Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Classes

Teenage Pregnancies Prevention
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Introduction
More than 75% of the teenagers that get pregnant do not have the plans to start a family, which means that their pregnancies are consequential to their sexual habits. According to data collected by end of last year, 2013, for every 1,000 female adolescents between the age of 15 and 19, there are on average about 26.6 births that take place. This translates to more than 270000 births, born to teenage girls. These are all births that occur outside any formal marriage institution, but, among teenagers playing around. While this figure may be quite high, there has bee a lot of improvements that have been recorded for the last two decades since 1991. In the year 1991, the birth rate was above 61.8 for every 1000 teenagers between the ages 15 and 19 (Office of Adolescent Health, 2014). This translates to more than 50% reduction in the teenage pregnancies rate. This has been due to the massive campaign efforts tat have gone into sex education and programs aimed at reducing the rate of teenagers getting pregnant including the use of contraceptives. However, while the figure may have reduced over the last two decades, this is still too high compared to other developed nations such as United Kingdom and Canada. Ironically, one in six of the births reported, is a repeat pregnancy. This means that the pregnant teenager is having their second or third child before they are 20 years old. This basically translates to more than 17% of the teenage pregnancies. This underlines the severity of the issue and why more needs to be done to alleviate the problem.
One of the major concerns other than the high figures of teenagers getting pregnant is the health risks involved for the baby and the mother involved. The teenager mothers and their babies have a high chance of developing complications some of which can be life threatening or deformities that will last a lifetime. This brings out some of the interventions that can be implemented to reduce the pregnancies and therefore the associated health risks (Office of Adolescent Health, 2014).
Thesis statement: teenage pregnancies and related risks to mothers and the newborn babies can be reduced through the sexual education carried out in pregnancy classes and through awareness and prevention programs.
Background
Teenage pregnancies in America
The highest majority of teenagers that are caught up in the issues of teen-pregnancies are usually in high school and a few in colleges. This basically means that they do not have the means to raise their children and still attend to their studies. In the year 2012, the teenage pregnancy rates were at 29.1 for every 1000 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 years old (Office of Adolescent Health, 2014). This means that the figure has significantly reduced when compared to the figures collected in 2013. It is estimated that there have been significant reduction in the year 2014.
Variations among the races and ethnic backgrounds
There are quite some significant variations that are note-worthy with reference to the ages of the teenagers their race and ethnic backgrounds. When comparing teenage pregnancies among thewhite, Hispanics and African American, some fundamental differ...