Running Head: TEEN ABORTIONS 1

Teen Abortion

Name

Institution
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Teen Abortions

Teen childbearing is one of the most controversial issues in the United States. So far, the

efforts to curb the ever-increasing levels of teenage pregnancies seem to bear no fruit at all.

Various initiatives and policies have always been set across support adolescent mothers, but all

the efforts to reduce pregnancies always end up in abortion rather than motherhood. According

to research, 50% of the adolescent conceptions end up in abortion (Hoggart & Phillips, 2011). A

study carried out in 21 countries reveals that United States had the highest pregnancy rates

amongst 15-19-year-olds, with 57 pregnancies out of 1000 females (Sedgh et al. 2015).

Therefore, reinstatement of the family planning policy and education will be the best in

counteracting the increased levels of teenage pregnancies and hence prevent abortion.

Access to family planning services would provide a greater access to contraception is as

well as reproductive health services for teens, hence reducing pregnancy rates as well as abortion

cases. Sedgh indicates that increased teen birth rates are always associated with barriers to access

to contraception (Sedgh et al. 2015). Therefore, when the majority of the teens cannot bear with

the pregnancies, they end up carrying out an abortion, which is quite detrimental. Similarly,

offering education to teens would as well reduce the prevalence of abortion (Mahoney&

MacKay, 2016). A teen with knowledge about sex education will be challenging to obtain

pregnancy at the early stages. This arises from the fact that they will be having enough

knowledge on how to prevent and avoid early pregnancies. The teenage childbearing is quite a

severe issue as it brings about various negative impacts. First, at such a tender age, the teenager

is burdened with the stresses of having to take care of a child (Donovan, Rachael 2015). This

indicates that thousands of teens will opt for abortion and evade such responsibilities. Therefore,

family planning services would be the best policy to reinstate, as it will provide access to
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contraceptives and other health services crucial in preventing pregnancies and abortions (Beltz,

2015).

The rate of teenage pregnancies acts to be at its maximum in the United States. In

understanding all the various efforts that are being used in the process of curbing the escalating

rates understanding first the cause of the increased trends in abortion is essential. One of the

leading reasons for teenage pregnancies in the United States is peer pressure among adolescent

girls (Sedgh et al. 2015). Many engage in risky sexual behaviors to fit in the various social

groups that are prevalent at such ages. In this note, the majority end up doing what their fellow

friends are doing just to fit in the gap. In this case, their peer friends influence them to make

decisions and eventually engage in sexual activities without understanding their consequences.

Such later leads to unwanted pregnancies, which force many to abort to continue with their

education by (Mahoney, & MacKay, 2016).

Similarly, the teenage pressure in engaging in such acts occurs through adolescent

drinking. The influence of alcohol leads to irresponsible behaviors and hence, unintended sexual

actions, which cause unexpected pregnancies. Unhealthy relationships amongst teenagers are

always due to the pressure imposed on them by their fellow peers. They engage in careless

sexual behaviors with the wrong partners hence culminating into unsolicited pregnancies.

The second leading cause of increased teen pregnancy is high poverty levels across the

various racial groups in the US. Some of the teenage girls live in poverty-stricken areas, whereby

the standards of living are quite low. Due to the lack of easy access to reproductive health

education services, they end up in pregnancies. Poverty is one of the main aspects that increase

rates of pregnancy, as indicated by Mahoney & MacKay, that "Living in poverty is a strong

predictor that a young woman will become pregnant before she is 20" (2016). The lack of
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enough knowledge of various ways of evading early pregnancies hence contributes to the high

numbers of pregnancies.

Correspondingly, poverty leads to significant dropping out of schools. When young

women become less engaged in any activities, they end up engaging in risky behaviors. On the

same note, the fact that many households have low incomes to carter for the various expenses,

some of the teenagers might opt-in engaging in risky sexual behaviors to obtain better lifestyles.

The majority of the parents from these poverty-stricken areas do have low literacy levels. “Only

50% of teen moms get a high school diploma by age 22, less than 33% finish high school and

receive a diploma on time and by age 30 only” (Donovan, 2015). Thus may not have a full

understanding of the importance of education. They can as well be unable to provide their

children with teenage awareness. Research indicates that , “60% of pregnant teenagers live in

poverty when they become pregnant, and about 80 percent of those who give birth in and

become mothers will live in poverty when they become pregnant” (Mahoney & MacKay 2016).

Therefore, since the majority of the parents were also uneducated teen parents, the cycle might

repeat itself over and over. Thus if unchecked, this as well creates a foundation of the next

generations to follow the same suite of becoming teen parents and hence dealing with unwanted

pregnancies.

An additional cause of increased pregnancies in the US is various lifestyles, which seem

to have a great attitude towards having children. A teenage born of such a family would as well

adopt the same kind of view, and thus, society should not assume that all pregnancies are

unwanted. Mahoney & MacKay argues "…between 2006 and 2010, most of the teen girls

reported that they would be very upset (57.5 percent) or a little upset (29.1 percent), if they got

pregnant…13.4 of those surveyed, said they would be a little or very pleased” (2016). These
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figures, in a way, would imply that some are fond of pregnancies and babies than cultures within

other nations. With such optimality in bearing children, teenagers are at ease with having

children at such an early. If a society takes such a friendly note towards bearing children, then it

increases the childbirth rate across all the age gaps.

Overall, the lack of enough sex education and awareness about access to various health

reproductive measures are the major leading causes of the increased teenage pregnancies.

Education is such a significant cause of the increased teen pregnancies. The majority of the teens

lack the knowledge about the consequences of indulging in unprotected sex end up having the

pregnancies. A study carried out by CDC indicates that "21 percent of teen females and 16

percent of teen males reported they did not use contraception at first intercourse" (Mahoney&

Mac Kay2016). Such education would be excellent sources of awareness on the various methods

of evading unwanted pregnancies as well as the different available ways of use of contraceptives

in preventing unwanted pregnancies.

Various state and social policies have been put in place to control the elevated cases of

teenage abortions. However, to find the best solution, efforts have to be made to first deal with

the prevention of pregnancy as it is the pivotal issue in this case. Hence, the various policy

revolving around access and usage of family planning services together with contraceptives

would lessen teen birth rates (Hoggart, & Phillips 2011). These entail inclusion of teens on clinic

cards, easy ease of access to contraception: conscience laws, increased spending on family

planning services as well as Medicaid waivers (Beltz et al. 2015). Additionally, the education

policies would as well aid in the reduction of the child's increased teen pregnancies (Beltz et al.

2015). These would entail expenditures on education as well as graduation requirements.

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Policy related to family planning services would be one of the essential aspects of the

process of dealing with teenage pregnancies and abortion. Ever since the introduction of the

various oral contraceptives, family planning policies had major attention on the facilitation of

access to contraceptives. In this case, multiple efforts have always been initiated to increase their

affordability hence reducing the barriers to their accessibility. Currently, most of the teenagers

seem to be barricaded by their parents in accessing such due to fear. However, research indicates

that various laws that allow minors to use contraceptive pills without the involvement of the

parents lead to reduced childbirth rates amongst teenagers (Beltz et al. 2015). In some instances,

there have always been the arising issues on the point of health professionals providing these

contraceptives to the minors. For example, the contraceptive conscience clause, barred access of

the service to teenagers. In turn, such a law led to increased teen birth rates among older white

teens (Beltz et al. 2015). Thus, this indicates that amongst the white teens, access to the use of

contraception leads to low birth rates while restriction to the access causes high teen birth rates.

Hence, if all teens were allowed to access contraceptives in the health facilities, the rate of

unintended pregnancies would reduce drastically as well as the teenage abortion rates.

Additionally, some of the teenage pregnancies are caused by a lack of necessary funds in

seeking contraception services. On this note, state spending on family planning services and

contraceptives is such a crucial aspect to reconsider. More government expenditures need to be

channeled in the issue of family planning services to enhance all-time accessibility of

contraceptives by teens on the verge of reducing unintended pregnancies. The more the

government will increase its expenditure on the family planning services, the more teenage

pregnancies will reduce and hence abortion rate too. Research indicates that Medicaid family

planning waivers are hugely allied with reduced teenage pregnancies (Beltz et al. 2015). The
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modification of the use of the Medicaid family planning waivers to include the coverage for

family planning services will also be such a great relieve in reducing teenage pregnancy rates. It

will be such ease for teenagers who are currently ineligible for the service under the regular

Medicaid rules, as they will be able to access the services despite their socioeconomic status.

Thus, the state policy of availing family planning policies and contraception through enhancing

the affordability and facilitating their access will lead to lower teen pregnancy rates and in this

case, lead to reduced abortion rates among the teens.

Again, the various service providers should as well provide education services on the

multiple types of contraception as well as their applicability. Health services offering similar

services need to come up with education programs intended to provide such information to the

various teens. Education is critical, as the teens will be able to understand the multiple issues

related to risky sexual behaviors and how to use contraceptives efficiently (Donovan, Rachael

2015. Research designates that "young people lacked knowledge on the full range of

contraceptive choices; was often unaware of how to access services; and relied on user-

dependent methods” (Hoggart, & Phillips 2011). Therefore, it would be crucial for teens to be

with such information to choose the correct one as well as suitable for their various health

conditions. This also will aid in the understanding of the effectiveness of multiple contractions

and thus reducing cases of unwanted pregnancies. Therefore, the poor awareness of pregnancy

risks has proved to influence the use of emergency contraception and as a result, leading to

unintended pregnancies.

For teen abortion to ultimately become extinct in the United States, family planning

policies supporting the use of contraception by teenagers, need to be put in place. This will be

enhanced through the demolishment of any current laws that inhibit their access to these services
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in the various health facilities. Similarly, the implementation of the Medicaid waiver to include

access to family planning services amongst the teens will also aid in the reduction of the

unintended pregnancies as well as abortions. Reduced pregnancies will as well be achieved d

through increased government expenditure on family planning services to teens. Lastly, through

the provision of contraception education, many awareness about pregnancies will be created

hence reduced teen birth rates.

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References

Beltz, M. A., Sacks, V. H., Moore, K. A., & Terzian, M. (2015). State policy and teen

childbearing: A review of research studies. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(2), 130-138.

Donovan, Rachael. (2015). “Teen Pregnancy Policy: An Analysis of the Healthy Teens Act.”

MOJ Public Health, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 229–236., doi:10.15406/mojph.2015.03.00054.

Hoggart, L., & Phillips, J. (2011). Teenage pregnancies that end in abortion: what can they tell us

about contraceptive risk-taking?. BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, 37(2), 97-102.

Mahoney, E., & MacKay, J. (2016). Dealing with Teen Pregnancy. Greenhaven Publishing LLC.

Sedgh, G., Finer, L. B., Bankole, A., Eilers, M. A., & Singh, S. (2015). Adolescent pregnancy,

birth, and abortion rates across countries: levels and recent trends. The Journal of

adolescent health: official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 56(2),

223–230. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.09.007