Grizzly Gazette: Sexual education and teen pregnancies

Granite Hills currently only teaches sexual education as a unit in freshman health classes.

Sexual education and teen pregnancies
Linda Ruizvelasco | 2/20/08 | Opinion

he California Department of Education states that the San Joaquin Valley has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any region in the state. To ensure that young adults receive medically accurate information about sex and its consequences and to reduce the statistics of young single mothers, sex education should be taught in all schools at the high school level.

California ranks first in the number of pregnancy among teenagers. Tulare and Kings Counties have the highest birth rates to teen mothers. According to an ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) survey, poor and low income teens account for 83 percent of teens who give birth and 85 percent of those who become an unmarried parent. This not only shows that the teen is not emotionally ready to be a mother yet, she also does not have the economic resources to provide for the baby. If the teen is having unprotected sex at an early age, it shows that she had no plans to succeed in her future; the teen more than likely will drop out of school and/or not continue to college, so how is the baby’s future guaranteed without a stable two-parent household? In a survey done by Seventeen Magazine, 70 percent of teenage girls said that having a planned out future would help prevent unplanned pregnancies. Having goals makes abstinence easier because it motivates young students to be more aware of their decisions and wary of any stupid mistakes that can hold them back from their goal.

Teen pregnancy doesn’t just affect the people involved in the situation. According to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, if more children were born to parents ready to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States—from school failure to crime rates to child abuse and neglect.

One really important issue that arises from early pregnancies is abortion. Although people have different views on abortion, having protected sex or practicing abstinence would not only reduce the rate of pregnancies, but it would ultimately reduce abortion rates.

A teen is not only messing up her life by getting pregnant, she is risking the baby’s health. Women who undergo an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to obtain prenatal care, and their babies are at increased risk of both low birth weight and of being born prematurely. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancies, children born from unplanned pregnancies report poorer physical and mental health compared to children born as the result of an intended pregnancy. A test from Child Trends showed that, after controlling for several background factors, children two years old who were born as the result of an unplanned pregnancy have significantly lower cognitive test scores when compared to children born as the result of an intended pregnancy. Kids born to one parent are more likely to be poor, drop out of high school, have lower grade-point averages, lower college aspirations, and poorer school attendance records. As adults, they also have higher rates of divorce. Providing more education about sex to teens and young adults can appoint more responsibility in the making of decisions.

Parents are sometimes embarrassed to talk to their children about sex so they refrain from doing so, leaving a higher risk of an unwanted pregnancy. The truth is that teens probably wouldn’t want to talk about sex with their parents either. Having a class dedicated to sex education can be very helpful for both the parent and the teen. Meeting with more people their age, the students would be able to open up to discussion and feel more comfortable about the topic.

Maybe these young teens becoming parents didn’t know what they were doing so providing information to those who are ignorant about sex and its consequences could help to reduce pregnancy statistics. Talking about the responsibilities regarding sex, getting pregnant, and bringing children into the world, as well as strengthening the practice of always using contraception would bring more sense to those having sex just because they think it’s the “cool” thing to do. What’s so cool about bringing kids into this world when more than likely the young parent doesn’t even know how to change a diaper or feed a baby? A lot of people give in to peer pressure. Having a class where they can openly ask about all their concerns pertaining sex would also help reduce the peer pressure because students would be better informed about the consequences of sex.

Overall, abstinence is the simplest and most accurate solution to reduce teenage pregnancies. It’s true that not all teens will abstain themselves from sex until marriage, but having a sex education class will make teens more aware of their decisions to have or not have sex.

Please keep in mind that this is a high school newspaper. Please make your responses professional and appropriate. Any comments deemed inappropriate will not be posted.

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Name: Yuliana
Date & Time: Thursday, February 21, 2008 08:56 am
Subject: Sexual education and teen pregnancies

I believe that what's mentioned in the article is true. Schools should help educate their students about sex and the consequences of bringing a child to life, when indeed the one having the baby can be considered a child herself. This could help reduce the statistics of teen pregnancy and even all those sexually transmitted diseases.

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