"Prevention is better than cure" (Teenage Pregnancy)

Member Name: Toby113

Product:	Teenage Pregnancy
Date:	18/06/02 (477 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Financial, Suitable parents?, Too young

Ultimately, what most young women want is to settle down with their man, have kids and live happily ever after, right? That's what seems to be traditional anyway. However, young girls nowadays seem in too much of a hurry to do this. I believe that many young girls think that it is fine to have have kids at 16 or 17. They think that this is okay, acceptable. They think they can manage it and that it won't be a problem...

In my opinion, this is the problem. It is not just sex education that should be taught, even though this is a vital part of education, but also the sociology which revolves around family life and sex. They should be taught what sort of age is acceptable to have a child. They should be brought up with an attitude which frowns upon teenage pregnancy, and I think society should frown upon teenage pregnancy. If teenage pregnancy was more socially inacceptable, then I believe it wouldn't happen so much.

I've also always thought that girls seem to brought up with the attitude that babies are wonderful, cute things and this is encouraged by kids having baby dolls. This seems ridiculous to me, as they are getting the impression that babies are some kind of pet, which you can play with. This could explain why many girls who get pregnant accidentally decide to keep the baby. I don't think they understand the consequences and work which is envolved in caring for a child.

I also believe that in Britain we aren't liberal enough with sex, we aren't open enough about it, it is still too much of a taboo, which makes it even harder for young girls to talk to their parents and teachers about sex, and any problems they may have. Many parents are also too scared of the subject to discuss it with their children, they avoid the subject rather than embrace it. Perhaps they should take an active envolvement in monitering their child's sexual activity by discussing it with them to help make sure their child is safe
.

Another issue, which i'm sure has been mentioned many times by other people, is contraception. The education as well as the availability. There should be far more condom machines around as many youngsters are afraid to buy contraception over the counter. So they should have condom machines in every public toilet and even on the streets in some places like they have in european countries. They could also try selling other forms of contraception in machines.

Peopl should be made more aware of the other less well-known forms of contraception available such as the T-coil (previously the 7-coil) which lasts for about five years and is almost 100% effective. There is also a newish form of contraception for women where an implant is inserted just under the skin anywhere in the body (usually arm) and it releases hormones on a daily basis like the pill. It is very small and not very expensive and lasts about 5 years but is not very popular simply due to lack of knowledge about it.

Teenage pregnancy is not neccessary in any case and whether it happens has a lot to do with the attitude of young girls and as they say "prevention is better than cure".

Toby

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