Staying Abstinent

Staying Abstinent

MTV's 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are viewed my millions of teenagers around the world who tell themselves, "That would never happen to me." Sadly, half of all students from ninth through twelfth grade have already been involved in sexual activity (Roffman). On top of that, one in ten teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant each year (McIlhaney). That many teenage girls had become, and are still becoming, pregnant even after $500 million state and federal dollars was spent on abstinence education between 2002 and 2007 (National Coalition). When abstinence is brought up in conversation, "not becoming pregnant" is usually what comes to mind first. Not many people think about the health-related, physical, mental, or emotional effects of making the choice to not remaining abstinent. It would be a healthy decision to remain abstinent until marriage because of the possibility of an unexpected addition to the family, the overabundance of health risks, and the loss of one's virginity and purity.

First and foremost, since it seems to be the most thought-of idea of abstinence, young people lower their chance of becoming pregnant by remaining abstinent. In fact, they will have no chance of becoming pregnant by staying abstinent. So many children are given up for adoption, moved to foster homes, or have non-decent childhoods because they are born into families that are unable to care for them. Not only does a teenage pregnancy have a high potential for having a negative effect on the child, but it could also have a negative affect on the mother and father. If the child is born into a situation where it is unhealthy for him or her to remain in the household, the child will have to be given up for adoption or foster care. This can mentally and emotionally affect the mother and father of the child. When a mother carries a baby in her womb for nine months, she must mentally and physically prepare herself for giving birth and then devoting all her time and energy to the child afterward. The father must mentally prepare himself for aspects of parenthood such as maturing and priority. Since the mother and father have already mentally prepared themselves for these drastic changes of having an infant in the family, very difficult circumstances arise when their child is removed from the home, whether it was the parents' will or not. The mother and father would have already developed a subconscious bond to the baby, even thought it was not born yet. Instead of having to go through difficulties and trauma of being pregnant, it would be best for teenagers and young adults to remain abstinent before marriage.

Having a tiny child inside of a woman's body is pressuring enough, let alone all the health and safety precautions that must be taken into consideration by those who decide not to remain abstinent. By not staying abstinent the potential risk for multiple health issues increases profusely. The adult human body can only cope with a certain amount of pain, and giving birth exceeds that pain tolerance. If giving birth to an infant exceeds the pain tolerance for a mature adult body, one can only imagine the pain a teenager's immature body would have to endure. Not only is the physical pain of giving birth a health issue, but even before a baby is conceived there are risks for an unhealthy future. Each year, one of four teenagers, who are sexually active, acquire some sort of sexually transmitted disease. Teenagers contract STDs so easily because their bodies and reproductive systems are not physically mature enough to endure this kind of alteration (McIlhaney). Also, STDs are spread so quickly because of the high number of sexual partners that teenagers and young adults have in the world we live in today. From a different perspective, choosing to involve oneself in sexual activity before it is necessary can lead to an unhealthy mental and emotional life as well. For example, teenagers and young adults are likely to endure mental uneasiness due to anxiety about awaiting pregnancy or STD test results. Also, a state of depression could occur due to