Teen Pregnancy & it’s Effects

The rate of teen birth is dropping gradually but as many as 1 million teen girls experience pregnancy in just United States.  Out of these 1 million pregnancies 85 % happen accidently.  These unplanned teenage pregnancies pose severe health risk not only to the mother but also to the unborn child. As these pregnancies are not planned the testing of the pregnancy is delayed and in most of the cases it is not disclosed to anyone out of fear and this when the teenage mother does not gets prenatal care.  Just to save teenage mothers from this situation most of the states in US have a university clinic or a health department where these teenage moms can get themselves check up regularly but all this is done with complete confidentiality.

These teenage pregnancies happen because of lack of guidance and knowledge about birth control and the possible effects that a teenage pregnancy can have on their lives. Here are some of the effects of teen age pregnancy:

• Poor health of the mother and improper growth and maturity of her body as it should be in normal pregnancy. This leads to low birth weight of the child leading to high infant mortality rate.
• Low birth rate can also be cause of improperly developed body and organs of the baby. They can also face severe health problems like respiratory distress syndrome and intestinal problems. They may also have lesser intellect.
• Teenage mothers have to face lot of social pressures and unplanned pregnancy in such an early stage in life affects their education and future prospects in terms of career. It also affects their self esteem badly.
• Teenage pregnancies also increase the rate of delinquent crimes and failed marriages at later stages in life.

There are many factors that increase the risk of a teenage girl becoming pregnant like poverty, low level of education, broken families etc and in turn teenage pregnancies are becoming a public health issue. Teen age pregnancies can be controlled by improving maternal education, reducing poverty and encouraging planned motherhood. This can be done by educating teens of the negative effect of these unplanned teenage pregnancies on their lives.