Preventing Teen Pregnancy

Becoming pregnant as a teen can dramatically change a girl's economic and educational prospects. With a baby to care for at a young age, she may have a difficult time finishing high school and/or attending college.This may reduce her job prospects and could lead to poverty. The teen father may also have to deal with the same issues.

Theories/Speculation

Education may be one of the primary weapons for preventing teen pregnancy. For example, schools that provide sex education may not only help teens understand the particulars of sex, but also the consequences. Many school sex education programs emphasize abstaining from sexual contact during the teen years. Others may emphasize abstaining first and then using birth control if the teens choose not to wait.

Prevention/Solution

Easy access to birth control can be key in preventing teen pregnancy. If it's easy for a teen to buy condoms and other types of contraception, he may be more likely to use them to prevent pregnancy. Furthermore, teen programs that pass out condoms for free may be even more successful at preventing teen pregnancy, as teens won't have to worry about having enough money to afford them or the potential embarrassment of buying them in a store. As a side benefit, these programs may also help to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Potential

Media programs that use public service announcements and other methods of advertising abstinence and contraception may also go a long way towards preventing teen pregnancy. Such anti-teen pregnancy campaigns may help to combat the glamorization of sex prevalent in movies, music videos and even in television commercials. For example, a campaign may show ordinary-looking teens stating their intent to abstain from sex, helping other teens to feel confident in doing so themselves, without feeling that they won't be part of the crowd or normal.

Considerations

Parental involvement may have a significant effect on preventing teen pregnancy. When parents educate their adolescents on the realities of premarital sex, their teens may be better informed and more capable of making good decisions. Parents can be key in helping teens to differentiate between what is fact and what is myth concerning sex, pregnancy and STDs instead of leaving them to discover such things from their friends, who may not be as well informed. Likewise, when parents discuss sex with their children on a regular basis, their children may be more likely to come to them when they need help with things like preventing pregnancy.

Warning

It's important to avoid becoming so focused on preventing pregnancy, that the prevention of STDs is forgotten. Though there are many ways to prevent teen pregnancy and many different types of contraception, condoms may stand out as among the most beneficial. This is due to the fact that they not only prevent pregnancy, but also the development and spread of STDs. Since some STDs, such as AIDS, can be deadly, using contraception that can also protect against disease is optimal.

Resources

• The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy on pregnancy prevention
• Policy Almanac on preventing teen pregnancy