Reducing Teen Pregnancy With Sex Education Essay -- argumentative, per

Adolescent pregnancy is a crisis that inadvertently affects all. This is not only a burden to the young woman and her family, but also has a consequential impact on society. By reducing the number of adolescent pregnancies we could promote child well-being and decrease child poverty statistics (National Data). Increasing the number of comprehensive sex education courses would help young people learn how to better protect themselves against premature pregnancy and STDs, and would in turn curtail the number of teenage pregnancies. Among industrialized countries the United States has the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy. The rate of teen pregnancy in the U.S. is twice that of Great Britain and four times that of Germany and France. According to Saul Hoffman, Ph.D. and publisher of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy study, adolescent childbearing in 2011 alone cost U.S. taxpayers $10.1 billion, (Hoffman 2012.) Statistics show the alarming number of female adolescents walking around with oversized stomachs. Three in ten girls in the United States get pregnant at least once by age twenty (National Data). Less than one three of teen mothers obtain a high school diploma and only 1.5 percent have a college degree. Adolescent mothers are at a greater risk for birthing complications such as pregnancy induced hypertension, poor weight gain throughout pregnancy, and pregnancy-induced hypertension (Hoffman 2012). Infants born to adolescent mothers have a greater risk for premature birth, low birth rate, increasing the possibility of infant death, mental retardation, and chronic respiratory problems. Children born to adolescent parents are higher at risk for abuse and neglect, and are less apt to acquire adequ... ...015. . Hoffman, Saul . "Numbers: The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing ." The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy , 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2015. Landry, David J. , Jacqueline E. Darroch, Susheela Singh, and Jenny Higgins. "Factors Associates with Content of Sex Education in U.S. Public Secondary Schools." Perspecitves on Sexual Reproductive Health 35.6 (2007): 261-262. Print. "National Data| The National Campaign." The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy , n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2015. .