Teen Pregnancy in the United States

Teen pregnancy In the

United states

Christina Swafford

Being a teen mother myself, I have faced many of the things that I only herd about before had my daughter at the age of seventeen. I had never really thought about rate of teen pregnancy before I had become a statistic myself. There were also a lot of risks that I as a teen mother faced and that my child also faced, I am going to tell you some of the many risks that teen mothers and there children face. I had never even thought about how much a child was going to cost me and is still going to cost me before she turns seventeen herself. There are also so many consequences that both the teen mother and the child face. These or some of the many things that I am going to tell you about in this paper.

The teen pregnancy rate is something that we all hear about but we don't really list to what the facts really are saying. Teen pregnancy is all around us in our everyday life. The united stated has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the western industrialized world. (family first.org)thirty-four percent of girls become pregnant at least one time before there twentieth birthday. This is about 820000 a year. Unmarried teens make up seventy-nine percent of the pregnancy to women under the age of twenty. There has been a thirty percent decline in the teen birth rates from 1991 to 2002. Black women have had the largest drop in teen pregnancy rate science 1991.the highest teen pregnancy rate it now accredited to young Hispanic mothers.(www.familyfirstaid.org) in 2006 the teen pregnancy rate rose three percent, this is the first increase in more then a decade(Sharon Joyson). In 2006 seven percent of teen girls got pregnant. Also in 2006 two thirds of all teen pregnancies were to girls between the ages of eighteen and nineteen.(joyson). Teen pregnancy rate had dropped for about a decade and as of 2006 it was on the rise again this is something that goes to show that teen pregnancy is all around us.

There are many reasons that a teen should not get pregnant. There area lot of risks to the teenage mother and to the child. The mother and the child have a lot of risks that have to be considered. A teen mother is mother is more likely t give birth to a premature baby.(march of dimes) seventeen percent of pregnant teens ages fifteen to nineteen are more likely to smoke during pregnancy compared to ten percent of women that are between the ages of twenty-five to thirty-five. Babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be premature, have low birth weights, and sudden infant death syndrome. Smoking teen mothers also have a higher risks of having complication during there pregnancy. Placental problems are one of the many problems that can occur with a smoking teen mother. 7.1 percent of mother under twenty receive late or no prenatal care. Compared to 3.7 percent of women of all other ages.(march of dimes) a teenage mother is at greater risks for complications, such as premature labor, anemia and high blood pressure. The risks are even greater for teens who are under fifth-teen years old.(march of dimes) these are some of the many risks that a teenage mother may face.

Teen pregnancy cost the mother a lot finically. It also cost the united states government and the tax payers a lot of money. Teen pregnancy cost the united states at least seven billion dollars annually.(www. Familyfirstaid.org). In 2004 teen pregnancy cost Georgia tax payers at least 344 million dollars, 66 million dollars for public health care, and 44 million dollars for child welfare. A typical family will spend about 221,000 raising a child through the age do seventeen.(www.time.com) 221,000 is about twenty-one percent more then families spent in 2009. Health care and housing has risen in cost but the price of food and clothing for a child is now cheaper then before. These are some of the cost that teen pregnancy cost the united stated and to the teen mother and her family. Refer to graph.

Single-Parent Family

Age

of Child Housing Food Transportation Clothing Health Child care/

Education Miscellaneous Total

Before-tax income: up to $39,100

0 to 2 2,240 1,010 730 330 220 530 380 5,440

3 to 5 2,550 1,060 640 350 330 720 500 6,150

6 to 8 2,710 1,340 740 410 390 650 670 6,910

9 to 11 2,600 1,550 530 420 490 310 540 6,440

12 to 14 2,600 1,550 620 710 520 400 520 6,920

15 to 17 2,760 1,690 970 830 520 300 600 7,670

Total 46,380 24,600 12,690 9,150 7,410 8,730 9,630 118,590