As years evolve, teenage pregnancy has become more common and accepted amongst society but what teenagers did not understand was that at that moment their life would have changed forever. Teenage pregnancies are a source of disturbance all around the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 16 million girls aging between 15 and 19 years and about one million girls younger than 15 years give birth every year. Nowadays, most teenage pregnancies take place in average and poor countries that have inferior medical management and utilities that would most likely cause many problems during the pregnancy that may lead to the death of the teenagers. Fifteen years ago, The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported that worldwide every fifth child is born by an adolescent mother and 80% of these so-called teenage pregnancies occur in third-world countries. Consequently, teenage pregnancy also occurs in rich countries and regardless of the improved resources and medical material it is still dangerous and strategy attempts to stay away from pregnancy at an early age. ( Kirchengast, n.d., retrieved on 24/4/2019). Although some people believe that having a baby at an early age is a normal way to express freedom of choice, there is other evidence that opposes that.
Sexual abuse is an act that is increasing all over the world and still has not been dealt with definitely. It is a very sensitive topic to talk about and especially for the victims but do people ever think about why the abuser did such a terrible act? Some abusive individuals may have psychological difficulties that are granted due to emotional and physical violence and many more factors. Life experiences (their desires, beliefs, and psychological difficulties) are themselves determined by prior life circumstances. For example, growing up with domestic violence would make the children fear their parents and hide their emotions and feelings and make it more convincing to think that it is acceptable to be dominant and in charge of others. Initially, comprehending why people sexually abuse does not eliminate their fault on that matter. The culpability for the abuser rests with the abuser and never with the victim. Therefore a way to stop people from abusing is by understanding the reason behind it. (why do people sexually abuse children?,n.d., retrieved on 24/4/2019). During the sexual act, most abusers don’t care about the circumstances that the victim is going to face in the near future and so the abusers don’t think about getting protection to prevent some of the problems that are going to occur in the future with the victim. Most sexual abuses take place with teenagers since they would be more vulnerable to the act and so at that moment when the abuse takes place a part of the causes of teenage pregnancy would be completed.
Another cause of teenage pregnancy is peer pressure. Traditions and habits are meant to change as generations come and go but ethics and values should stay the same without any change since they define people’s character and personality for the rest of their lives. At the age of 15-16, teenagers are most likely to start breaking rules and misbehave for that reason it would be easy to influence each other in any way since in that period of life teenagers would only care about how to get noticed and liked from their circle of friends regardless of their parents ‘thoughts. A lot of time while questioning teenagers about their decision of having sex their response would be related to their friends and how they got influenced while not taking into consideration the consequences of that action. Peer pressure has the ability to risk people’s future while putting their logic aside and not giving it a thought. (retrieved from18/12/2018, retrieved on 25/4/2018). Sex is a sacred thing that God has granted humans to show their love by getting a baby and yet it is being used obliviously and just for fun.
Lack of knowledge is one of the most dangerous things in life. Lack of knowledge in any aspect of life can define a person in that situation as the “weak. Sex education is a topic that is still not a common conversation in family discussions and so teenagers would be obliged to find out the right way to deal with sexual situations by falling into mistakes that would either teach them a lesson or define their character and future and that is why parents have a great role in their children’s lives. Teenagers should acquire everything they need to know from their parents since they always want the best for their children. Sex education is very important in a teenager’s life and not grasping information on that topic will make teenagers fall in tremendous mistakes. Sex education should be discussed at home frequently, in a safe environment, so that the offspring would know how to act in society. Parents should teach their children that the first step before having sex should be marriage. People don’t get married just for the title but to show responsibility and to start growing together as adequate individuals. Sex cannot be used as a way to meet one’s desires and excitements. Sex, only due to its misuse, has brought to humans illness, pain, and death. Basically, there is nothing wrong with sex. It is the human misinterpretation of sex that is wrong. (Lutes, n.d., retrieved on 25/4/2019).
Giving birth to a child at an early age will definitely affect the child in some way. Most likely, the child would be growing and learning from a person that is also considered a child and that is the reason why parents would most likely take over the role of parenting that child instead of their own daughter and son. The children of teenagers sometimes grow up with various problems such as educational and emotional. On an educational base teenage parents are still children that sometimes lack behind homework, don’t care about getting good grades and so they cannot give advice for their children if they cannot also relate and abide by that same rule. Emotionally, children having teenage parents would feel in some kind of way unwanted and sometimes unloved in society and so they would build a layer by lying to protect themselves from the hate, not knowing that the only thing they would be doing is hurting themselves. Therefore the sometimes the child turns out to be shy, weird, disturbed, and unhappy.
Ups and downs are known to happen with families but how are they suppose to react when their teenager suddenly becomes a parent? In that case, parents usually take their children’s role in raising the newborn. When a teenager is pregnant all the family becomes tensed and they would not know how to act immediately since basically, their life has changed in a tremendous way. The effect of the family can either turn out in a positive way in which all the family helps financially and emotionally to raise the child or it can bring the family into a crisis also financially and emotionally in a way talks become arguments that need a lot of attention.
There are several ways to deal with the pregnancy and each case depends on the person having the baby and their situation. One way to deal with pregnancy is Abortion. Abortion occurs when people don’t want to deal with the consequences of their actions and would rather get it erased as if it never existed.
Another way is adoption. Adoption will obviously affect children mostly in an emotional way as if they were not loved and accepted by their own parents however, his process helps people that do not have the means to raise children and are against killing their infants and not giving them the right to live and experience life.
Parenting is the least common way to deal with pregnancy. Usually, the people that go with that choice have a great and loving support system that grows together as one and that is always there for each other. Parenting infants as teenagers is of course a hard task and that is why during the years that those infants would be growing they would be getting raised, advised, and loved by all the family as their own.
In my opinion, teenagers should not put themselves in any situation that might disrupt their future at an early age and especially if that was by giving life to another person. Having an open mind is a good way to show evolvement but people have taken it too far with the idea of having a baby at an age where they can’t even take care of themselves is okay. Teenagers should live their life to the fullest and take such a decision if not after their wedding, at a stage in life where they would have finished their studies, capable of supporting themselves in every way possible. Being a parent is not an easy task it takes time, effort, and sacrifice. Talking about parents, giving children the utilities and information to make the right choice about sex and relationships is much more convincing than rejecting them either by not providing them with the information or by not responding to their questions. (Madlopha-Mthethwa, retrieved from 24/11/2016, retrieved on 26/4/2019). Killing a person is internationally known as an illegal act but how come people think otherwise when it comes to adoption? Adoption should never be a way to deal with pregnancy since ending the life of an innocent child thinking that it is the right thing to do is considered selfish since it is not your choice to make that statement of someone else’s life.
For some people having a baby at a young age is considered as “ruining their life” but in fact, for some people, it is considered a push that motivated them to be stronger and accept life as it is. It is an advantage as some people say that having an infant at a young age would help have a strong bond and would make them spend more time with each other and so the parents can love their youngster for a longer time. Age does not define good parents. Pregnancy may be tough for any age but why does the support system differ with the age? Why do they get questioned before being given an opportunity? Adults waste a lot of time attacking and censuring teenagers when they were never ideal themselves. Having a baby doe not depend on age. So instead of judging young parents, become the support system they require.
In conclusion, Teenagers should look up everything they traverse in life and ask all questions that cross their minds to someone they trust and cares about them so that they could be aware of the topic and everything that concerns it. People should become more open-minded to the fact that generations change and that some things that were not accepted at all in the past are occurring constantly in the present and should start seeing the positive side of every situation especially if the person facing that problem is not mature enough and does not know how to deal with that problem. Nevertheless, it is no reason to contradict that teenage pregnancies are still a major common issue around the world and it should be dealt with.