Written by: Bipana Shrestha - 2023003, Grade IX
Posted on: 01 March, 2021
Pregnancy in adolescence means the act of minors getting pregnant. When teenagers from the age of 14 to 19 get pregnant it is known as pregnancy in adolescence. It can also be called teenage pregnancy. Pregnancy in adolescence is pretty similar to a normal pregnancy but it carries risks since the teenager’s life can be in danger since they are less likely to be physically developed to sustain a healthy pregnancy or to give birth. The baby can also get born unhealthy and malnourished in such cases. This kind of pregnancy also has negative effects.
Teenage pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage while teenage pregnancy in developing countries often occurs within marriage. Getting pregnant is one’s teenage years can hamper them in many aspects. The first and the important one is with their education. When a teenager gets pregnant it affects their studies and disturbs them. Many teenagers have even dropped out of high school and discontinued their studies after getting pregnant. This also decreases career opportunities for them. Prenatal and maternal health also matters a lot in teenage pregnancy. The baby might become unhealthy and the mother's health can be at risk too. This will put both the baby’s and the mother’s life at risk. And after giving birth, the baby needs the utmost care, which a teenager might not be able to handle.
Moreover, getting pregnant at teen is not something that is recommended. As mentioned above, the baby’s health and the mother’s health can be in danger and it also violates reproductive rights. We can control teenage pregnancy by spreading awareness and by practicing safe sexual behavior mentioned in sex education.
In my opinion teen pregnancy or adolescent pregnancy is not something that should be banned but adolescents must take measures to avoid it as much as possible as adolescents themselves cannot answer their problems and to top it off having a child to bear at such a young age would be really difficult. But if adolescent pregnancy does occur, both the parties and parties' families must be willing to take full responsibility for the case. If both the parties are willing to abort the child, they must be taking a rightful decision that would not harm any of the parties. Many adolescents are carefree enough to harm the mother of the upcoming child by taking the wrong medicines to abort the baby and harm the female in general. This should be always avoided. And if both parties decide to keep the baby, the child must be taken care of properly both before and after the birth. But still, adolescent pregnancy should be avoided as much as possible. It is not recommended. Teens should be willing to take responsibility for the action.
Thus, even though adolescent pregnancy is not much reported and is not discussed much, it should be avoided as much as possible as the consequences it brings are endless. Even though in my opinion it should not be banned, it should certainly be controlled.
