By Melissa Malcolm

What is Teen Pregnancy? Female 13 to 19 years of age Characteristics: Dependant on Parents Continues to live at home Note: Usually these women are unwed

Social Programs for Pregnant Teenagers There are many programs worldwide and in Waterloo Region that serve to pregnant teenagers These programs help individuals find stable housing, jobs, and lead normal lives Programs: Mary’s House- Helps teens find a stable job, home and life Birthright- International association that helps women distressed by unplanned pregnancies Social Workers- Helps teens in several ways, such as through support, assistance and information about different options.

Society’s Past View toward Teen Pregnancies In the past, pregnant teenagers would be kept away from society once they started showing and in catholic schools would be forced to change schools In addition, parents would disown their children or force them to have an abortion Some teenagers were not allowed outside of the home when they started showing

How Society Adjusted As more teen pregnancies occur, society has evolved to help these young women Presently, many high schools have adjusted and added on- site free daycare to their students (Resurrection High School is a perfect example in the Waterloo Region) Society is also more understanding and parents will often help their children through their time of need

Factors that cause Teen Pregnancy Struggling economy Teen’s educational outlook Teen’s employment outlook Lack of sexual education Peer Pressure Lack of family and friend support base Religion (I.e. may be against premarital sex) Friend and family sexual activity

Example of factors in a community causing teen pregnancy In a Hamilton community on the poverty line, one out of seven pregnancies are from teenage females Contrasting this phenomenon, a wealthy community in Burlington has very few teenage pregnancies Upbringing and peer pressure has a lot to do with this acceptance of teen pregnancies The teens in the Hamilton Community feel that they have no future, so it doesn’t matter if they get pregnant “It's not unusual to see a teenager toting a baby through Morgan's north Hamilton neighbourhood. In fact, in the blocks surrounding her home near Wentworth, north of the railway tracks, there's almost a one-in-five chance any infant you see has a teenage mom.”

Planned Teen Pregnancies Teen pregnancies are not all unplanned Some teens want to get pregnant One reason to get pregnant is because many teen celebrities, such as Jamie Lynn Spears, became teen moms In one article, a teenager’s boyfriend pokes holes in his condoms because he thought that getting her pregnant would make her stay with him This raises the question: Why do teens want to get pregnant? Are teen pregnancy shows, such as 16 and Pregnant, glamorize teenage pregnancies?

Pregnancy Shows Some teens want to become pregnant so they can get on these reality shows Shows were originally meant to educate teens on the hardships of a teen pregnancy The stars of theses shows are being followed by media and turned into stars. Media coverage has made teen pregnancies acceptable and even desirable North America has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the westernized world It is estimated that one million teenage girls will become pregnant this year

Pregnancy Show’s Continued Shows are not a true representation of teen pregnancy issues as the stars of the shows are usually living with their parents, and never have to seek financial assistance because they are paid for each episode Amber, one of the Teen Mom’s featured on the show testified in court that she made $140, 000 per season This would be another reason to get pregnant to get on the show: not only do you get fame, desired or not, you also get fortune. es/158568

New Brunswick Teen Pregnancy Rates Note: The data may look low compared to the past, but this chart showed that 15, 000 teenagers aged and 42, 000 teenagers aged because pregnant last year alone in one relatively small province

Teen Pregnancy Rates Today’s pregnancy statistic is significantly lower than 20 years ago This statistic is troubling because teens are more educated than ever about sexual relations and pregnancies In addition, more preventative measures such as birth control and condoms are available to teenagers in order to protect themselves but there are still far too many teen pregnancies for all the measures they can use to protect themselves