Teen Pregnancy
Does having access to condoms help in preventing teen pregnancy? Teen pregnancy can be one of the most difficult experiences a young person might ever face when it interrupts school or other plans. It can create an emotional crisis resulting in feelings of shame and fear.
Can condoms prevent teen pregnancy? One of the most important findings to emerge from this prevention was the strong link between condom availability and use of condoms with young teens. Well am letting you know that condoms are very useful to prevent teen pregnancy. More rigorous examination of the combined impact of condoms provision and of other supportive educational interventions in the schools is especially important. Providing condoms to students is the morally pragmatic thing to do.
Access to condoms by teenagers would help to reduce the frequency of unwanted pregnancies. Pregnant teenagers face many of the same obstetrics issues as women in their 20s and 30s. However, there are additional medical concerns for younger mothers, particularly those under fifteen and those living in developing countries. When teenage girls become pregnant, they face a greater risk of complications for both themselves and their fetus, as compared to women past twenties. This is because, their bodies have not yet fully developed physically and they may suffer from poor nutrition. These teens generally suffer the worst complications, such as severe anemia and hypertension due to pregnancy. Although it is an extremely difficult situation for a teen to deal with a teenage pregnancy, current statistics reveal that approximately 10% of girls that are underage do get pregnant. Most teenagers will have some excuse to have sex; perhaps, unprotected sex could lead to an unwanted pregnancy.
Having access to condoms can help lower the rate of teenage pregnancy in a certain community. Condoms are a barrier device that are commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases (STDs—such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV). Condoms have been used for at least 400 years. Since the 19th century, they have been one of the most popular methods of contraception in the world. While widely accepted in modern times, condoms have generated some controversy, primarily over what role they should play in sex education classes. This issue of condoms is a growing concern because of increasing rates of sexual behavior, earlier onset of sexual activity, teenage pregnancy, and the spreading of STDs and HIV. The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development reported 17% of girls and 29% of boys engaging in sexual intercourse by age 16 (Singer 1994). Condom use has become widespread throughout the world, though there are whole areas of the globe where these devices are difficult to obtain. Religious opposition toward them has played a part in restricting their availability.
Teen pregnancy is orderly know as a young woman who hasn’t reached the age of 20, and getting pregnant at an adolescent age. Teenage pregnancy was normal in previous centuries. Perhaps the most famous teenage pregnancy in history was Mary, Mother of Jesus. Teenage pregnancy has been used as a theme or plot device in fiction, including books, films, and television series. This themes are been used in other to teach other teenagers about sex education, and how most teens experience difficulties. You can simply turn to our local channel (39mtv) and see how most teenagers face different difficulties on (16 and pregnant, and teen mom). These are educational programs that talks more about sex education and how most teenagers drop out of school while they were still in pregnancy period. Teen pregnancy is a concern to many people in the United States. Even though the U.S. is among those countries with falling teen pregnancy rates, it is still acknowledged for having the highest number of pregnant teens each year throughout the industrialized world. Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually because, the fact that just under one-third of all girls in the United States will get pregnant in their teenage years is a sobering thought. Obviously, teen pregnancy is a problem in the United States. Using adolescent birth rates to measure teen pregnancy, adolescent parenthood has been a fairly common experience throughout American history. It is nearly impossible to gain an accurate measure of teen pregnancy rates over time, because not all pregnancies result in births. Pregnant teens can experience a number of different types of health risk, some of which include risks to the mother alone, some to her unborn child, and some to both of them. Some health risks for pregnant teens are due specifically to the mother’s age, and of course, this cannot be changed.
Teen pregnancy could be prevented by introducing teen programs at schools like sex education, sex abuse etc. Sex education may be described as the education about human emotional relation and responsibilities, about human development sexual behavior. Sex education may be taught informally, such as when someone receives information from a conversation with a parent, friend, religious leader, or through the media. It may also be delivered through sex self-help authors, magazine advice columnists, sex columnists, or through sex education web sites. Sex-education include; teaching students about sexual abstinence only, teaching that abstinence until marriage is preferred above all else, and giving a comprehensive overview that includes various contraceptive methods and information about sexually transmitted diseases. Many still think there should be no state-provided sex-education of any kind, and there is also extensive debate about the age-appropriateness of some materials among people who do want some kind of publicly funded sex-education. Today, there are two different types of sex education classes, they are; Comprehensive Sexuality Education or the Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Program. These two programs emphasize a lot of educational information a teen needs at an adolescent age. Prevention of sex is the best option for maintaining sexual health, many supporters of abstinence based approaches to sex education also believe that it is morally wrong for people to have sex before they are married. Prevention approaches are represented in programs such as Aspire and True Loves Waits (both developed in the US), which aim to teach young people that they should commit to abstaining from sex until marriage. Today, modern schools introduce surveys to students, families, religious institution, and community on behaviors that promote good health.
Having access to condoms will certainly prevent teenage pregnancy because; condom programs are available in the United States schools perhaps, it could help many students to have a significant impact. Providing condoms in schools is a much debated aspect of some comprehensive programs. This program has been promoted as a promising approach for increasing condom use among students in other words, for reducing the risks of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus and with other sexually transmitted diseases and for preventing unintended pregnancy. Providing condoms to students in public education programs will reduce the incidence of underage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. If one accepts the premise that condoms are an effective means of prevention, it stands to reason that their distribution could have a significant impact. Having access to condoms but students is a wise investment of government funds. A fortune is spent by world governments each year addressing the public health problems created by risky sexual behavior. The cost of raising the many children created through unintended pregnancies over a lifetime can be astronomical. The cost of treating a patient with HIV can be enormous. Although, a goal of many advocates of school condom distribution programs is to make condoms available to all sexually active students. There are two common requirements for receiving condoms; parental consent and counseling. The first requirement is designed to reduce concerns about infringement of parental rights; the second is intended to defuse both potential objections that condom availability programs might be seen as sanctioning sexual activity and potential school liability should students’ use condoms incorrectly and subsequently become pregnant or contract an STD.
The effectiveness of condoms is grossly exaggerated. If not used properly, condoms can be highly ineffective. Young people are more likely to use condoms incorrectly, due to lack of experience with them or because they are drunk. Moreover, the temptation to have sex without a condom may be significant where the supply of condoms is not plentiful. Presenting condoms to students in a publicly funded environment presents a potential offence to people from a variety of religions. Catholics and followers of other religions who do not believe in birth control and orthodox practitioners of a number of the world’s religions find the apparent encouragement of sexual activity an affront to their religious traditions. Because of the dramatic variation in the number of condoms obtained by students, condom availability programs should study further perhaps, to improve our understanding of the importance of different program characteristics. In addition, given the paucity of research measuring the impact of programs on behavior, it is important to better understand the effects of particular programs on sexual activity and contraceptive use. More rigorous examination of the combined impact of condoms provision and of other supportive educational interventions in the schools is especially important. Providing condoms to students is the morally pragmatic thing to do. Educators need not endorse sexual activity, but they can encourage students to make wise choices if they decide to have sex. Such an approach is wise because, it accepts the inevitability that some young people, regardless of the strength of an abstinence message, will still have sex.
Over the last few years, condom has been promoted as the method of choice for preventing STDs. It has been described as the "vaccine" against such afflictions, and condom use has been the mainstay of the so-called "Safe Sex" and "Safer Sex" campaigns. This inanimate object has received astounding notoriety and has been advertised on television and radio. It has been carried and promoted in elementary schools through to universities; and has been advocated by certain church groups, government institutions, and many experts in the medical profession.
Religiously, According to an analysis of the NICHD-funded Health Survey, religion reduces the likelihood of teens engaging in early sex by shaping their attitudes and beliefs about sexual activity. Teens, particularly girls with strong religious views are less likely to have sex than are less religious teens. I would go on to say that religious views allow parents to talk about tough issues like sex and give their views in a positive setting as opposed to when a parent is disciplining a teen. Most parents’ religious beliefs and attitudes toward sex do not directly influence teen’s decisions to have sex. The study goes on to say when teens do have sex, their beliefs about the consequences of sexual activity become more positive, but their religious views do not change. Sexual intercourse places teens at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy. Parents can use this information to open up dialogs with their teens about their religious beliefs and how their teen's sexuality fits in with those beliefs. Most significantly, why waiting to have sex is important? Most information provided by parents can also prove as an important for health researchers and planners devising programs that help prevent teens from engaging in sexual activity. "A better understanding of why religious adolescents are less likely to engage in early sexual intercourse may help in designing prevention programs for this behavior" (Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the NICHD). According to Dr. Joseph, he said" it was possible that "conservative religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging use of contraception among their teen community members than in discouraging sexual intercourse itself.(…)" Teenage pregnancy and STDs is a dangerous combination. Unprotected sex can lead to cases of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in teens.
In conclusion, Teen pregnancy is one of the most difficult experiences a young person might ever face when it interrupts school or other plans. It can create an emotional crisis resulting in feelings of shame and fear, and it may appear that one will crumble under pressure in its environment. Despite this lack of success, many continue to not only support the condom use as the major warrior against STDs, but vociferously deny and oppose education which includes the serious shortcomings of condom use for so-called "safe sex". It is time to critically assess the effectiveness of this type of protection and to implement an alternate plan of prevention to curb the ongoing devastation in the lives of young and old alike. Well, I am here to convince and not to confuse you that, access to condom can prevent teenage pregnancy.
Citations
http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/statistics/teen-pregnancy-rates-by-age-group/
http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/statistics/teen-pregnancy-statistics/
http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/teensexuality/a/teensex.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Sex/study-finds-teen-pregnancy-common-religious-states/story?id=8602283
Alan Guttmacher Institute, Sex and America's Teenagers, New York, 1994
https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2819696.html
http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/why-it-matters/pdf/education.pdf
