Teen Pregnancy Prevention Strategies Public Health

Teen pregnancy and the ability to properly mitigate its occurrence has become a very contentious issue throughout the developed world. According to the CDC, teen pregnancies have seen a slight a light increase over the last fee years. Excluding the COVID-19 years of 2020 and 2021, teen pregnancies where increasing throughout the United States. In 2018 teen birth rates where 16.7 per 1,000 females according to the CDC. This figure increased in 2019 to 17.4 per 1000 females. In 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, teen pregnancies plummeted to roughly 6.1 per 1000. This can be attributed to a much more isolated environment as parents allowed their teens to leverage virtual learning environments. Excluding the anomaly year of 2020, teen pregnancies have continued to rise around the United States. This has become a contentious issue disparity persist along racial and ethnic groups, helping to contribute to a cycle of poverty. In addition, teen pregnancies also create adverse learning and educational environments for children, causing many to not receive many of the benefits their peers with older parents receive. According to the CDC African Americans account for roughly 26.3% of all teen pregnancies. Likewise Hispanics account for 26.7% of teen pregnancies with the United States. These two groups alone account for nearly half of teen pregnancies, which is has rippling effects not only for the parents, but for the children and their respective communities. For example, pregnancy and birth are significant contributors to high school dropout rates among girls. Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma (1). Children of teenage mothers are much more likely to drop of high school, receive substandard grades, become incarcerated, and face limited future job prospects. As a result, it is imperative to address these communities specifically with programs and incentives designed to help prevent teen pregnancies and allow these groups to better flourish in society.

To begin, the primary strategy as it relates to teen pregnancy relies heavily on sexual education courses. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services conducted a teen pregnancy prevention review. In it, they identified sexual education as a primary method of prevention (2). In addition, youth development programs have been shown to significantly enhance teenage outcomes and learning. New York has pioneered programs not only teaching about education and sexuality, but also skills training to enable teens to learn high demand jobs (3).

The secondary strategy involves improvement teen access to youth friendly reproductive services throughout the United States. Improved treatments options as it relates to condoms, birth control and other products helps to prevent teen pregnancy. Here improvement have been made to privacy, confidentiality, and languages. As noted above Hispanics comprise over 25% of teen pregnancies which requires Spanish speaking services to help improve treatment options for teens (4).

Finally, to improve recovery, parents and other trusted adults must be allowed to play a much more comprehensive role. Here, existing parents have the ability to help direct behavior, improve outcomes for those who are pregnant and leverage financial resources to aid in the process (5). These resources can be leverage to help improve outcomes for teens and salvage their future.