religion vs. teen pregnancy rate

On Monday, during lecture we discussed how more religious and conservative states “red states” have a higher rate of teen pregnancies.  Growing up in the south I can say first hand that this does not surprise me at all. You are taught from a very young age at school church and at home that you should not have sex until you are married and that's that. Teens are just supposed to abide by this and parents kind of turn their heads and kind of pretend that no teen is having sex.

 I looked up the relationship between highest teen birth rates and the most religiously conservative states and with no surprise most of these states appeared on both lists.

Top 10 states with highest teen birth rates:

1. Mississippi

2. New Mexico

3. Texas

4. Arkansas

5. Arizona

6. Oklahoma

7. Nevada

8. Tennessee

9. Kentucky

10. Georgia

Top 10 most conservatively religious states:

1. Mississippi

2. Alabama

3. South Carolina

4. Tennessee

5. Louisiana

6. Utah

7. Arkansas

8. North Carolina

9. Kentucky

10. Oklahoma

There are a number of possible reasons for this relationship. Both religion and teen pregnancy are correlated with poverty and lack of education. Lack of education includes lack of adequate sex education. The areas of the US where teen pregnancy is highest tend to be those places where comprehensive sex education is discouraged, or abstinence is taught as the only form of sex education. In this case, religion motivates teen pregnancy, as young people who do end up having sex do not do it in a safe or responsible way. Another way that religion causes teen pregnancy is in traditional attitudes toward gender, family and marriage. More religious communities may place greater emphasis on a woman's role as a mother and wife, and therefore undervalue female education and work. 

I thought this was very interesting because I feel like these same religious and conservative states that are dealing with all of these teen pregnancies are the most judgmental and least accepting of teen pregnancies. One would think in this day and age, they would wise up and provide better education. Parents should face the facts that teens are going to do what they want, so they might as well protect them and educate teens as much as possible.

abortion vs. adoption

Since we were discussing last class about adoption vs. abortion, I decided to look deeper into the choice of abortion.  Since abortion is more popular by 28% of teens in the United States, I wanted to see why most teens pick this and the effects it has on teenagers who choose abortion over adoption or parenting.

Even though teens that have abortion don't actually give birth. The effects it has on young girls don't end as soon as they choose to have an abortion. In fact I found on some websites that the emotional effects abortion has on these teens can be detrimental to their lives.

Here are some links to these sites:

http://www.abortionfacts.com/reardon/after_effects_of_abortion.asp

http://afterabortion.org/1999/the-emotional-effects-of-abortion/

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/myths/post_abortion_syndrome.html

I was shocked to see how many negative effects it can have on one person after they have an abortion such as:

·                             Regret

·      Anger

·      Guilty feelings

·      Shame

·      Drug and alcohol abuse

·      Sense of loneliness or isolation

·      Loss of self confidence

·      Insomnia or nightmares

·      Relationship issues

·      Suicidal thoughts and feelings

·      Eating disorders

·      Depression

    Anxiety

This is not to say that all women that have abortions will experience any of these effects, experts say that if women that choose abortion that have pervious emotional conflicts will be more likely to be susceptible to these. Some of these examples are:

·      Individuals with previous emotional or psychological issues

·      Individuals who have been coerced, forced or persuaded to get an abortion

·      Individuals with religious beliefs that conflict with abortion

·      Individuals with moral or ethical views that conflict with abortion

·      Individuals who obtain an abortion in the later stages of pregnancy

·      Individuals without support from significant others or their partner

·      Women obtaining an abortion for genetic or fetal abnormalities

Although adoption and parenting might not be the right decision for everyone, the choice of abortion might be too emotionally damaging to young women. In contrast, the choice of adoption provides benefits to a baby by allowing her to grow up in a stable and loving environment. Many teens experiencing an unplanned pregnancy do not feel ready to parent a child, either because of age, financial background or social circumstances. Choosing adoption provides stability with adoptive parents who are ready to parent a child. Not only is it a great alternative for your child, for the young mother it can be her second chance and she can return to her life before she got pregnant. They are also less likely to have another unplanned pregnancy and report positive feelings toward adoption and their decision.