There’s probably nothing scarier than realizing that you are now responsible for someone else’s life.As depicted by television, motherhood could be a grotesque, ominous fate that is usually unintentional.
Procreation that comes too soon causes high school students’ prom plans to be spoiled such as the teens of 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom.
If not too early, then it could come too late, causing women to depend on in vitro fertilization or surrogacy.
While it may not seem true, fear works.
There has been a recent decline in teenage pregnancies, while the ratings for reality shows about teenage pregnancies have increased.
Studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that teenage pregnancies are at a record low.
The Teen Mom 2 premiere attracted 3.6 million viewers.
The 90 pregnant and new mothers at Frayser High School in Memphis probably aren’t watching enough television. No pamphlet or public service ad is going to support birth control like MTV shows.
According to the Washington Post, “The decline in teen pregnancy has stopped — and in fact has turned around,” said Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research for the Guttmacher Institute.
The institute is the nonprofit, nonpartisan research group in New York that conducted the analysis. “These data are certainly cause for concern.”
Although teen pregnancy is declining, abortion has risen.
“One of the nation’s shining success stories of the past two decades is in danger of unraveling,” said Sarah Brown of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
“Clearly, the nation’s collective efforts to convince teens to postpone childbearing must be more creative and more intense, and they must begin today.”
There isn’t a set reason as to why the teenage pregnancy is occurring. Some experts blame the pregnancies on sex education programs that focuses on encouraging abstinence.
Others said that the reversal could deal with “an increase in poverty, an influx of Hispanics and complacency about AIDS, prompting lax use of birth control such as condoms,” according to the Washington Post.
“It could be a lot of things coming together,” said Rebecca Maynard, a professor of economics and social policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
“It could be we just bottomed out, and whenever you are at the bottom, it tends to wiggle around. This may or may not be a sustained rise.”
The decline in teenage sex had leveled off starting in 2001 and the teenage birth rate began to increase in 2005.
It wasn’t known if the increase was due to more pregnancies or fewer abortion and miscarriages according to the publication.
In lieu of preventing teenage pregnancies, minors are told things such as, “You won’t graduate.” “Your life is ruined.”
“Your relationships won’t be successful.”
These exaggerated statements are assumed to be the only way to keep teenagers from having sex and possibly pregnant.
Something that may be more attractive is delaying parenthood.
“If teens have a sense of a future that would be impacted by early parenting and believe they can go to (and afford) college, find fulfilling jobs, and be able to more fully explore their own potential, they’ll be more likely to delay having sex or use birth control if they do havesex,” according to thepushback.org.
Let’s move forward. It’s better to build a more positive environment that empowers teenagers so that they will make choices that are better for them. If our society is doing a good job in supporting, more young people will delay parenting.