More Time Spent On Internet Might Have Decreased Pregnancy Rate In Teen

Teen pregnancy rate drops to one third from 2009 to 2013 at Baltimore in Maryland, announces Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Rawlings-Blake said that they targeted to reduce teen pregnancies because the city had some of the highest rates in the country, and teen are unable to reach their full potential when they become mothers.

The mayor said that they want their young girls to have dreams and aspirations and choose their dreams for themselves. The mayor and the city officials said that the teen girls who became pregnant give up schooling and suffer unemployment and poverty.

Health officials said that they had organised educational campaigns and peer counselling to encourage young girls to think about their future. Birth control pills made available to girls also helped in decreasing the teen pregnancies, said The Baltimore Sun.

The overall teen pregnancy rates dropped in the UK than it was in 1960s, since the youngsters started spending time on the Internet than with each other, says The Daily Mail UK. The social stigma of being a teen mom and the girls’ aspiration for higher education and good career are also important reasons for the reduction in teen pregnancies.

A researcher and author on the family, Patricia Morgan, said that teen pregnancy wasn’t reduced only because of the sex education and contraception but also because of the stigma against teen mothers. The Office of National Statistics stated that teen pregnancies decreased with Whitehall sex-education and contraception programmes as well as the desire of majority of the girls to have decent education and job.

Clare Murphy from the British Pregnancy Advisory service warned that most of the teen under-18 conceptions end up in abortions. Professor David Paton from the University of Nottingham Business School said there is a little doubt if the education in the schools as well as the demographic changes influenced less risk-taking mentality among youngsters, including lower rates of alcohol, smoking, drugs and crime.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail: saranya@ibtimes.com.au