Rise in Unwed Teens Giving Birth

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Andrea Heath
Professor Calatrello
English 101
February 24, 2011
Why the Number of Children Born to Unwed Teens is on the Rise
It is clear that the number of children being born to unwed teenagers is on the rise in our country. Nearly forty percent of all children born today are born into single parent families. The question is why. Could the fact that is more socially accepted be a contributing factor? Are we failing our kids by not providing them with sex education and birth control options? Or might it be due to the fact that some teenagers feel peer pressure to have sex? Or consider kids just being naïve or thinking it will not happen to them.
Kids today are experimenting with everything early including sex. Our society has become very accepting of this new phenomenon.   The accepting attitude is probably because the problem has gotten so big we wouldn’t know where to begin to fix it. So we have just decided to accept it.
Another possible cause of the increase in unwed teenagers giving birth might be the lack of sex education. Our kids now have sex education at school so parents assume the kids know everything they need to know. And school officials believe parents should be educating their own children about sex. One class isn’t enough for them to get all the information they need to make informed decisions, such as birth control options.
Peer pressure is something else to be considered as a possible cause. Even adults feel pressure to keep with others, so we would be naïve to think kids don’t feel that same pressure. Kids feel the need

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to fit in with their peers. So when their friends start dating and having sex they do the same even if they feel it’s wrong. And having babies is a result of those actions.
The biggest cause could be the fact that kids feel invincible. Even when they are told unprotected sex can and will result in pregnancy they are of the belief it won’t happen to them. They also tend to be oblivious to the... [continues]

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