"I’m pregnant." The most terrifying two words a parent can hear their teenager say aren’t "I failed" or "I crashed". Two haunting lines on a $10.97 stick that evince the alteration of one’s life forever. A teenage pregnancy that could be prevented by a prescription of a small round pill or a thin piece of rubber is the modern day American tragedy. Trademarked by a loss of innocence, a child born to a teenager is a breathing scarlet letter that symbolizes an impediment teenage parents must combat uninterrupted by the hubbub of regular American life. A teenage pregnancy is not simply a pregnancy; it is a gateway to yielding one 's education and a prescription for impoverishment. Teenage pregnancy is the impetus for the slow detriment of the
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As more teenagers are made aware of birth control, they opt to use these reliable methods of contraception instead of previous and typically ineffective ways of preventing pregnancy, such as maintaining an ovulation calendar. According to federal data released by researchers from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the teenage birth rate has reached a new record low despite an increase in the general fertility rate of the country (Sifferlin). Furthermore, "data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has shown pregnancy rates among teenagers have been consistently dropping for the last two decades, and there was a 10% drop in a year from 2012 to 2013" (Sifferlin). Experts theorize that magnified access to affordable birth control was at the core of the reduction (Sifferlin), because although the number of teens becoming pregnant diminished, "the number of teens having sex stayed relatively the same" ("Teen Pregnancy Wanes"). The number of teenagers practicing abstinence did not increase–the number of teenagers opting to habit one or more methods of contraceptives increased ("Teen Pregnancy Wanes"). Since 1991, "the use of all birth control has increased" ("Teen Pregnancy Wanes") exponentially. Yet "while teenage pregnancy and birth rates have declined across the board for teens of all races and ethnic
As more teenagers are made aware of birth control, they opt to use these reliable methods of contraception instead of previous and typically ineffective ways of preventing pregnancy, such as maintaining an ovulation calendar. According to federal data released by researchers from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the teenage birth rate has reached a new record low despite an increase in the general fertility rate of the country (Sifferlin). Furthermore, "data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has shown pregnancy rates among teenagers have been consistently dropping for the last two decades, and there was a 10% drop in a year from 2012 to 2013" (Sifferlin). Experts theorize that magnified access to affordable birth control was at the core of the reduction (Sifferlin), because although the number of teens becoming pregnant diminished, "the number of teens having sex stayed relatively the same" ("Teen Pregnancy Wanes"). The number of teenagers practicing abstinence did not increase–the number of teenagers opting to habit one or more methods of contraceptives increased ("Teen Pregnancy Wanes"). Since 1991, "the use of all birth control has increased" ("Teen Pregnancy Wanes") exponentially. Yet "while teenage pregnancy and birth rates have declined across the board for teens of all races and ethnic