Сторінка
1

Teenage pregnancy

PLAN

1. Anxious statistics of teenage pregnancy.

2. Pregnancy from the physiological point of view.

3. Teenage motherhood in America.

4. Sociologist Frank Furstenberg’s teenage theory.

Last year in the UK 36,540 unmarried teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 had а baby.

In the USA nearly one million teenage American girls become pregnant each year.

Britain has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Europe.

The teenage pregnancy rate in Britain is twice that of Germany and four times that of France.

4 out of 10 teenage girls in the world become pregnant before they are 20.

Why do so many teens end up in this situation? They must know the risks.

Teens in the USA in particular are constantly warned of the risks of getting pregnant. Sex education starts as early as 3rd grade, messages to say no to sex appear on TV, stories of young girls getting pregnant are constantly in teen magazines. However,the truth is most teens believe it won’t happen to them.

Don’t teens realise that if they get pregnant they might ruin their plans?

In general teens who are the most ambitious are more careful. Teens who lack self-esteem, or have fewer definite plans are less cautious. Some girls are either too embarrassed to buy birth control items or believe that they will just ‘say no’ to sex. President George W Bush wants to get rid of safe-sex classes in order to teach abstinence.

What is life like for teen mothers?

Most teen girls are delighted when they first realise they are pregnant-they are given gifts and look forward to having а baby. However the reality is often а terrible shock even when the girl’s parents help. Most can’t cope with looking after а baby and schoolwork and drop out of school. In most cases the teen mother needs а job to pay for the baby, she has to find somewhere to look after the baby while is workihg or studying. Due to these problems, most teen mothers do not find good jobs.

What is life like for their children?

Life can be very hard. Many grow up in poverty or are neglected because the mother is too young to care for them properly. In the majority of cases the children do not do well at school because their mother has no time to encourage them or because she did not have a chance to do well in school, she cannot help them with schoolwork.

What about the children’s dads?

In most cases the father does not help financially or emotionally. If he is young too he can’t help very much because he has the same problems as the mother. In the past, the couple would get married but evidence showed because the couple were so young, it didn’t work.

What help is evailable for teen parents and their kids?

Teen mothers are given some welfare money to help them survive. Around the USA and parts of Britain, there are some schools that have а special childcare centre for the teen mothers. The centre looks after the babies while their mothers are in class. They also teach the mother how to make sure the baby stays healthy. Although these centres are helpful, they have been criticised for how much they cost the state.

How can the number of teen pregnancies be reduced?

Some say teens should be taught to abstain from sex until they are married, others say we should give them more information. Some schools use ‘Think-It-Over Dolls’. These are dolls that cry during the night and must be picked up. They also need to be ‘fed’. The dolls record it if you hit them or drop them. Teens are given the dolls to look after for а weekend.

Pregnancy is the period during which а woman carries а baby within her body before giving birth. Pregnancy begins with conception-that is, the fertilization of an egg by а sperm. The fertilized egg is called а zygote.

Pregnancy, also called gestation, lasts about nine months for most women. The femaleof almost all other species of mammals also have а period of pregnancy.

The period varies in length among different animals.

The baby during pregnancy.The developing zygote is called an embryo during the first two months of pregnancy, and а fetus thereafter. During the second week after conception, the membranes that surround the embryo become attached to the lining of the uterus. А structure called the placenta forms in the uterus. The placenta enables the embryo to live within the mother’s body. Food and oxygen pass from the mother’s bloodstream to the embryo or fetus by means of the placenta.

After two months, the fetus is about two 1 inch ( 2.5 centimetres) long and can move its head, mouth, arms, and legs.

The fetus has recognizable human features after three month. The mother may first feel the fetus moving during the fifth month. The fetal heartbeat can also be heard at that time. After six month, the fetus measures about 14 inches (36 centimeters) long and weighs about 30 ounches(850 grams).Most of its organs are functioning.In the last three months of pregnancy, the mother’s bloodstream provides immune substances that help protect the baby from various diseases after birth.