "Working in the high school, I see lots of teenagers who are in it for the affection, In it for the popularity, and they are in it for "oh my goodness look at what I did", and don’t realize the consequences. There are a lot of the consequences being pregnant and having a baby at a young age”.
I still had two more questions, and out of the two, one of the following was: Why is raising a baby as a teen difficult?

Her response: “I think you don’t have the life skills that you need in order to raise a baby, when your still practically a kid yourself. Being an adult and having two children its hard and being able to depend on the people around me, family and a husband; In  order to raise my two children makes it a little bit easier than if I was a teen by myself, trying to raise a child".
Lastly, I had asked her: Do you think teen pregnancy will stop, and if so why?

She responded: “No I don’t think it will stop. I think it will be something that teenagers will always want to do, they’ll want to try, they’ll want to see what its like and it will end up in pregnancy, more times than not, no I don’t think it is something that will stop, unfortunately. I think education about ways to prevent is something that the school system and others, or avenues should look at in order to get the message out there about how to prevent teen pregnancy".


After my interview with Ms. Jobe, I had asked four female students the exact same questions, and their responses were:
Student 1: How do you feel about teen pregnancy? “ I feel like teen pregnancy is okay, and as long as they are taken care of their kid, that’s all that matters, at the end of the day". Why do you feel that way?: “There's a lot of teen parents, you know I could be one, or anybody could be one, and I don’t believe in abortion so, I'm pro life, not that I support teen pregnancy”. Why is raising a baby as a teen difficult?: “Because your still a kid yourself”. Do you think teen pregnancy will stop, and if so why?:"Nope its not going to stop any time soon, and with teenagers, your in an area of  peer pressure, and sex, and kids are going to continue to have sex regardless”.
Student 2: How do you feel about teen pregnancy?: “I feel like it is very bad, and I just don’t think its good for the women.” : Why do you feel that way?:  “Because you won't be able to go to college, and the dad just might not be there for you, and it's just a huge responsibility.” Why is raising a baby as a teen difficult?: “Because you need a job, especially at the age that your in, especially if your a young one. You need school.” Do you think teen pregnancy will stop, and if so why?: “No because there are a lot of fast girls around here, and fast boys, and pregnancy can also be a product of rape.”
Student 3: How do you feel about teen pregnancy?: “I feel like it's something that is happening a lot more in the world today and while it's not necessarily a negative thing, it's also something that’s not very positive to do.” Why do you feel that way?: “Because teen pregnancy causes people to spend more money, money that people don’t have, causes some people to be put on government assistance, which isn't very good for our economy.” Why is raising a baby as a teen difficult?: “Because you’re a child yourself, and most of the time, that responsibility is being thrown onto your parents to raise that child and you’re the one that made it.” Do you think teen pregnancy will stop, and if so why?: “I do not think will stop, it's actually continuing and becoming worse."


Student 4: How do you feel about teen pregnancy?: “I feel like teen pregnancy is possibly a big issue in schools depending on what background they come from, but it doesn't mean the student has to drop out of school, because I have friends who do have children and there still in school, and there still graduating on time.” Why do you feel that way?: “I feel that way because, I've seen it first hand, I've seen girls around my school who are pregnant, I've had friend who was pregnant, I've seen people turn there backs on them, saying they weren't going to make it, and I've seen those friends take care of their children, handle school and have jobs.” Why is raising a baby as a teen difficult?: “It's difficult because as a teen your still kind of  a kid, you don’t really have the experience, I guess to say to raise a child, so you have to rely on your parents, because you might still be living in your parents house, and you haven't graduated from school, and you don’t have  a career or a job.” Do you think teen pregnancy will stop and if so, why?: “I don’t think it will stop because its just human nature, but I think that it could be decreased if teens were more aware about it.”

                        








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