Being pregnant as a teenager is extremely hard for many reasons, one being that while you’re growing into the person you become, there’s also a person growing inside of you. There are lots of views and opinions on the topic of teen pregnancy, but most people could agree that they would never want their daughter to be a teen mom. Teen pregnancy affects not only the teen mom but all those around her including the dad, the grandparents, the aunt and uncle and the nurses and many others.

There’s so much stigma around the topic of teen pregnancy, and one thing that would help lower the stigma, would be to have more resources available to everyone.  Most people don’t grow up thinking, “I’m going to be a teen mom.” It’s not something that most people plan in the earlier years of their life and so teaching teens about pregnancy is beneficial to all involved. 

 The is vital work that needs to be implemented in high schools, clinics and community centers. A lot of parents don’t want to teach their kids about teen pregnancy because of the unwarranted negative connotation associated with the information, but they don’t know how much that could benefit their child.

Teen moms need as much support as possible. Proper assistance can make it easier for teen moms to not only raise their kid, but also figuring out their own identity outside of their situation and gives them the opportunity to decide what they want their future to look like. My Grandma, a teen mom, wished that she was more financially and emotionally stable before she made a decision that would impact her everyday for the rest of her life.

Having support during pregnancy is essential. The environment plays a huge role in sex education, and proficient and thorough sex education can help to lower teen pregnancy rates, provide help for those who are in that situation, and teach young people about alternative options. With the internet, almost everyone has access to it and in my opinion, that is better than no resources. I still think that parents should attempt to broach the topic with their children and help them learn about it. I also believe that the knowledge of sex education is important in the later years in your life, but it is my opinion that it is most crucial in high school years because that is when most adolescence are sexually active. With more resources and family support, teen pregnancy can result in two productive members of society.

With teen pregnancy, there’s a large amount of responsibility that comes with raising a kid and while being one, it is incredibly hard to raise a child. The overturning of Roe. V. Wade has made thousands of people give birth to unwanted babies just in the past couple of months. Causing anger, disruption and so many more emotions, people across the US have voiced their opinions on the ways this law’s overturning has effected them in the past 100 days. Abortion clinics have shut down and hospitals have denied access to those in need of abortions. Those who are denied the right to an abortion in their own state travel far to get them or resort to a more dangerous means to terminate the pregnancy. 

The statistics of teen pregnancy have dwindled in the past twenty years.  Many counties, including Gloucester, are abstinent only communities and do not teach their students anything about protected sex, contraception, and other forms of sex safety. A statistic from Momjunction states that a teenager that indulges in unprotected sex has a 90 percent chance of getting pregnant within a year. There are different statistics based on race and/or different communities. One saying that 78 out of 100 White teens and 70 out of 100 African American teens said that the improper communication between them and their parents resulted in elevated numbers of teen pregnancies. 

Some people who get pregnant as young as in their teen years, often do not realize what it will take to be a mother, if they decide to keep the baby. While being a mom is incredibly scary and unknowingly hard, being a teenage mom can be even more difficult. Over half of teenagers who do get pregnant, end up dropping out of high school. Even though pregnancy comes with many risks, most parents, even teenage ones, regard the situation as a blessing and don’t regret making the decision to have a child. Teen moms deserve a great deal of appreciation and respect for the struggles they face. My brother was the result of a teen pregnancy so I wanted to bring light to a scarcely talked about topic. If anyone you know is pregnant, reach out and help them in any little way possible. They will appreciate it, I promise.