Denise Hodges
Professor Steuben
Kaplan University
Across the United States, federal and state policy-makers are trying to control what they see as an epidemic in adolescent pregnancy. But is there really an epidemic? And, more importantly, when did the American society start to perceive teenage pregnancy as such? Teenage pregnancy is a major concern in today’s society; there are many ways to prevent teen pregnancy, many people to get advice from, and many decisions that a teen parent must make. What is teen pregnancy? Teen pregnancy is defined as a teenage or underage girl (usually within the ages of 13-19) becoming pregnant. Every society creates myths, but is not grounded I reality, such myths eventually tend to be discredited. In his 1996 book Up from Conservatorism: Why the Right Is Wrong for America, new Yorkers’ senior editor Michael Lind describes the illegitimacy epidemic as one of “the great conservative hoaxes of our time.” Even more convincing is Kristin Luker’s book Dubious Conceptions, an account of how both liberals and conservatives began constructing the epidemic of teen pregnancy as the social phenomenon in the rate at which women become pregnant, the rate at which they resolve their pregnancies in abortions or the combination of both. Getting pregnant as a teenager gives you a higher risk of running into the social aspects and economical issues that surround today’s teenage parents. Although the rate of teenage pregnancy is higher among low income African-Americans and Hispanics, especially those in inner city, the number of births to teenagers is highest among white, non-poor young women who live in small cities and towns. (Calhoun 309) Reducing teen pregnancy is one the most effective way of reducing child poverty in the US. The rate of teen pregnancy remains higher in the United States than in other Western industrialized countries. No available information justifies the alarming and widespread image of early childbearing as a phenomenon of epidemic proportions. So, if there is no epidemic, why is the American society devoting so much attention and financial resources to the fight against the plague of teenage pregnancy?.
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