Free Essay on the Prevention of Pregnancy Geared Toward Those Younger Than Age 18 Years

Introduction

Pregnancy prevention information towards those below the age of 18 years is becoming a standard service in public health due to the increase in the number of people having sex in their teenage period. Information is a potent tool that can be used to avoid undesirable situations and implications of early sex intercourse such as adolescent pregnancy which has been a leading cause of education disruption (Martinez & Abma, 2015). A majority of teenage mothers are forced to abandon schools, and the low graduation rate and the number of adolescent mothers with college degrees is a primary cause of poverty in society. Teenage pregnancies increase pressure on the government through social benefits and reduce the affected adolescent girl's ability to be fully independent in their adulthood (Lavin & Cox, 2012). Information on pregnancy prevention targeting those younger than 18 years today is becoming a necessity because research shows that 42% of teenage girls in a survey have had sex and amongst males, it was 44%. Most teens in a study noted that condoms were the primary form of contraception available to their knowledge (Planned Parenthood. 2017). Besides, the research also depicted that 97% of girls and 95% of boys had never used a condom, with 60% of teen girls citing using withdrawal method as a method of preventing becoming pregnant (Miller, 2017). As such, these statistics show a significant need to provide pregnancy prevention information to teenage girls and boys below 18 years to prevent early pregnancies, increase college completion rate, and reduce child poverty.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Pregnancy Education Should be a Public Good

The education of people below the age of 18 on pregnancy prevention can be classified as a private good, mainly due to the lack of government-funded pregnancy prevention programs. Although over the years there has been a significant debate on the need for the government to initiate a pregnancy prevention program it has not materialized due to the cost and magnitude of the program if it were to be implemented (Stanger-Hall & Hall, 2011). As a result, pregnancy prevention education is offered by counselors. Since the inception of the federal funded Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program in 2010 it has only reached 1 million young people which shows a majority of the population can access this knowledge through pregnancy prevention services which have to be compensated by the individuals through their parents paid insurance premiums or employee health insurance (Abma, Martinez, & Copen, 2011). As such, teen pregnancy prevention remains unreachable and scarce to many young people in the United States. A public good is noted as a product that is freely available to be consumed for all with the government meeting the cost through taxpayers. The private goods, unlike public good, are unavailable for everyone and only available to those with high incomes. Making pregnancy education public in the United States can significantly reduce the number of young girls below 18 years who are forced to drop out due to early pregnancies. Healthcare organizations that offer pregnancy prevention education charge consumers of the service and the places where it is provided is limited, which means that only a few people aged below 18 years can access pregnancy prevention education. Therefore, making pregnancy prevention education free to the public in healthcare organizations can improve sex education in the United States, which will increase the number of girls completing a college education.

Economic Impact of Making Pregnancy Education a Public Good

High Taxation

According to Kase & Kilburn (2016), it is estimated that making pregnancy prevention education a public good will increase the overall amount taxation by the government to meet the federal cost of universal pregnancy education to young people below 18 years who are actively engaging in unprotected sex which increases the number of early pregnancies and college drop out. Taxation will improve the economic burden of the taxpayers and can lead to an increased cost of living due to the inflation caused by passing the overall tax to the consumers (Rosenthal, Ross, Bilodeau, Richter, Palley, & Bradley, 2009). Therefore, even though making pregnancy prevention education program to young people free is a good thing the cost of the same will be very high with the burden of meeting the cost of implementing such a large scale program to the people.

High College Completion Rate

High college completion rate due to easily accessible federal funded pregnancy prevention will significantly increase the number of graduates and grow college graduates, which has a positive economic impact in society by reducing poverty and dependence. When the number of young people dropping out due to pregnancy-related reasons from colleges, poverty is one of the negative economic impacts. As such, making pregnancy prevention education amongst young people will significantly improve the economy by increasing the availability of skilled labor, which can positively contribute to the national economy.

Conclusion

There is a significant difference between public and private goods in healthcare which is determined by the extent of access and the cost. Pregnancy prevention education targeting young adults below 18 years play an important economic role by increasing college completion rate and eradicating children poverty. Currently, millions of young people cannot access free pregnancy prevention programs due to the high cost of services. As such, public funding of education will increase access and reduce the number of young people dropping out of schools due to early pregnancies.

References

Abma, J. C., Dawson, B. S., Martinez, G. M., & Mosher, W. D. (2004). Teenagers in the United States; sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2002. Retrieved from https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/6558

Abma, J. C., Martinez, G. M., & Copen, C. E. (2010). Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, a national survey of family growth 2006-2008. Vital and health statistics. Series 23, Data from the National Survey of Family Growth, (30), 1-47. Retrieved from https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/21548441

Kase, C., & Kilburn, M. R., (2016). Cost Analysis of an Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program In-School Model Site. RAND. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1300/RR1323/RAND_RR1323.pdf

Lavin, C., & Cox, J. E. (2012). Teen pregnancy prevention: current perspectives. Current opinion in pediatrics, 24(4), 462-469. Retrieved from https://fhop.ucsf.edu/sites/fhop.ucsf.edu/files/wysiwyg/Teen%20pregnancy%20prevention-%20Current%20Perspectives%202012.pdf

Martinez, G. M., & Abma, J. C., (2015). Sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing of teenagers aged 15-19 in the United States. Retrieved from https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/32514

Martinez, G., Copen, C. E., & Abma, J. C. (2011). Teenagers in the United States; sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth. Retrieved from https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/11653

Miller, S, G. (2017). How Many Teens Are Really Having Sex These Days?. LiveScience. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/59573-teen-sexual-activity-report.html

Planned Parenthood. (2017). Planned Parenthood: New CDC Report on U.S. Teens' Sexual Behavior Illustrates Adolescents' Continued Need for Sex Education and Effective Birth Control. Retrieved from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-new-cdc-report-on-u-s-teens-sexual-behavior-illustrates-adolescents-continued-need-for-sex-education-and-effective-birth-control

Rosenthal, M. S., Ross, J. S., Bilodeau, R., Richter, R. S., Palley, J. E., & Bradley, E. H. (2009). Economic evaluation of a comprehensive teenage pregnancy prevention program: pilot program. American journal of preventive medicine, 37(6), S280-S287. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3020976/

Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates: why we need comprehensive sex education in the U.S. PloS one, 6(10), e24658. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3194801/