Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortions
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Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortions
A report by Jatlaoui et al. published by CDC confirmed that in 2016, 632,471 abortions were carried out in 48 reporting areas across the U.S., including the District of Columbia and New York City (2019). Among these areas, 11.6 abortions were reported per 1,000 women between 15 and 44 years. The ratio was 186 abortions for every 1,000 live births. The statistics suggested a 2% decrease from the records of 2015. In 2013, at least 448,000 women aged between15 and 19 became pregnant (Jatlaoui et al., 2019). This was a significant decline from 40 births per 1000 in 2008. Teenage pregnancies and abortion are concentrated in girls between 15 and 19 years, a school-going age group. A majority get early pregnancies due to a combination of factors rather than desires for parenting. Therefore, it is necessary for adolescents to access information and services that can enable them to make informed decisions concerning their reproductive health. This discussion proposes that offering education to teenage students in the public school in New York can help teenagers understand and appreciate various precautions necessary to prevent unplanned pregnancies and abortion. The discussion argues that reproductive education in public in New York can help prevent unplanned pregnancies and abortion.
Background to the Issue
Unwanted pregnancies and abortion have been nightmares to the global healthcare system. It Is an economic challenge that impacts about 18million girls between 15 and 19 years each year (Mathewos & Mekuria, 2018). Children born to adolescent mothers make 11% of the global birth rates. Early pregnancies put the girls at higher risks of health complications. For example, maternal conditions in teenagers contribute 13% of all deaths and overall disease burden for mothers and children (Mathewos & Mekuria, 2018). Girls that do not want to carry the pregnancy to terms have an option for abortion depending on the legality of this practice in their state. Although the practice may be legal, it is not readily accepted in most societies, leading to the girls doing it in fear and scanty information. Pregnancy termination can have negative consequences on the physical and psychological health of an individual. When it is unsafe, the life of a woman is at great risk. Abortion is mostly driven by unplanned pregnancies and societal issues like financial problems. Lack of information on unplanned pregnancies and abortion cost the lives of about a million girls globally each year, with many other suffering injuries and diseases related to botched abortions. Adolescents spend most of their time in schools, which can be an opportunity to educate girls about early pregnancies and help them make informed decisions.
Education in Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion
Schools in New York are in unique positions for preventing abortion possibilities at all costs. They are a perfect environment that merges adolescents who are at high risk of unwanted pregnancies and abortion. Students spend time with peers and instructors at school and, therefore, reproductive education can easily be rolled out using the available resources and facilities at school to prevent unwanted pregnancies that can result in abortion, whether safe or unsafe. Abortion may leave deep dents in an adolescents’ life, and she may not cope with studies. It is morally wrong because it involves terminating a life that is more important than the freedom of allowing adolescents to decide over their bodies. Abortion is also against Christians’ teaching since it is considered murder and a sin. Therefore, instead of the school waiting for some pregnant adolescents to reactionary abortion measures, schools can take precautionary measures by educating adolescents on sexuality. This can equip them with the necessary knowledge to determine their lives’ compass and plan appropriately on their preferred parenting time.
Most developed nations have adopted education as a tool against early pregnancies and abortion with significant success. Public policy interventions on reproductive education at schools have created awareness for adolescents on reducing pregnancies. Paton and colleagues researched the significance of sex education on teenage pregnancies using a cross-country database to review the existing evidence (2020). The researchers examined 38 developed nations and established that 35 of them were recording low rates of teenage pregnancies between 2007 and 2017 after rolling out sex education in schools with an average decrease was 36% (Paton, Bullivant & Soto, 2020). Mandatory sex education in schools was directly associated with reducing the rates of teen pregnancies and abortion. Young people are likely to avoid teen pregnancies if they become aware that they have a positive future. Schools and communities in New York should formulate outstanding strategies for incorporating life-motivation and sex education for adolescents to shape their perceptions about early and unwanted pregnancies.
Schools have advocacy roles for adolescents’ rights, especially on early pregnancies and abortion. In New York, abortion was legalized in 1970. Three years later, the Supreme Court ruled that under certain exemptions, abortion qualifies as a crime (Tolentino, 2019). Today, abortion is highly restrictive in the state and documented in the criminal code and, therefore, not highly accepted in society. The New Yorker published Christensen’s experience as a young mother. She conceived, and a few weeks later, the doctor confirmed that the baby was not compatible with the mother due to differences in rhesus factors. She needed a child desperately but had to terminate the pregnancy because if he were to be delivered, his life and Christen’s would be in danger. In New York, between 25% and 27% of pregnancies are aborted (Tolentino, 2019). The law criminalizes abortion after twenty-four weeks and, therefore, Christen had to incur the expense of travelling outside the state to have the abortion. This demonstrates that abortion is not a viable alternative because of the high restrictions. Therefore, schools can focus on preventing adolescent pregnancies before the issue escalates to an abortion.
The fear of public perception after adolescent girls abort unwanted pregnancies results in unsafe abortion (Johnson et al., 2017). The problem is aggravated by restrictive abortion policies, which increase the rates of health risks for young girls. It is estimated that the average mortality ratio is three folds in states with restrictive abortion laws compared to the state where these laws are open. The policies are barriers to adolescents’ access to safe abortions for licensed healthcare providers. Some policies restrict the provision of gynecologists and obstetrician care with requirements from third-party authorization, compulsory waiting period and unnecessary medical tests. Public schools need to lobby for better laws on adolescent and unwanted pregnancies. They can achieve this by engaging all education stakeholders and policy makers to design and strengthen a legal environment that supports adolescents’ health by offering them opportunities to prevent early pregnancies and give adolescent mothers opportunities to rebuild their lives. This includes easing restrictive abortion laws to promote access to quality healthcare services.
UNESCO holds that since unwanted pregnancies and abortion hinder education attainment for teenagers, schools have a unique role in addressing this problem (2019). Adolescent pregnancies are societal issues that cut across schools, families, healthcare, and social protection agencies. Education should equip adolescents with skills, information, and knowledge for individuals to make informed decisions concerning their sexual affairs and ensure pregnant girls and young mothers get a right to pursue their educational goals. Comprehensive sex education in public schools can be an instrument for preventing adolescent pregnancies and a roadmap towards a better life for adolescent mothers (UNESCO, 2019). It has an empowerment tool that increases self-confidence, awareness, and knowledge that girls need to decide on their bodies, capabilities, and rights. This includes the prevention of early pregnancies and their choice of fertility. Although public sex education should be designed for all adolescents, it should be skewed towards girls since boys bear little pregnancy consequences. For example, they may not necessarily drop out of school when their girlfriends get pregnant. All education stakeholders in New York public schools should design sex education programs that incorporate prevention and empowerment strategies for adolescents. Education is a tool that can prevent adolescents from getting unwanted pregnancies and empower adolescent mothers by nurturing their skills, knowledge and interpersonal skills like self-confidence.
Sexual education can help prevent adolescent pregnancies and abortion by alerting girls of the available preventive measures. Maxwell and colleagues explored awareness prevention in secondary school learners. They used a qualitative descriptive survey and used a self-administered questionnaire from six secondary public schools. The researchers found out that 94% of participants had a positive opinion that adolescent pregnancies can be prevented by contraceptive pills and injections (Maxwell et al., 2016). 83% agreed that adolescent pregnancies could be prevented in protected sex. The results suggested that learners are aware of preventive measures for adolescent pregnancies. Sexuality was considered significant in shaping girls’ and boys’ lives. Schools need to accept sexuality as part of education programs necessary for child development. Learners can easily be misled on sexuality by their peers and, therefore, the call for proper guidance on this subject through school sex programs.
New York public schools should educate adolescents on early pregnancy to help them avoid adverse health outcomes associated with abortion. I have a close friend who works in the healthcare center and narrates the health complications they handle in a botched abortion, mostly from young mothers. Individuals are not exempted from significant health challenges that risk their lives even if abortion is carried out by professionals in healthcare settings (Gerdts et al., 2016). He narrated to me about the experience of an adolescent who procured an abortion because she did not want to be a mother at her age. Although the process had no significant complications, the girl suffered abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and prolonged bleeding that required admission. In extreme cases, it can damage the girls’ cervix and internal organs such as uterus making them infertile for the rest of their lives. It also increases the risks of breast cancer in some women and preterm birth for future pregnancies. I strongly consider schools roles in preventing the need for abortion because of my cousin’s experience. She became pregnant at sixteen years and because she feared her parents’ reactions to the news, she opted for unsafe abortion. Unfortunately, it was not successful, and we live to tell her sad story. She passed away. I do not know how many adolescents go through this path, but it is nasty and needs to be prevented. This demonstrates the roles that public schools play in promoting health and wellness for adolescents by reducing their risks of getting unwanted pregnancies and abortion.
Public schools in New York should have sex education for adolescents because early pregnancies and abortion affects individuals’ psychological health and hinders their education outcomes. The two issues are directly associated with decreased physical and emotional health. The impacts may be long term ending for years, while others can be short term depending on individuals. A common experience associated with unwanted pregnancies and abortion is post-traumatic stress disorder (Gerdts et al., 2016). It stirs feelings of guilt, severe depression, abortion flashbacks, and sexual dysfunction in the future. The girls may develop postpartum depression after delivery or after abortion associated with suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, and anxiety and relationship problems. In the YouTube video, Teen Pregnancy in America, Hanna is disturbed by her pregnancy and cries while consoling herself that all will be fine (ABC News, n.d). She is an example of adolescents going through pregnancy and feel that life is not fair. A majority of them need help psychological and not an education. If these adolescents are re-admitted to schools, what will be their academic performance? Public schools in New York can prevent these problems since they can affect overall school performance. Rather than burdening the school counselors in handling these problems in adolescents, the schools can take the initiative of preventing pregnancy through education programs.
Opposition
School programs on sexuality are not necessary because every individual has the freedom for childbearing and equality. Gender equality is inseparable from gender equality. If a woman is not allowed to abort, she is denied her freedom of choice and forced by society to continue with pregnancy to birth and support the child for many years unless that child is adopted. Men do not get pregnant and are not subject to the same restriction, which beats the purpose of gender equality. Childbearing limits women’s life opportunities and freedom. It further plunges women to social customers, stereotypes, and oppressive duties that accompany childbearing. Women can only achieve their fundamental moral rights if they are entitled to abort the unwanted fetus. Therefore, education programs on sexuality are not necessary because there could be a way out.
Schools in New York should not educate adolescents on unwanted pregnancies and abortion because women have a right to decide on their bodies. Women have a moral right to control their bodies, and denying them the right to abort unwanted fetuses deprives them of their rights (Ziegler, 2020). As a moral body, a woman has a right to determine what she wants with a fetus since it exists in her body. Therefore, the pregnant adolescent has a right to decide if she will abort a fetus or carry it to terms and deliver. The fact that a fetus is inside the woman’s body suffices the argument that the mother can determine its right.
Safe abortion protects women’s right to health. The right to heal does not offer complete women’s health and includes government to offer healthcare and work towards establishing conditions for the enjoyment of good health (Ziegler, 2020). Abortion is, therefore, is a right to health and needs the government to take necessary measures for protecting women from unsafe abortion. Examples include the elimination of legal restrictions and ensuring adequate access to high-quality abortion services. The Fourth World Conference on Women and the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development calls upon governments to review abortion laws and deal with health pacts of unsafe abortion as a pressing health concern (Ziegler, 2020). This indicates that the international community supports safe abortion as fundamental women’s right.
Rebuttal
The claims that New York schools do not need education program for adolescent pregnancies and abortion are not valid on several grounds. In the case, Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was legal under certain limitations and only during the first trimester. The opponents hold that women have a right to determine the fate of a fetus in their bodies. This argument is not substantial because the fetus is an independent living thing (a person) with independent rights from those of the mother. Besides, safe abortion does not rule out the existence of drastic health impacts associated with unplanned pregnancies and abortion that hinder adolescents’ long-term lifestyle, including their education performance. Most adolescents are plunged into physical pain and depression that hinder their educational performance and, therefore, need interventions from public schools.
Conclusion
Schools in New York have a duty to prevent early pregnancies in adolescents. Education programs on sexuality can equip adolescents with the necessary skills and knowledge for making informed decisions on early pregnancies that can result in abortion. This should be the last resort because it has drastic health impacts on women. The government should engage all stakeholders in the education sector to design better education programs on sex education. These programs should focus on preventing adolescent pregnancies that can result in abortion and the associated health problems.
References
ABC News. (n.d). Teen pregnancy in America. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHennhq1cMg
Erdman, N. J. (2019). The gender injustice of abortion laws. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 27(1): 4-8. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2019.1626181
Gerdts, C, Dobkin, L, Foster, G. D, Schwarz, B. E. (2016). Side effects, physical health consequences, and mortality associated with abortion and birth after an unwanted pregnancy. Science Direct, 26(1): 55-59. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049386715001589
Jatlaoui, C. T, Eckhaus, L, Mandel, G. M, Nguyen, A, Oduyebo, T, Petersen, E & Whiteman, K. M. (2019). Abortion surveillance-United States, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/ss/ss6811a1.htm
Johnson, R. B, Mishra, V, Lavelanet, F. A, Khosla, R & Ganatra, B. (2017). A global database of abortion laws, policies, health standards and guidelines. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/95/7/17-197442/en/
Mathewos, S, Mekuria, A. (2018). Teenage pregnancy and its associated factors among school adolescent of Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health Science, 28(3): 287-298. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6016359/
Maxwell, M. G, Makatu, R, M & Takalani, F. J. (2016). Awareness of prevention of teenage pregnancy amongst secondary school learners in Makhado municipality. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 8(2): 967. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4830330/
Paton, D, Bullivant, S & Soto, J. (2020). The impact of sex education mandates on teenage pregnancy: International evidence. Health Economics, 29(7): 790-807. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hec.4021
Tolentino, J. (2019). How abortion law in New York will change, and how it won’t. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-abortion-law-in-new-york-will-change-and-how-it-wont
UNESCO. (2019). Early and unintended pregnancy: What role for education? Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/news/early-and-unintended-pregnancy-what-role-education
Ziegler, M. (2020). Both sides in the abortion fight now claims to be for women’s equality. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/24/both-sides-abortion-fight-now-claim-be-womens-equality/