Essay About Teenage Pregnancy free essay sample

The matter of distributing condoms in school has been a controversial issue over the years because the majority of society believes that condoms will promote sexual behavior in schools. Nevertheless more and more students are becoming sexually active without thinking of the consequences and understanding the precautions that should be taken when doing so. Condoms should be distributed in schools because of the growing number of teenage pregnancy, to minimize the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among adolescent and it is a good investment for the government to help control students irresponsible sexual behavior. Everyday thousands of sexually active teenagers are putting themselves at risk of getting pregnant, and as such there is an alarming rate of teenage pregnancies in schools which can have a negative impact on most teenagers’ life. According to the article â€Å"How Many Teen Girls get Pregnant every year? , it reveals that every year, about 16 million girls aged 15-19 years old give birth. In addition, in a prominent high school in Jamaica, the school nurse reported that the percentages of teenage pregnancy increase from 20% in 2011 to 40% since the start of the year. The school nurse further stated that these teenaged girls failed to use a condom and that if condoms were distributed at the school it would have decrease the risk of these teenaged girls getting pregnant. On the other hand, whenever these girls get pregnant in schools, some of them are unable to finish school. Teenage moms will have to provide for themselves and their child and are often times left alone to take care of the child and as a result, they lose focus of their dreams and will now have to focus on raising a child at an early age. According to Reynolds (2011), in 2011 only one third of teenage mothers graduated from high school and less than 2 % further their education. Consequently too many of our young teenagers are dropping out of school and so distributing condoms in school would prevent this from occurring. Nevertheless, there is a high rate of sexually transmitted infection spreading among teenagers who engage in unprotected sex. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that forty percent (40%) of all new â€Å"HIV† infection in 2009 was among youths between the ages of 15-19. Therefore, this is an ongoing concern because students who engaged in unprotected sex are at a greater risk of contracting these infections. As a result, the distribution of condoms in schools and use will help to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among students. Furthermore, in the article â€Å"Special populations- Center of Disease Control and Prevention† a survey conducted in 2011 reported to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention that in the United States 95% of the student population ages 14-19 was tested positively for chlamydia which indicates that there is rapid spread of sexual transmitted diseases among adolescent. The primary reason for this is that these students had more than one sexual partner in the previous year and did not consistently use a condom. Therefore, adolescents are at a higher risk for contracting sexually transmitted infection (STI) every day and condoms being distributed to teenagers are an effective means of combating these infectious diseases. In addition the distribution of condoms in schools is also a good investment of government funds to reduce student’s irresponsible sexual behavior, because a fortune is spent by world governments each year addressing the public health problems created by risky sexual behavior as stated by Ramkissoon (2011). The cost of raising the many children through unintended pregnancies over a lifetime will reduce to a lower cost if condoms are distributed in schools. Furthermore, the cost of treating a student who is a patient with infectious sexually transmitted diseases can be enormous. Some critics might argue that condoms should not be distributed in schools. According to the article â€Å"Should Condoms be distributed freely in High Schools? † states that providing students with condoms encourages early sexual activity. In addition, schools are not the place for condom machines, just as schools are not the place for cigarette machines or alcohol bars and according to Bridgetown (2011) students should be focusing on their education and their future instead of sexual activities. The fact that condoms are used for protection it should be distributed in schools to benefit the health of students who are already sexually active to control their recklessness. Anderson (2008) state that despite the abstinence programs some teenagers will still indulge in sexual activity at an early age. Condoms are used as an effective means for protection against unwanted pregnancies and sexual disease unlike alcohol and cigarettes, they endangers the health of students. It is expected that teenagers are going to have sex but isn’t it important for measures to be implemented to protect students from contracting disease and getting pregnant? With the current and growing problem of teenage pregnancy as well as the spreading epidemics of sexually ransmitted disease is a significant issue in which should be address as soon possible. How long should teenage pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases continue to flourish among our students each year? If society continues to ignore the issue of distributing condoms in school then teenage pregnancies and sexual transmitted diseases will continue to be on the rise. Therefore, in order to prevent the risk of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases condoms should be distributed in schools