Pregnant teenagers face a range of challenges that pregnant adult women do not.
Challenges & Hope For Pregnant Teens
For one, pregnant teens are more likely to receive inadequate or no prenatal care. Without proper medical treatment, pregnant teens are at a higher risk of high blood pressure, and their babies are more likely to be born premature or at a low birth weight. If you are a pregnant teenager, it’s essential to seek out professional medical care as soon as you think you might be pregnant, for your own health and that of your child.
Other challenges unique to pregnant teens are social. Many young pregnant women report feeling unable to tell their parents about their pregnancy, and feel isolated and alone as a result. Pregnant teenagers often deal with feelings of depression, and according the Centers For Disease Control (CDC), pregnant teens are at a higher risk for postpartum depression.
But in the end, you only have to answer to yourself. You may feel pressure from your parents, loved ones, and community, but this is your situation to deal with and your choice. This site was created to give you the tools to think deeply about your feelings and become fully informed of your options. It may not seem like it, but you have choices: parenting, adoption, and abortion. Speaking with a counselor about your emotions, hopes for the future, and options will give you valuable insight and allow you to make the right choice for yourself and your baby.
11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy
The facts below were taken from DoSomething.org:
- 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.
- Parenthood is the leading reason that teen girls drop out of school. More than 50% of teen mothers never graduate from high school.
- About 25% of teen moms have a 2nd child within 24 months of their first baby.
- Less than 2% of teen moms earn a college degree by age 30.
- The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the western industrialized world.
- In 2011, the teen birthrate in the United States fell to the lowest level recorded in nearly 70 years of tracking teen childbearing.
- In 2008 the teen pregnancy rate among African-American and Hispanic teen girls, age 15 to 19, was over two and a half times higher than the teen pregnancy rate among white teen girls of the same age group.
- 8 out of 10 teen dads don’t marry the mother of their child.
- A sexually active teen who doesn’t use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
- Almost 50% of teens have never considered how a pregnancy would affect their lives.
- Teens had fewer babies in 2010 than in any year since the mid-1940s.