Essay On Teenage Childbearing

have been able to turn to newer contraceptive methods such as the morning after pill, depo-provera, etc. (Furstenberg, 2003) So, if teenage childbearing rates are declining and more awareness is being brought to the topic, why is teenage childbearing still considered a deviant act and a social problem? One possible reason is that society has created a definition and a reputation for teenage childbearing over the years. So, despite a decline in teenage childbearing rates and new research suggesting teenage childbirth is not as devastating as it was once believed, society’s social and moral belief about teenage childbearing has not changed. Society believes that teens are not adequately prepared to raise a child, when teens are considered still children themselves. Many argue that teens do not have the knowledge, skill, or responsibility to raise a child. Furstenberg …show more content…
Family planners appear to have accepted a Faustian bargain to pretend to endorse the principal of abstinence if they are allowed to talk about contraception as an option for youth who engage in sex. Whereas groups who actively try to convince teens that having sex is wrong and dangerous have increasingly highjacked federal, state, and local funding for sex education, the family planning establishment has backed out of the public debate. (Furstenberg, 2003)
Set in our rigid standards and beliefs lead us as a society to still view teenage childbearing as a morally wrong and deviant activity. Furstenberg summarizes by saying, “In short, the politics surrounding sex in the United States have constrained the research carried out over the past several decades. As a result, most social scientists have failed to question why early sex is so widely viewed as problematic.”(Furstenberg