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Teenage pregnancy is when a female
teenager gets pregnant. Unfortunately teenage pregnancy is happening more
and more.
The causes of teenage pregnancy is many
and varied .It includes
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1. Unprotected sex
2. lack of discipline or control in the
household,
3. lack of values but most times
4. lack of
knowledge
5. Sexual abuse
or rape.
6. Drinking
7. Lack of
information about safe sex,
8. Teens are
not taught the methods of birth control and incorrect use of contraception.
9. Peer
pressure from peers that force them to have sex before they are ready.
10. Schools lack
teaching about sex
11. Customs and
traditions that lead to early marriage (developing countries)
12. Adolescent
sexual behavior which may also be influenced by alcohol and drugs.
13. Lack of
education and information about reproductive sexual health including lack
of access to tools that prevent pregnancies.
14. Poverty and
low self esteem
15· Exposure
to abuse, violence and family strife at home
16· Low
educational ambitions and goals etc.
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EEEECTS OF
TEENAGE PREGNANCY
1. May develop
many emotional problems such as depression, shame, guilt and stress. Risk
of problems such as poor weight gain, premature labor and other
complications.
2. Pregnant
teenagers are more likely to be undernourished and suffer premature or
prolonged labor.
3. Pregnant teenagers are more likely than
women to experience maternal
illness, miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal death.
4. Teen mothers are less likely to graduate
from high school , likely to live in
poverty and they rely on welfare from the government.
5. The children of teenage mothers are often
born at low birth weight, experience health and developmental problems, and
are frequently poor, abused, and/or neglected.
6. Teenage pregnancy also have the following side effects:
a) A teen
mother is more likely to:
·
drop out of school
·
have no or low qualifications
·
be unemployed or low-paid
·
live in poor housing conditions
·
suffer from depression which may result
in suicide
·
live on welfare
b) The child
of a teen mother is more likely to:
·
live in poverty
·
grow up without a father
·
become a victim of neglect or abuse
·
do less well at school
·
become involved in crime
·
abuse drugs and alcohol
·
eventually become a teenage parent and
begin the cycle all over again
c) The younger
sibling of a teen mother is more likely to:
·
accept sexual initiation and marriage at
a younger age.
·
place less importance on education and
employment
TEEN
PREGNANCY: MEDICAL OUTCOMES
Ø Research
indicates that pregnant teens are less likely to receive prenatal care,
often seeking it only in the third trimester, if at all.
Ø As a result of
insufficient prenatal care, the global incidence of premature births and
low birth weight is higher amongst teenage mothers.
Ø Risks for
medical complications are greater for girls 14 years of age and younger, as
an underdeveloped pelvis can lead to difficulties in childbirth.
Ø Young women
under 20 face a higher risk of obstructed labor, which if Caesarean section
is not available can cause an obstetric fistula, a tear in the birth canal
that creates leakage of urine and/or faces. At least 2 million of the
world’s poorest women live with fistulas.
Ø Complications
during pregnancy and delivery are the leading causes of death for girls
aged 15 to 19 in developing countries. They are twice as likely to die in
childbirth as women in their 20s.
Ø Teenage girls
account for 14% of the estimated 20 million unsafe abortions performed each
year, which result in some 68,000 deaths.
TEEN
PREGNANCY: STIs, HIV AND AIDS
ü As a result of
unprotected sex, young people are also at risk of sexually transmitted
diseases and HIV infection.
ü The highest
rates of STIs worldwide are among young people aged 15 to 24. Some 500,000 become
infected daily (excluding HIV).
ü Two in five new
HIV infections globally occur in young people aged 15 to 24.
ü Surveys from
40 countries show that more than half their young people have
misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted.
ü Married
adolescent girls generally are unable to negotiate condom use or to refuse
sexual relations. They are often married to older men with more sexual
experience, which puts them at risk of contracting STIs, including HIV
Here Are Some Tips To Help You Raise Your
Self-Esteem:
v Look in the mirror each day and tell yourself you
are beautiful. The more you tell yourself you are beautiful, the more you
will believe it.
v Tell yourself daily that you are worthy of
being treated with love and respect.
v Don’t settle for anything less.
v Tell yourself that your body is special and not
to be given away.
v Spend time doing things you enjoy. Develop your
talents. Continue learning new things.
v Study. Never underestimate the importance of a
good education. It will prepare you for the future as nothing else will.
v Make independence a goal. Learn to take care of
yourself emotionally and financially. Doing this will ensure that you will
never feel trapped into an unhealthy relationship
CONCLUSION
Sex before
marriage has become so commonplace in our society, even to the point of
being expected, that many professing Christians don't even consider it to
be a sin. Our culture assumes that people do not possess the amount of
self-control necessary for abstaining until marriage, so the idea has
become unrealistic. God's Word does not change, however, and the Bible
tells us that sex outside of marriage is immoral (Matthew 15:19; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 6:13, 7:2; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians5:3)
Any person who
has become a born-again Christian by putting his or her faith and trust in
Christ no longer belongs to himself. 1st
Corinthians 6:18-20 (NLT) says, “Run
away from sexual sin! No other sin clearly affects the body as this one
does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Or don't you
know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and
was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you
with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
Disregarding
God's plan for marriage, sex, and family always results in these kinds of
spiritual or physical consequences: grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), guilt, shame,
regret, loss of respect for self and others, division in families and
between believers, poor role modeling, pain for future spouses, unwanted
pregnancies, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases. God intends for
sex to be an intimate expression of love and commitment, to be shared only
between a husband and wife. Sex just for the physical pleasure of it
damages our spirituality and pulls us away from fellowship with God.
Anyone who has
made the mistake of having sex outside of marriage can be forgiven, even if
the mistake results in an unplanned pregnancy. First John 1:9 says, “But if
we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and
cleanse us from every wrong.” This does not
mean that He will erase the consequences of our actions, but we can be
restored spiritually by confessing and repenting from our sins. This means
turning away from our sins and making the commitment to love and serve
Christ.
We are saved
by faith alone, trusting in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, which
lead to death. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the
free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God does not
want us to try to right our wrongs, but He wants us to give Him our hearts.
By laying down our own will and submitting to the sovereignty of God, we
can be assured of not only a fulfilling life on earth, but also a place in
heaven for eternity.
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