ten are falling pregnant

							as ten are falling pregnant, shocking new figures have revealed.

Over the past eight years, no fewer than 15 girls found they were
expecting when they were aged just ten. A further 39 found out they
were pregnant when th




ey were 11.Since 2002 there have been 63,487 pregnancies among
under-15s in England and Wales: a total of 23 conceptions every single
day among girls too young to legally have sex.

Despite millions of pounds of funding, Labour still has not managed to
turn round Britain's shameful record at the top of the teenage pregnancy
league table in western Europe.

The figures show that despite the numbers of underage pregnancies
falling off after 2002, they are now on the rise again. In 2007, the latest
figures, the number of pregnant under 16s was 8,200 - higher than the
2002 figure.

Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said: 'We are reaping the
bitter consequences of our highly sexualised society.

'The manufacturers and retailers of goods that encourage children to
dress and act in a sexually precocious way must take a share of the
blame, but so too must those sex educators who are more interested in
getting young people to use contraception than they are in discouraging
them from engaging in sexual activity in the first place.

'There are far too many schools telling children that they are entitled to
become sexually active when it is "right for them" and teaching them
that they are being very responsible if they use contraception - regardless
of their age.

'As a result of this grossly irresponsible approach, some children are
becoming sexually active at an early age when they would not otherwise
have done so.

'Not only is amoral sex education producing more schoolgirl mums and
spiralling rates of sexually transmitted infections, but it is also leaving
growing numbers of young people carrying emotional baggage into
adulthood that will make it more difficult for them to build a truly
intimate, trusting and stable marriage later on.'

The figures, released after a Freedom of Information request, show that
between 2002 and 2007, there have been 268 pregnant girls aged 12;
2,527 aged 13; 14,777 aged 14 and 45,861 aged 15.

But the figures could be just the tip of the iceberg - as many young
children could have had or miscarriages or illegal abortions meaning
they never show up on the official statistics.

Some 60 per cent of underage girls who fall pregnant end up having an
abortion, with the number believed to be higher among younger girls.
Shockingly, one in 20 teenagers who fall pregnant end it with an
abortion which is at least their second.

Professor Frank Furedi, a sociologist from Kent University, described
the figures as 'tragic'.

'They show the consequences of the sexualisation of childhood,' he said.

Anastasia de Waal, of think tank Civitas, said: 'We have kids behaving
as adults, not realising the complications.

'Often the girls feel they have to have sex to please their older
boyfriends.'

Figures on the number of teenage boys in this situation are harder to
come by as it is often not known who is the real father.




The Government's £300million Teenage Pregnancy Strategy has missed
its targets so far and is certain to fail to reach its main goal - halving the
1998 rate of pregnancy among girls aged under 18 in England by 2010.

Despite the fact that the teen birth rate is climbing after slowly falling
for years, there are still an estimated one million teen pregnancies in the
United States alone. About 85% of these pregnancies are unplanned,
which in any population can increase the risk for problems. The biggest
risk for teen mothers is delaying prenatal care or worse, 7.2% received
no care at all.

The reason for lack of prenatal care is usually delayed pregnancy testing,
denial or even fear of telling others about the pregnancy. Most states
have a health department or university clinic where prenatal care is free
or low cost and patient confidentiality is very important, meaning no one
can tell the teen mother's family.
Because the body of a teen is still growing she will need more nutritional
support to meet both her needs and that of her baby. Nutritional
counseling can be a large portion of prenatal care, usually done by a
doctor or a midwife, sometimes a nutritionist. This counseling will
usually include information about prenatal vitamins, folic acid, and the
dos and don'ts of eating and drinking. Lack of proper nutrition can lead
to problems like anemia (low iron), low weight gain, etc.
Another problem facing teen mothers is the use of drugs and alcohol,
including cigarette smoking. No amount of any of these substances is
safe for use in pregnancy. In fact, their use can complicate pregnancy
even further increasing the likelihood of premature birth and other
complications.
Premature birth and low birth weight create a wealth of their own
problems, including brain damage, physical disabilities and more. The
potentially lengthy hospital stay and increased risk of health problems
for these babies leads to more stress on the teen mother.
ust looking at the basics teen pregnancy statistics will shed light on this
issue.

- Around 700,000 teens between ages 17 and 19 become pregnant
each year in the US.

- A small number of these teens, a very small number, actually planned
on getting pregnant. Over 80% of all teen pregnancies are unplanned
and teen pregnancy account for 20% of all unplanned pregnancies each
year.

- Luckily, two thirds of all teen pregnancies occur with older teens ages
18 and 19.

- Teen pregnancy and teen mothers account for 10% of total US
pregnancies each year.

- Abortion rate is high, but the total number of pregnancies resulting in
birth is higher, 57% and 14% of all teen pregnancies end with a
miscarriage.

- That leads to 29% of all teen pregnancies ending with an abortion.

- Among all ethnicities African American teens have the highest teen
pregnancy rate. The numbers of teens that get pregnant per 1,000
teens are as follows, 134 African Americans will get pregnant, 131
Hispanic teens will get pregnant and 48 Caucasians will get pregnant
out of 1,000.

- Research shows that teens that do get pregnant are less likely to enter
college. The number of teen mothers that are finishing high school has
improved over the years, but the number of teen mothers that goes on
to finish a college is still amazingly low.

- We already said that US teen pregnancy rates are much higher than
the rest of the world. Compared to other ell developed countries US
have twice as high teen pregnancy rates than England and Canada and
eight times higher than Japan and Netherlands.

- Since 1991 teen pregnancy rates started declining, and they were in
decline until 2005, but since then they are on a constant rise. Teen
pregnancy rates were highest in 1990 with 117 pregnancies per 1,000
teens. In 2002 that number fell from 117 to 75 per 1,000, but since
2005 until now there has been a steady 3% increase each year.




While facing the grim realities of teen pregnancy is not pleasant, this is
not the picture that has to be painted. Teen mothers are perfectly capable
of having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. With the proper
nutrition, early prenatal care and good screening for potential problems
the majority of these potential problems will not come to light. While
some tend to think that you can't teach a teen mother anything about her
body or baby, it's really a ridiculous notion. Many of the teen mothers
who take active roles in their care do go on to have healthy babies,
despite the other hardships that they will face in their lives. Support from
the families and communities is a must for the young, new family to be
successful.

                 Tenn pregnancy causes

1. Alarming Statistics of Teenage Pregnancy
Every year about a million of teenagers below 17-19 years of age. About
82% teenage pregnancies are unplanned, and the teenagers have just
finished the high school level studies. Teenager pregnancies constitute
about 11% of the total annual birth rate in US. The rate is comparatively
higher among the black teens. About 50% of teenage pregnancies result
in birth while the rest end up in miscarriages and abortions. One third of
the pregnant teenagers go for abortion. Most of the teenager mothers
quite likely draw an end to their academic careers.

2. Risks of Teenage Pregnancy
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is of
the view that teenage pregnancy is accompanied with many risk factors
seriously affecting the health of mother and the child. A handsome
percentage of teenage pregnancies that end up either in miscarriages or
abortions can cause enough damage to the reproductive health of the
teenager. Those who prefer to complete the full term of pregnancy invite
a number of pregnancy related complications. Many teenagers suffer
from under weight and do not undertake proper pre natal care. This can
prove to be extremely dangerous, endangering the teenager’s life.
Underdeveloped uterus fails to carry the fetus for full 36 weeks either
leading to miscarriage or delivering premature babies

3. Teenage Pregnancy And Its Effects
Teenage pregnancy has turned into a major social problem that arises
from a number of causes. Major factors leading to teenage pregnancies
are lack of proper grooming, poverty, sexual abuse, negligence, poor
academic performance and depression. The effects are naturally
disastrous, seriously affecting the social position and health of the
teenage mothers. Infant mortality rate increases due to pre term labor.
Most of the babies from teenage mothers are groomed in different
welfare centers, raising the number of illegitimates in the society.

4. Prevention of Teenage Pregnancy Through Sex Education
Teenage pregnancy in US has been on the rise past few years
necessitating the spread of sex education among teenage boys and girls.
Several campaigns to prevent teenage pregnancy have been launched to
spread awareness about the proper use of contraceptives to prevent
unwanted pregnancies. Moreover, these campaigns have laid stress in
preventing the teenagers indulging in sexual activities and reducing the
number of sex partners. These campaigns have been successful to some
extent still a lot is left to be done to prevent demoralization of the
society.

5. Role of the Parents
Parents of both teenager girls and boys should take the initiative in
preventing this social disaster. In fact, sex education should start from
home rather from the government and non- government organizations.
Parents should remain well connected with their teenager kids regarding
their activities and whereabouts and strongly disapprove early age sex.
Parents should communicate with their kids freely and inculcate sex
education in their minds. This helps in the development of social values
and responsibility in the teenagers compelling them to think before
daring off to any sexual activity.

         Statics of teen pregnancy 2012