Children of Teen Mothers
It takes maturity for a teen to realize she's not mature enough to give birth and make a lifelong commitment to a child. Bristol Palin, whose pregnancy came to light when her mother Sarah Palin ran for Vice President in 2008, advised other teens to "wait 10 years" before having a baby.Teens who choose abortion because they recognize their own immaturity and inability to care for a baby are making a responsible decision; it may not be one that everyone agrees with, but it also cuts short a cycle that is on the rise in the U.S. -- children giving birth to children. More and more studies indicate that children born to teen mothers begin school with significant disadvantages in learning, do poorer in school and on standardized tests, and are much more likely to drop out of school than the children of women who've delayed childbearing until they reach their twenties.
Abortion remains a controversial topic, and a pregnant teen considering abortion often finds herself in the proverbial situation of being between a rock and a hard place. But when finances, life circumstances and rocky personal relationships prevent a teen mother from being able to raise her child in a loving, safe, and stable environment, terminating a pregnancy may be her only viable choice.
Sources:
"In Brief: Facts on American Teens' Sexual and Reproductive Health." Guttmacher.org, September 2006.
Stanhope, Marcia and Jeanette Lancaster. "Foundations of Nursing in the Community: Community-oriented Practice." Elsevier Health Sciences, 2006.
"Why It Matters: Teen Pregnancy and Education." The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, retrieved 19 May 2009.
