In today’s modern world, the rate of the teenage pregnancy in young women has come to a close. Most of the time, the teenage pregnancy is unexpected. It is so in the cases of both the married and the unmarried women. It has been said that two or three of the women in the world become victims of the teenage pregnancies and four out of that five is unintentional. Anyways, it becomes a great shock to know that the women have become pregnant in their early or late teens. This is normally brought about by some unseen factors and the teenage girls due to the lack of the right decision making skills fall a prey to the curse of bearing the child even in the young age.
A young girl can become pregnant due to reckless sexual intercourse out of fit of passion and the inability to control her senses. The girls in the teens who have physical intercourse just before their ovulation can be sure of getting pregnant. The reasons for the early pregnancy is not only associated with the physical urge or the cravings of the girls and the boys. It may be the sole reason but they are not the only reason for the teenage girls becoming pregnant. The various factors like the societal issues, sexual abuse, lack of knowledge and education, a poverty stricken life and poorer life conditions.
The rate of the teenage pregnancy is higher in the developed countries than in the developing countries in Africa and much of Asia. The women or the men in the developed countries have sex sooner before their twentieth birthday than their other counterparts in the culturally strong countries of the world. This unwanted issue will force the girls to undergo a fit of turmoil as they will be forced to make a decision to either abort the child or proceed with it.
Though the teenage pregnancies are looked down in some parts of the world, the tribes in the Sub Saharan Desert will applaud the idea of a young woman becoming pregnant as it is a sign of the reproductive power of the female. So parents will look to find a suitable mate to their daughters at a very young age. So the rate of the female pregnancy will be higher in those regions. The children who are made to go to work at a very young age will be prompted by the society to marry at a very early age and to become parents of many children. The siblings of the children, who are themselves the victims of teenage pregnancy will be taught or will learn about the need for the education and the means to live a peaceful with integrity. Some teenage girls will be victimized due to the sexual and the drug abuses of some beastly men who resort to devastate the lives of the girls to satisfy their whims.
It is also equally necessary for a girl to use some preventive mechanisms while enjoying sex. She must also insist her partner to use the contraceptive measures so they can save a lot of trouble from befalling them. Or else their lives will be at stakes.
The teenage pregnant mothers look to their parents for moral and material support when it comes to help them bear the baby till they deliver the baby. But some teenage girls become frightened and hide the fact from their parents out of fear and will never tell their transgression. This makes the parents and the would-be teenage mother to drift in their ways. As a result, the medical check ups that are due them will not be provided to them and they – both the baby and the mother will be at high risks of being exposed to some problems like the fetal rejection that sets in naturally. This makes them to be in two minds. This is because they can neither back from the abortion nor can they try to bring the baby. The abortion can be very well safe if they are done early or else it may lead to some or the other complications. The life of the girl will be at stake.
It is not only the reactions of the parents alone that makes a pregnant girl to hide her pregnancy. The society at large is also to blame. The unmarried and pregnant girl will be rejected by the society and there are chances for her to become an object of reproof and scorn. This, especially happens in the developing countries of the African and the Asian continent. This may lead to the parents to even their pregnant daughters owing to the concerns and the woes of the society at large.
It is also the duty of the parents to check their attitude of their parents and they must never panic if they find that their daughter has become pregnant. Instead they must try to talk to her to sort the problems.
Advantages Of Becoming Pregnant In The Teenage Period :
It is so weird to think that the young teenage pregnancy has some or the other benefits. The teenage mothers are not the same as that of those who are shown in the televisions and movies. So a lot of research has been undertaken in the topic of the teenage pregnancy. This has the world to become split into rows of two people each with their own set of ideas. The benefits that the early motherhood confers to each of the teenage pregnant and expecting mothers are as follows :
a. Getting The Pleasure Soon In Life :
- The young girls can expect the pleasure of sex early in their life.
- Some girls consider it to be their birthright to have the sex with the partners of their choice.
- Though it sounds to be very carnal it is the order of the day. It has become sort of a birthright.
b. Responsibility Of Becoming A Mother :
- They have the responsibility of rearing a child and having a family at considerably a very young age.
- This makes them to be competent and productive at the very early age.
- This makes them to look their future prospects with their heads two or three inches higher.
c. Sense Of Being A Parent :
- The thought of becoming a parent is a very nice feeling for those who wish to know their purpose in their lives.
- This makes them to work hard and not to waste their time idle.
- This also makes the jobless women to search a livelihood in order to support herself and her baby.
- This has been said to have provided some women a sense of feeling of oneness to the world.
d. Ability To Relate To The Baby In A Better Way :
- The overall strife between the parents and the children occurs as a result of the generation gap between them.
- But the thought of becoming the young mother will eradicate the problems as they can relate to their child better in an easy way.
- The mothers will be able to comprehend the requirements and the whims of their babies and act according to it.
- This enables the teenage mothers to emotionally, physically and financially cater to the needs of the child in a better way.
e. Handling Things Better :
- The chance of becoming a teenage mom will teach the mothers the sense of the responsibility in life very soon.
- It makes them feel matured enough to handle things which they have never handled before.
- It transforms the way they have been known to be and makes them a new person in all the aspects of their life.
f. Restoring Family Lines Better :
- As the human beings have become short lived, there are no one on this planet who have been able to see their grandchildren or the great grand children.
- But in the case of the teenage mothers they can become happy by looking at their grand children or perhaps their great grandchildren.
- This is quite unheard of in this modern world. The young mother will be in the peak of her life in her mid twenties and thirties and as the baby grows up she will have no trouble in accomplishing all the tasks in a full fledged manner.
- This paves the way for the young mothers to do some recreational job after she has been done of the parenting and is planning to spend her time according to her own choice.
- She may be able to focus on her own likes and dislikes and concentrate on what is best for her.
g. Abstainment From Wrong Paths :
- The teenage mother will be fully equipped with the knowledge of her responsibility towards her life and this could save them from the ill chances of becoming addicted to the alcohol abuse and the substance abuse.
- It provides them a sense of awareness and makes them to devour from the evil ways.
- Whatever the teenage mother does, the child will be the focus of her and she will do nothing to hamper the life of her baby.
- This will enable the mother to create a better society with no qualms of conscience.
h. Quick Recovery :
- The young women will easily recover from the childbirth sooner than most of the women who has become mothers in their mid thirties.
- Even if the hormonal imbalances do occur they will easily be treated and the woman can easily recover from them.
- They can very soon spring back to their normal routine of life with no issues on their personal life and work.
- The changes in the body like the widening of the hips, change in the shape of the women and the presence of the marks on the body like the stretch marks and the caesarean marks will all vanish even if they are treated.
- The young age is the age where the body will be full of energy and the woman who is a mother in her teens will be very energetic and the birth pangs and the afterwards will not be so crucial as in the case of the pregnant older women.
i. Healthy Baby :
- The women are likely to give birth to a healthy baby when they happen to be in their teens.
- But it is against the primitive set up of the society.
- The women in the adolescent age will be likely to give birth to a good and a strong baby if they happen to be between the ages of eighteen and twenty five.
- The teenage pregnancy at the age of thirteen will also be ideal for a woman to bring forth a healthy baby but it may also lead to other complications in the body of the women.
- So an ideal birth time or period of the women must be selected.
j. Improvement in The Quality Of The Life :
- When the babies were small the teenage mother would have been poor but as the child grows up she will know where she has to concentrate in order to add the pleasantness to the child.
- It has been said that the teenage mothers are likely to have less stress when compared to the non teen mothers.
k. Welfare Schemes :
- In some governments of the countries in the Western world, the government considers its own responsibility to nurture the family of the young couples till they are able to secure a job or any other means of living.
- The young couple can make use of the schemes and use it to their welfare to bring the baby.
- Though this has been revoked in some countries, there are still some governments that continue the age old law for the betterment of the humanity.
Disadvantages Of Becoming Pregnant In The Teenage Period :
The disadvantages of becoming a mother in the early teens far outweigh the benefits of becoming a mother in the young age. It is true that every matter in this world has its own advantages and disadvantages but in the case of the teenage pregnancy the disadvantages will be very powerful and difficulty to bear by the teenage mother.
a. Scorn Of The Society :
- The effects or the impact of the teenage pregnancy will have a nasty influence on the life of the women that it becomes very difficult to come out of it.
- The society in some countries does not approve of the young teenage mothers and will be very harsh to them.
- They will not be allowed to live in peace. Instead they will be marked using some abusive languages and the society will never show respect to them and their family.
- Whenever the young mother and the baby are spotted outside anywhere, it creates unwanted skirmishes.
b. Inability To Bear :
- The teenage mothers are themselves small children and the burden of bearing a baby in their wombs will make them to quit the natural process or get perplexed about the biological changes in the body.
- This has even made some young mothers to have been affected psychologically and physically.
- The body of the young teens will never be able to cope with the pregnant status and will cause their occasional stumbling.
c. Complicated Health Of The Babies :
- The health of the teenage mothers will be very low and so will be their baby’s health.
- The babies will be unable to develop fully or will be born with some birth complications like the low birth babies, premature babies and some babies will be even born with some deformities in their bodies.
- The teenage mothers are only to be blamed for this.
d. Single Parent :
- The teenage mothers, as a result of being raped or illicit sexual relationship will be prone to lifelong commitment towards their baby with no possible support from the biological father of the baby.
- So the young mothers will be forcibly made to be the guardians or the sole authority of their own babies and it will be difficult for them to take care of the baby alone.
- In case if the father of the child supports the mother and the baby, then there will be no issues.
e. Improper Education :
- The teenage pregnancy forces the girls to compensate the education for their childbearing.
- This makes them to drop out of schools and colleges.
- This poses a very strange question and to the livelihood of the girls with the incomplete education.
- It has been said that only a handful of the teenage mothers complete their education to the graduate level.
- This sounds the death knell for the aims and the proper goals that the young mother had in her life and all that she thought of achieving will be at stake.
f. No Proper Jobs :
- As discussed above, women with no proper education will have tremendous difficulty in finding a suitable job.
- All they will get to qualify are the jobs that pay them very low salaries.
- They will be also borne to pay for the extra mouth of the baby and plus the costs will be more as the child grows into an adult.
- This makes the girls to rely always on the welfare schemes provided by the government.
g. Depression And Addictions :
- The young teenage mothers will become very depressed owing to their plight.
- It will become a very difficult situation if they become mothers without any support either morally and financially.
- This makes them to develop psychological problems and can affect the lives of their babies.
- Owing to these factors some teenage mothers will indulge in the acts that give them temporary relief like the alcohols and drugs.
- Though it provides them with relief at first it does not benefit them in the long run.
- This only leads to several other complications.
- The morale of the family will be damaged and this will lead to several problems in the family.
h. Sacrifice Of The Personal Life :
- The personal desires and the cravings of the young women will be sacrificed due to the pregnancy.
- The parties, hangouts with the friends and other stuffs will have to be sacrificed.
i. Lack Of Maturity :
- It is wonder that the young teenage mothers and their babies will remain babies forever.
- The fact that the early pregnancy sets in the chances for a woman to increase her maturity remains a hoax and it is not proved.
- This is suited for the upbringing of the baby. So this is one of the major risks of the teenage pregnancies.
j. Financial Problems :
- The upbringing of a child of any age has its own set of challenges.
- This could worse in the case of the unmarried and teenage mother.
- It becomes very difficult to find a work at the age of eighteen or twenty and looking after the baby.
- So there are some evil chances for the teenage girl to resort to some sort of illegal works like prostitution and selling drugs.
- This brings down the quality of the life of the teenage girl.
- There will no such things as savings and the future of both the baby and the mother will be questioned and will be put at stake.
k. Complications In The Body :
- The teenage is the time when the body of the female sex will be undergoing some or the other physical transformations in order to adapt the body to cope to the childbearing.
- In other words, a girl in her teens is not a complete woman and she only gets transformed to it.
- So the chances of the female pregnancy will bring in some changes to the body and totally affect them.
l. Identity Crisis Of The Baby :
- Due to the early pregnancy and the unmarried marital status of the girl, the questions centering the fatherhood of the baby will raise a lot of questions.
- This hurts the family of the teenage girl and also will prove to be a thorn in the eyes to the child after it has grown up.
- This will make the baby to become emotionally disturbed and there are even chances for the baby to become emotionally challenged and rude and harsh to the society.
- This may make them to become hippies, who do not confine to any of the rules of the society.
Footnote :
- It is no big deal to become a teenage mother. It has its own complications personal and social problems.
- The United States has known to have been recorded as having one of the highest records of the teenage pregnancies and abortions.
- It is therefore vital for the teenagers, especially the females to be educated about the morality of the society and also to have a better contraceptive measures order to prevent unwanted and unplanned pregnancies later in life.
- Once if the young teenage girl is found to be pregnant, there are three ways in which the problems can be solved.
* The first one is to abort the baby.
* The second one is to give birth to the baby with a view to bring it up.
* The third one is in the view of providing the baby for adoption to some of deserving couples.
- The mother of the baby has a lot to make in deciding the future of the baby but most of the girls do not possess enough knowledge when it comes to make a decision.
- So in this case the family of the boy, who is responsible for the plight of the girl must be invited and the situation must be discussed.
- It is necessary to make a decision that never hampers the life of the baby in the near and the distant future. In case of any doubt the pediatrician must be consulted for further queries.