Sex Education Role in Preventing Teenage Pregnancy

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I am writing in riposte to Jane Merrick’s article, “Sex education is key if the teenage pregnancy rate is to continue to fall,” which appeared in The Independent on Wednesday, 26 February 2014. Currently, teenage pregnancy is a worrisome subject across the world.

As a teenager myself, I know my age mates are engaging in sex oblivious of what may occur them, as all they can think of at the moment is self-gratification. If the cause of teenage pregnancy is not addressed urgently, we are likely to end up with fatherless children, which in turn put the conventional family structures into the test. This trend is also threatening to teenagers.

Teenagers experience numerous hormonal changes in their bodies. During this time, there is a huge stream of hormones, which evokes different emotions coupled with causing great changes in teenagers’ bodily growth patterns. At this point in life, teenagers become unruly, and they disregard the set of rules and regulations in society. Due to these changes, teens resort to sex as a means of making them feel great, which leads to unwanted teenage pregnancies. During this stage, teens require proper care, love, guidance, and provision.

Secondly, peer pressure surrounding these minors has been a contributing factor in teenage pregnancies (Merrick, 2014). Peer pressure is the influence that directs one to do something or stops teens from doing what they are supposed to do. When peers meet, they exchange flawed information concerning the life and their bodies.

Teens fall for peer pressure, as they want to get acceptance and recognition amongst their peers. Peer pressure leads to experimental activities like engaging in unprotected sex, which leads to teenage pregnancy. Teenagers influence each other in the use of drugs, the decision to have boyfriends, and how to engage in sex.

Poverty can be cited as one of the main contributing factors to teenage pregnancies (Domenico & Jones, 2007). Mostly, this misfortune befalls girls from poverty-stricken areas as opposed to those from rich families. A poor girl from a remote village, who is unable to get the provision of her daily life needs like sanitary towels, makeup, and even pocket money, may resort to any means possible to acquire these needs. Men take advantage of these poor girls and lure them into engaging in unprotected sex in exchange for money and other niceties.

Given that these girls have a voice or choice under the stated circumstance, they take the offer for money and niceties as an activity to earn a living, and in turn, they become pregnant, and they are forced to raise fatherless kids. This aspect also poses a great risk to the lives of these girls, as some of them resort to abortion.

Abortion has been known to cause loss of life, as many young girls have died during the exercise in a bid to escape the burden of parenthood. Another risk that comes with poverty is the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and AIDS. Through unprotected sex, teens become pregnant, and sometimes, they are so unlucky that they contract diseases.

Also, the lack of proper parenthood has also been a great challenge to the control of teenage pregnancy (Harden, Ginny, Fletcher & Oakley, 2009). Some teenagers find themselves on the streets, and they have to survive somehow.

This occurrence may be due to the death of their parents, which renders them orphans or they maybe they are products of teenage pregnancies after which they are abandoned by their youthful inexperienced parents. In a bid to survive, the teens resort to prostitution as a means of earning a livelihood, which in turn leads to teenage pregnancies.

Finally, unemployment has been very instrumental in the increase in teenage pregnancy. Most countries across the world are fighting the problem of unemployment. Lack of job opportunities has driven teens into finding what they can do to earn a living.

In most developing countries, the population is growing faster as compared to the economic growth and creation of job opportunities, which exerts pressure on the few already existing jobs. Given that these teenagers are idle, they end up abusing drugs and ultimately they are involved in unprotected sex, thus leading to early pregnancies.

Every person in society must ensure good moral and discipline during teenage. This goal can be achieved through proper parenthood, coupled with creating awareness about sex and its dangers. Creation of programs that will attract teenagers to spiritual values will create a sense of fear for God.

Young people have to be kept busy through participation in community-based programs that will keep them preoccupied and at the same time earn them some money, and thus be in a position to cater for their basic personal needs. Nepotism and favoritism should be shunned to ensure equal opportunities for both the poor and the rich, and this move will bridge the gap of poverty in society. Teenagers are precious people just as everybody else and they should receive the requisite support in a bid to waddle through the murky waters of teenage and transit to adulthood wholesomely.

References

Domenico, D., & Jones, K. (2007). Adolescent pregnancy in America: causes and responses. The Journal of Vocational Special Needs Education, 30(1), 4-12.

Harden, A., Ginny, B., Fletcher, A., & Oakley, A. (2009). Teenage pregnancy and social disadvantage: systematic review integrating controlled trials and qualitative studies. British Medical Journal, 339, 1182–1185.

Merrick, J. (2014). Sex education is key if the teenage pregnancy rate is to continue to Fall. Web.

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Sex Education Role in Preventing Teenage Pregnancy

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