Our country spends close to $7 billion a year on teen pregnancies. That's not too surprising when you take into account that we also have the highest rate of teen pregnancies and births in the industrialized world.
Now, bearing the crown of this statistic would have been an honor in the sixteenth century; it would mean our country was developing. But in a day and age when the average age of marriage is inching later and later, having 31 percent of the female population pregnant at least once before the age of 20 is an alarming reality.
And just to rub salt into the wound, eight out of 10 of teen pregnancies are unwanted, and unsurprisingly, they happen mostly to unmarried teens.
Ever since I was 10, getting pregnant was, like, the biggest fear of my life (aside from squirrels, the dark, windows and public bathrooms). Now, I no longer believe that I can get pregnant from sitting on toilets, but I still feel a sense of relief every time my "friend" (or period) comes to visit.
I am still in constant fear that I'm pregnant.
Condoms could have a 98 percent success rate at stopping unwanted pregnancies, but in reality, it's more like 85 percent with "typical use," according to PlannedParenthood.org.
Prescription birth control methods like the Pill boast a 99 percent or greater effectiveness rate with perfect use. Even with modern technology on our side, I still live in constant fear; I just don't want to become that one percent statistic that didn't get so lucky.
The reality that not all women and men have the knowledge and resources to protect themselves saddens me. And as much as it is both the responsibility of the man and the woman, the woman suffers most.
Statistics say that only 33 percent of teen mothers graduate from high school, and only 1.5 percent of those will earn a college degree before the age of 30. Babies of teen mothers are more likely to be underweight and suffer from neglect or abuse. Kids of teen mothers are also more likely to become pregnant as teenagers themselves.
I cannot sit here and just agree with the statistics. Every year, there are 820,000 girls whose dreams and lives come to a complete halt because of unplanned pregnancies. Whose fault is this, really? Can we really just blame the girl and say it was her own fault because she was "loose" or stupid?
Teens cite strong religious or moral beliefs as the number one reason why they remain abstinent. Girls are also more likely to have sex later if they are strongly connected to their parents. Three out of four girls said that the reason they started having sex is because their boyfriends wanted to.
Teen birth rates have dropped 30 percent from 1991 to 2002. In 1991, 54 percent of high school seniors reported having had sex. In 2001, it dropped to 46 percent. It seems like things are taking a turn for the better. Less teen intercourse is hopefully translating into less teen pregnancies.
Facts in this article were taken from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, The Center for Disease Control, Plannedparenthood.org, and Why Gender Matters, by Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D.,
