Teenage Pregnancy
Abortion is really something important to me. Everyone around me is getting pregnant, and their first option is abortion. Teen abortion has been on the rise since 2005. In some cases even death can occur.
“Abortion is one of the 5 leading causes of maternity related deaths. About 33 percent of teen pregnancies end with abortion. Of 861,789 abortions were done in 1999. Over half were done to women under 25” Well if it was on the rise since ‘05 and we in 2012 how many abortions is that a day? Death can occur? I’d rather just have the baby instead of losing my life. You never know.
Abortion death can be caused by various infections, hemorrhage, embolism, entropic pregnancies that are undetected. “Teens who abortion during their first trimester of pregnancy have twice a higher risk of developing breast cancer. With each abortion, a woman has the risk of cervical cancer. Statistics show that the risk increases from the first abortion of 2.3 to 4.92 with the second abortion and increases with each new abortion. So far, there’s so knowledge of what causes cancer”. It’s scary to think that just one abortion can give breast cancer.
“Another major concern of teen pregnancies is cervical lacerations and uterine perforations. 3% of women that get an abortion experience uterine perforations.” Both of these can cause problems during pregnancy later on. “They both can lead to premature birth or inability to conceive. Placenta previa is increased by almost 15% with an abortion. This is threatening to the mother and to the baby during pregnancy”. Pregnancy is really risky. Never being able to have kids because you aborted is sad. When you could put the baby for adoption , and when you’re ready... try again.
“There are many other risks that come with teen abortions such as excessive bleeding, infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, endotoxin shocks, convulsions, fevers, chronic abdominal pain, hemorrhage and gastrointestinal disturbances. Teen abortion is a very serious topic and each teen that gets one increases these health risks”.
Abortion is extremely dangerous. If you think religiously, do you think you get all those things because God punishes you for taking out a baby?
Williams, A. (2010) Teen Abortion Facts. Abortion Can be Very Harmful, [blog] November 20, Available at: www.at-risk.org/blog1015/teen-abortion-facts-abortion-can-be-dangerous [Accessed: February 28 2012 ].
On January 22, 1973 Congress granted the right to an abortion to be between the mother and her physician. Twenty eight years after, abortions are available to women of all ages, including adolescents. About 33% of teen pregnancies end in abortion. 861, 789 abortions were done in 1999 and over half were done to women under 25. Teenagers are 19% of the abortions done or 172, 357 abortions.
I wonder what made Congress make that decision. Young girls shouldn’t do abortion because your body is still growing and maturing. An abortion can just mess up your body in the future.
Teenagers 18 and 19 have the highest demand for abortion services. They alone demand 60%. Teenagers under 15, account for 3.5%. Older teenagers have a higher rate of pregnancy, so they have a higher number of abortions. African-American and Hispanic teenagers have a higher pregnancy, birth and abortion rate. In 2000, the pregnancy rate of a black women was 153, birth rate was 77, and abortion rate was 55. Hispanic women was 138, birth rate was 87, and abortion rate was 30. Non Hispanic white teens had the lowest rates of all three. Pregnancy rate was 55, birth rate was 32, and abortion rate was 15. In 1972, 32.6% of abortions were done were by women in their teens. By 1999, 19.2% of abortions were done by teens.
I think younger girls get abortions because they don’t have supportive parents. I know that no teenager wants to have a kid at a young age, they still experiencing life and getting to see the world. Some Hispanic moms were teen moms themselves. They probably think abortion will give their daughter a better future. But it really doesn’t. I didn’t know that many teens were sexually active.
Teen abortions not only come with health risk, they come with emotional risk as well. Emotion reactions sometimes last 5 to 10 years.
Sad mood
Sudden and uncontrollable crying
Deterioration of self concept
Sleep, appetite, and sexual disturbances
Reduced Motivation
Disruption in interpersonal relationships
Extreme guilt and anxiety
Psychological “numbing”
Depression and thoughts of suicide
Teens who choose abortions feel they are not ready for parenting and feel it’s best. “Studies show that teens who aborted, their plans decline if they have a baby. Teen pregnancy links to poverty and single. Children of teens have insufficient health care.”
Lambeau, C. (2005) Teenage Abortion. A Resource For Teachers, [blog] September 21, Available at: www.cedu.niu.edu/~shuman/itt/abortion.pdf [Accessed: 2/28/12].
I’ve read stories about teens who aborted. They all feel depressed and upset of aborting their child. Some girls were as young as 13, and had abortions. Some girls were forced into abortion from their parents, and some from their boyfriends. Not all the girls that had abortions live happy. They feel guilty and upset.
One girl talked about how her boyfriend and her dated for 2 years. Her boyfriend told her to abort because he wasn’t ready and wanted to enjoy his life. He didn’t even take her to get the abortion, his friend did. After the abortion, he tells her she should have kept it.
A kid isn’t a joke. It’s something serious.
Here’s some things the girls have to stay:
“ At first, I did not feel guilt, but trust me, it will find you. Truly weigh your options before you go through with it. Always remember its your decision, don’t let anyone else steal your voice in the situation. Be vocal”
“ I miss my baby and I wish she was here with me. December 06, 2011, the day I can’t forget the day I made that mistake”
“ About 2 weeks later, he dumped me. I regret having an abortion every day of my life! If I could go back I would”
“I made the worst decision of my life. Do what is right for you”
Teen Abortion Issues (2012) Archive For The Teen Abortion Category. [online] Available at: http://teenabortionissues.com/?m=201202 [Accessed: 2/28/12].
There are ways to prevent pregnancy. For example:
- Implants
- Female Sterilization
- Vasectomy
- IUD
- Injectables
- Pills
- Patch
- Male and Female Condoms
- Diaphragm
- Cervical Cap
- Sponge
- Withdrawal
- Fertilization Tracking
- Spermicides
Unknown. (2012) Sex Health. [online] Available at: http://health.syr.edu/education/sex-health.html [Accessed: 3/16/12].
Comments
Dear Michelle, I enjoyed
Dear Michelle,
I enjoyed reading your post on “Teenage Pregnancy,” because it really sounded interesting. It really was surprising to find out that abortion can lead to breast cancer or anything type of cancer. One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: “Abortion is dangerous.” I think this is something most young or any age girl doesn’t realize. They forget to inform themselves about the consequences that abortion can lead to. If girls were to think and look up information about the consequences they would lead to less abortions/deaths.
Another sentence that I agree with was: “I think younger girls get abortions because they don’t have supportive parents.” This stands out for me because this is the main reason why girl decide to abort. They believe that their parents are going to get mad and end up kicking them out. They fear the actions their parents are going to take and what everyone is going to say about them. If you don’t want to end like this then why have sex or at least have save sex so you won’t end up being pregnant and killing your own child or even yourself.
This post reminds me of someone that end up pregnant at the age of 16. She feared the reactions her parents would have on her and what her family would say about her. Her and her boyfriend had come to an agreement to abort the baby because he thought that she was still young. He wanted her to finish school and everything. Yeah, it probably sounds nice and kind of him, but at the end of the day they both ended up arguing. She end up regretting aborting the baby and feel guilty until this day. I mean she should have thought about it before doing it, even if everyone was going to go against her. She the leader of her life and actions and the only one to judge her is god.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because I found this topic useful and lesson learns in my perspective. This can actually help girl understand that they have to be inform of what they about to do and that aborting isn’t always the right choice.
Dear Jennifer:Thanks for you
Dear Jennifer:
Thanks for your post (: I think what you said " If girls were to think and look up information about the consequences they would lead to less abortions/deaths" I honestly didn't think about that, you brung up a very important point.
Your story about the 16-year old girl, seems typical. Of course the guy is gonna tell you that "he wants you to finish school" and "we're not ready". It normally convinces the girl. But the girl has to be the mature one and think like a mom. Sorry to hear she was arguing with him and that she regrets it. It normally happens. Girls regret it, maybe not then but later.
Michelle <3
Dear Michelle, I enjoyed
Dear Michelle,
I enjoyed reading you post about "teenage pregnancy". It was very educational about ways to prevent it and what can happen if you were to become pregnant. One thing that you said that stood out for me was "If you think religiously, do you think you get all those things because God punishes you for taking out a baby?" because people who don't know anything about the dangers of abortion, automatically think it was the cause of there sins and that is how god is repaying you for it. If people were more educated about the matter they would know the risks they were taking.
Another thing that you said that stood out for me was "Never being able to have kids because you aborted is sad." What if later on the girl wanted to get pregnant cause she was ready and then found out that it was impossible for her to try again because she got an abortion the 1st time around. Think of how heart broken they would be and how regretful.
This reminds me of the time my mothers friend wanted to have a baby, but when she was younger her period cycle was irregular causing because her hormones were unbalanced and she didn't take the medicine she needed and when she got older she could no longer be with child. It was so sad on her part and she had so much regret.
Thanks for writing about this i really enjoyed it, teaches girls who don't know what could go wrong when you could have prevented the situation from the beginning. Hope to see more of your writings.
Dear Casey;Thanks for you
Dear Casey;
Thanks for your comment (:
I'm Catholic, but no odee religious. But I do think God punishes you. A lot of young ladies get abortions and later in the future, they regret it. Abortion is EXTREMELY dangerous, like I can't stress that enough.
When you said "Think of how heart broken they would be and how regretful", there's a girl I know who keeps getting abortions. And she feels no shame. But she's still able to convince, after 5 abortions.
I'm sorry to hear about your mom's friend. She must be very hurt. A lot of the time, women don't think about adoption. Has she ever considered that?
Michelle <3
Dear Michelle, I liked your
Dear Michelle,
I liked your post “ Teenage pregnancy” because to me it caught my attention right away, and I think it’s an interesting topic for me to have more information on. I think abortion is taking a big risk, because you may never know something can go terribly wrong. Teenage pregnancy can cause a lot of problems like you might even have to drop out of school to give the support that your baby needs.
One sentence you wrote that stands out to me is “ Abortion is extremely dangerous” because it’s true when someone goes through this, they don’t realize what the outcome might be and it could affect the mom and also her lifestyle. It might be different then the way she used to live.
Another sentence that you wrote that stands out to me is “ A kid isn’t a joke, it's something serious” because many girls that are pregnant think the first option to get rid of it, is by having an abortion. they don’t realize what they're doing to themselves and also the baby. It’s not a joke and i think abortions should be taken serious because a lot of lives are being put at stake.
Your post reminds me of this 15 year old girl that was pregnant at a young age. And she decided to have an abortion. This changed her life she wasn’t the same as she was before. That’s why girls have to think this through before they change their life around.
Thanks for your writing. I really like how you provided a lot of researched information to support your topic, I hope I can read another post from you
Dear Kenny: Thanks for the
Dear Kenny:
Thanks for the comment(:
I agree with what you said " you might even have to drop out of school to give the support that your baby needs". I have friends that have dropped out to give their baby food, and clothes. Mostly because their baby daddie left.
When you said "abortions should be taken serious because a lot of lives are being put at stake". I know, mothers are also in danger. Like I think of it like this... you have unprotected sex, you d what you gotta do... but you never know if you risking yourself.
Michelle <3
I really enjoyed your post!
Dear Michelle :
I enjoyed your post "Teenage Pregnancy" because it was an interesting topic. It was also interesting to hear that abortions can lead to breast cancer.
One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is "Everyone around me is getting pregnant, and their first option is abortion" I think this is a fact because this is similar to whats going on a round me at the moment. Many girls chose to have unprotected, then Want to get abortions. To me the idea of that is a waste of time.
Another sentence that I agreed with was "Teens who abortion during their first trimester of pregnancy have twice a higher risk of developing breast cancer." This stood out for me because it was shocking. I never knew that abortion can leaders breast cancer or any other cancer. This makes me more worried about the ones closes to me.
Your post reminds me of something that happened to me. One time one of friends had a problem with having protected sex. This soon lead to pregnancy, and she got pregnant. It was hard for her at a young age; she suffered many problems.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because this is a popular topic that relates to many young females. The information you provided was very useful to those who need. I will like to soon read another post of yours.
Michelle, I enjoyed reading
Michelle, I enjoyed reading your post about teenage pregnancy and abortions. I agree with you that sometimes "younger girls get abortions because they don't have supportive parents". I think that is a big issue with a lot of teenage pregnancies because they honestly feel like they have no where to turn for help. I'm still not sure how i feel about the abortion issue as a whole but I definitely feel that it should be completely the mother's choice. Now if she wants to abort her baby and the husband/boyfriend/parent/etc. doesn't, then she at least owes them an explanation because it takes 2 to make a baby.
I haven't known very many people my age that have gotten pregnant so I can't say I know much about them feeling guilty or what they go through but I know that I absolutely would feel guilty because whatever happened to me or what I chose to do isn't at all the babies fault. I think it's a major decision, probably one of the most important ones that someone could make. That means that you should probably think about it a lot and probably get some expert advice.
Thank you for writing about such a controversial topic that not many people are willing to bring up. I look forward to what you and others have to say.