Teen pregnancy is an important issue

							Teen pregnancy is an important issue. There are risk for baby and
children born to teenage mothers are more likely to suffer health, social,
and emotional problems than children born to older mothers. Also,
women who become pregnant during their teens are at increased risk for
complications, such as premature labor.

Teen pregnancy rates in the United States
declined steadily from 1991 to 2005—from 60
out of 1000 teenagers in 1991 to 40.5 out of 1000
in 2005. However, teen pregnancies increased for
two years in a row in 2006 and 2007—to more
than 42 out of 1000. According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the teen
birth rate in the United States fell to a record low in 2009—to 39.1 out
of 1000—in all races and ethnic groups.

Declining teen pregnancy rates are thought to be attributed to more
effective take birth and decreased sexual activity among teens. The
most dramatic reduction in teen pregnancy—23%—has occurred among
African American teenagers.

Still, teenage pregnancy rates remain high and approximately 1 million
teenage girls become pregnant each year in the United States. About
13% of U.S. births involve teen mothers and about 25% of teenage girls
who give birth have another baby within 2 years. To lower teen
pregnancy rates, older childrenare educated about sex and about the
consequences of pregnancy.

     Consequences of Teen Pregnancy
     Teenage births are associated with lower annual income for the
      mother. Eighty percent of teen mothers must rely on welfare at
      some point.
     Teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of school. Only about
      one-third of teen mothers obtain a high school diploma.
     Teenage pregnancies are associated with increased rates of alcohol
      abuse and substance abuse, lower educational level, and reduced
      earning potential in teen fathers.
     In the United States, the annual cost of teen pregnancies from lost
      tax revenues, public assistance, child health care, foster care and
      involvement with the criminal justice system is estimated to be
      about $7 billion.

                TEEN PREGNANCY IN INDIA

The Union Health Ministry has recorded the maximum number of child
marriage and teenage pregnancy cases in the Indian state of Bengal.
While poverty and gender bias in education have been identified as the
primary causes in rural areas, growing teenage sex and lack of sex
education have been blamed for the high figures in cities.

Swapna Majhi, 26, suffers from sporadic bouts of depression whenever
she recalls the stillborn baby she gave birth to at the age of 15. "I lost
one more baby when I was 17. The emotional trauma aside, I became
extremely weak. Even the twins born to me when I was 21 are still very
unhealthy, succumbing to illness frequently," she says.
     Poverty and lack of awareness are the deciding factors in early
     marriages and teenage pregnancies in rural areas

In West Bengal, 14 per cent of the births are by teenage girls between 15
and 19 years of age, giving the state the dubious distinction of having
the highest number of teenage pregnancy cases in the country. One of
the main reasons for this is that a whopping 41 per cent of the girls, like
Majhi, are married below the age of 18, according to the family planning
division of the Union Health Ministry.

Sandhya Mondal, Swapna's mother, cites poverty as the primary reason
for marrying off her daughter when she was just 13. "In our village of
Dhosa Chandaneswar in South 24 Parganas, any poor family will marry
off their daughter as soon as they get a good groom. Minor girls get
grooms with no major dowry demands. When Swapna's first child was
stillborn, the doctor reacted sharply and blamed us for playing with the
life of our daughter. We feel guilty for putting her through so much
trauma during her teen years especially during her pregnancies, but poor
people like us have no choice."

According to Sahana Bhowmik, Branch Manager, Kolkata, Family
Planning Association of India, the endemic early marriage and births in
Bengal, especially in districts like Malda, South 24 Parganas, South
Dinajpur, Purulia, Murshidabad, Nadia, Cooch Behar and Birbhum,
reflect a lack of awareness and an absolute failure of campaigns to
penetrate areas where contraceptive coverage is most needed.

Education also plays a significant role in this. Most of the girls are not
allowed to continue their studies at the higher level despite the net
enrollment ratio of the girls at the primary education level being high,
says Bhowmik. Gender bias too is a factor, she adds, saying boys get
preference over girls for education. When the girls quit their studies,
they are immediately married off. According to UNICEF, motherhood
among teenagers is nine times more among girls with no schooling than
among women with 12 or more years of education.
"Teenage pregnancy is a major cause for maternal mortality. As cases of
teenage pregnancy increase so does the maternal mortality rate. This
affects the country as a whole," says Dr Subhra Pal Choudhury,
Gynaecologist, Bhagirathi Neotia Hospital. About 78,000 women die in
childbirth every year in India.

Early marriages seriously affect the health of girls. "Most girls in our
country, especially in Bengal are anaemic, their haemoglobin levels are
low. The reproductive organs of the girls are not fully developed when
they are teenagers. Their lives become at risk during pregnancies," she
says, adding, "Even those girls, who deliver successfully, suffer from
pain in the back and waist, poor immunity and severe anaemia for the
rest of their lives. Their children too are often unhealthy and susceptible
to infections."

Sobha Prasad, now 30, agreed to be married at 16 to please her ailing
mother in Joynagar village in South 24 Parganas. "My son was born
when I was 17. Since then, I have been suffering from chronic back
pain. The doctor says it's due to my early pregnancy. I was unaware of
the health problems that would occur, otherwise I would not have
married at that age," she says.

According to Bhowmik, despite initiatives by the government to prevent
the early marriage of girls, campaigns related to risks of early
pregnancies and methods to space births have failed to reach the
grassroots. While Bengal leads in teenage pregnancies, Karnataka at 11
per cent and Andhra Pradesh at 10 per cent are not far behind. Bihar
with eight per cent and Chhattisgarh with seven per cent also signal a
poor record in health care for women. As for girls getting married below
the age of 18, Bihar leads the list with 46 per cent, followed by Bengal
and Rajasthan at 41 per cent.

"In several parts of the country, any talk of providing reproductive and
sexual health services to adolescents is still taboo. These have to be
tackled on a war footing. Educational campaigns on the risks involved in
early pregnancy should become more visible," points out Bhowmik.
While poverty and lack of awareness are the deciding factors in early
marriages and teenage pregnancies in rural areas, it is the early
sexualisation of children that seems to be playing havoc with the health
of teenage girls in urban areas. "Dating has become common and
teenagers are having pre-marital sex. Love affairs at school and teenage
elopements are also increasing. The impact of media, especially
television, is affecting the child's mind. The access to Internet is another
factor. Add to this the lack of proper sex education and parental
guidance and it leads to misguided sexual explorations often resulting in
pregnancy," says Dr Pal Choudhury.

In most cases, parents and guardians resort to abortions. "I had no choice
but opt for an abortion when my parents insisted on it," says Sudha
Mitra, 15 (name changed), who was dating her classmate with her
parents' permission. "They never discussed sex with me and I was not
too sure of what it was all about. When my boyfriend insisted on having
sex, I could not refuse and we were not prepared for the pregnancy," she
adds.

The rate of teenage abortions is increasing proportionately to teenage
pregnancies. "Now there are over-the-counter birth control and abortion
pills available in the market. With proper awareness, both can work as
deterrents to teenage pregnancies. However, the fear is that in our
country the awareness levels are low. The use of such pills without
medical guidance can lead to bigger health problems for teenagers,"
warns Dr Pal Choudhury.

Going by the old saying - prevention is better than cure - the first step
should be to prevent early marriage of girls. The second step is to ensure
that teenagers and guardians are aware of the ill-effects of early
pregnancies and understand the importance of contraception, birth
control and the spacing of births. Proper sex education, an appreciation
of one's body, its needs and health requirements should be made clear to
teenagers, irrespective of whether they live in rural or urban areas. If all
these conditions are brought about, we can look forward to a nation of
healthy women and healthy children.


       TEEN PREGNANCY IN USA

The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in
the western industrialized world. Teen pregnancy costs the United States
at least $7 billion annually.



Thirty-four percent of young women become pregnant at least once
before they reach the age of 20 -- about 820,000 a year. Eight in ten of
these teen pregnancies are unintended and 79 percent are to unmarried




The teen birth rate has declined slowly but steadily from 1991 to 2002
with an overall decline of 30 percent for those aged 15 to 19. These
recent declines reverse the 23-percent rise in the teenage birth rate from
1986 to 1991. The largest decline since 1991 by race was for black
women. The birth rate for black teens aged 15 to 19 fell 42 percent
between 1991 to 2002. Hispanic teen birth rates declined 20 percent
between 1991 and 2002. The rates of both Hispanics and blacks,
however, remain higher than for other groups. Hispanic teens now have
the highest teenage birth rates. Most teenagers giving birth before 1980
were married whereas most teens giving birth today are unmarried.

The younger a teenaged girl is when she has sex for the first time, the
more likely she is to have had unwanted or non-voluntary sex. Close to
four in ten girls who had first intercourse at 13 or 14 report it was either
non-voluntary or unwanted.

Teenage Pregnancy Consequences
Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school (only one-third
receive a high school diploma) and only 1.5% have a college degree by
age 30. Teen mothers are more likely to end up on welfare (nearly 80
percent of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare).

The children of teenage mothers have lower birth weights, are more
likely to perform poorly in school, and are at greater risk of abuse and
neglect.

The sons of teen mothers are 13 percent more likely to end up in prison
while teen daughters are 22 percent more likely to become teen mothers
themselves.

 pregnancyPrevention
The primary reason that teenage girls who have never had intercourse
give for abstaining from sex is that having sex would be against their
religious or moral values. Other reasons cited include desire to avoid ,
fear of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and not having
met the appropriate partner. Three of four girls and over half of boys
report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them
to.

Teenagers who have strong emotional attachments to their parents are
much less likely to become sexually active at an early age and less likely
to have a teen pregnancy.

Most people say teens should remain abstinent but should have access to
contraception. Ninety-four percent of adults in the United States-and 91
percent of teenagers-think it important that school-aged children and
teenagers be given a strong message from society that they should
abstain from sex until they are out of high school. Seventy-eight percent
of adults also think that sexually active teenagers should have access to
contraception to prevent pregnancy at teen.

Contraceptive use among sexually active teens has increased but remains
inconsistent. Three-quarters of teens use some method of contraception
(usually a condom) the first time they have sex. A sexually active teen
who does not use contraception has a 90 percent chance of teen
pregnancy within one year.

Parents rate high among many adolescents as trustworthy and preferred
information sources on birth control. One in two teens say they "trust"
their parents most for reliable and complete information about birth
control, only 12 percent say a friend.

Teens who have been raised by both parents (biological or adoptive)
from birth, have lower probabilities of having sex than youths who grew
up in any other family situation. At age 16, 22 percent of girls from
intact families and 44 percent of other girls have had sex at least once.
Similarly, teens from intact, two-parent families are less likely to give
birth in their teens than girls from other family background