Teen Pregnancy Essay

Cheyanne Vangundy
English Pd.5
01/27/13
Carr Teen Pregnancy The issue of teen pregnancy is affecting our society in an unimaginable amount of ways and has become one of our top social issues of all time. The latest estimates show that approximately one million young women and men between the ages of 15 and 19 will become teen parents each year. With this high number of teenage pregnancy, it’s no wonder that many authors try to exemplify this common subject matter. Katrina Burchett, author of Choices, accurately and effectively depicts teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic issues. As the years progress, the influence of sex has taken a more profound effect on teenagers. Nowadays, it seems that sex is everywhere. It’s portrayed on our TV’s, on the internet, magazines and most movies have “sex scenes” in them or portray sex in some way. Many teens are having unprotected sex not thinking about the consequences. Back in 2006, Planned Parenthood made a T.V ad designed to encourage safe sex. The host Bill from The O’Reilly Factor had stated “its safe sex versus appropriate viewing”, even though the commercial was only being aired on MTV, which is meant for the age group of 18-24, it was also showed on a few web sites. Planned Parenthood was just reaching out to adolescents asking them to be safer. Most teenagers believe 15 and 16 is old enough to have sex, which by law your still not even old enough to consent. One in four teens has had intercourse by the age of 16. Many factors contribute to this statistic among 16 years old. The main one would be peer pressure, with the growing number of teens having sex, many adolescents feel like they need to “fit in” rather than being the one that “stands out.” What’s so amazing to some people is that peer pressure to have sex is just as pressing as peer pressure to do drugs, smoke and even drink. Many teenagers would even go as far as to bully someone who hasn’t had sexual intercourse with their partner or anyone for that matter. Bridgette Anderson one of the characters from Burchett’s book Choices, is extremely committed into being abstinent, she even admitted to being bullied since she had no interest in premarital sex like most of her peers. Many who would have been in Bridgette’s place at the time would have just gone out and had sex, just to prove her peers wrong. That first time is all it takes to end up in the creation of a new life. In today’s society, numerous young people see having a boyfriend or girlfriend as desirable, and would do anything to please and make their partner happy. One partner may ask the other to “have sex, or come drink and smoke”, which can make the other feel as if they have to do what is asked of them. Another character in Burchett’s book named Angel is illustrated as a promiscuous character who feels like the only way to stay in a relationship is to have sex. A lot of times it’s known that some teenage boys are ones to pressure or even force girls to have sex with them. Parents play a vital role in their child’s sex life. Many parents still choose to believe that there son or daughter is still their innocent baby girl or baby boy. A good portion of the reason is adolescents will lie to their parents to preserve their “innocence” that their parents still see in them. In every circumstance, communication is key. When your child’s not learning about safe sex at home or at school, where do you suppose they learn it? By just going out an experiencing unprotected sex enough times to finally learn your mistakes and have safe sex. The neglect of not teaching your child safe sex, can lead your child into a destructive path, than the path you wanted for your little boy or girl. Burchett describes Angel as a teenager who, because her mom is never around and shows more interest in her work than her own daughter, leads to Angel turning to guys to feel wanted and needed. Angel has been having sex since she was thirteen, which her

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