Laws of abortion for minors in the United States
Nearly 50% of teenage parents had never told their parents that they were sexually active until they were pregnant or had a significant other that became pregnant. (Planned Parenthood Federation of America) Many teens don’t want to tell their parents or ask for help with sexual issues they’re having an with education systems not properly educating students, many adults and teenagers are unaware of risks and issues that can come up later in life. With funding for planned parenthood going down it is becoming increasingly important to support and educate teenagers and minors in general about abortion and teenage pregnancy. “Everyone is doing it” Is a saying that is heard over and over, and if
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Unwanted pregnancies can cause many issues, such as financial and health problems, as always there is the option of aborting the child. Finding an abortion clinic willing to help however is challenging due to the varying laws of abortion, specifically the difference is laws from state to state. 37 out of 50 United states require parental involvement of some sort, 21 of those 37 states require at least one parent to give consent, 11 of the 37 require that at least one parent is notified, 5 of the 37 states require both parents to be notified and at least one to give consent, 1 of those 5 require that both parents to give consent. Of the remaining 18 states, 8 require a doctor's permission and 10 use the “clear and convincing reasoning” rule. According to the GuttMacher institute (2015 statistic) With this many laws in place and endless exceptions to them by the time you get approved to have an abortion it may be too late to have a legal …show more content…
One of a few reasons that having a choice can cause issues is the age of consent, the age of consent varies from state to state, many schools and places of education don’t offer education on sexual health and ages of consent, which leaves the decision up to the teenager. Leaving the decision up to the mother of the baby can cause problems- if an individual has decided to be sexually active that should mean that they have come to terms with potential consequences such as potential pregnancy and std’s, but since many teenagers are uneducated they don’t know exactly what could happen, Say a teenage girl was not educated but still made the decision to be sexually active and is now paying the consequences, she’s pregnant and has very little background education on what can happen if she keeps of if she aborts the baby. If she decides to keep the baby she may not have the ability support the baby financially. Planned parenthood centers offer help, but if abortions become obsolete then planned parenthood centers will become few and far between- making it harder to get help many people need and increasing the frequency of unsafe abortions. Especially in the case of minors looking for abortions, in states that do not require parental consent or parental notification of the abortion the individual may not tell their guardian which may result in financial problems and unsafe
The topic covered in this research paper is abortion. This paper looks into the history of abortion, the pro-life view of abortion and the pro-choice view of abortion. Under history of abortion the information included is the time line of significant events of abortion such as becoming legal, also different ways in ancient times women would try to use abortions. The upgrading of technology making abortion safer and even if abortion was illegal women would still find a way to abort a baby are also covered under the history of abortion. Under pro-life choice for abortion looks into abortion murder, the rights of human and the rights of the unborn and that a women doesn't have a right to terminate her own fetus. Under pro- choice
There are many other options than to resort to abortion. Adoption, the use preemptive birth control, like condoms, pills, I.U.D.’s, and spermicides.
The topic of aborting an innocent fetus has been overwhelmingly controversial in the United States. The two sides to this ongoing debate is pro-life advocates and pro-choice advocates. Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside the uterus; whether it is an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. Abortions are most often performed during the first twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy and can be performed as a medical or surgical procedure. Medical abortions include two types of abortion pills; while the surgical procedures include vacuum aspiration and dilation and evacuation. Ultimately, I am one of the many “pro-lifers”, and I strongly agree that abortion should be illegal because it negatively affects our people. Women across the nation are becoming impregnated and following a short amount of judgement time, turn to abortion to solve their problems but in the end hurt themselves with this decision. Abortions should be illegal because it is immoral and unconstitutional, causes severe mental and physical issues, and negatively impacts the economy. “During the ancient Roman times it has been supposed that abortion and the destruction of unwanted children was permissible, but as our civilization has aged, it seems that such acts were no longer acceptable by rational human beings, so that in 1948, Canada along with most other nations in the world signed a declaration of the United Nations promising every human being the right to life”
Over 99% of pregnancies result in both partners willingly participating in sexual relations. “All who are genuinely committed to the advancement of women can and must offer women who are pregnant, frightened, and alone a better alternative than the destruction of her own unborn child”. From 1973 to 2003, there was over 39 million documented American lives that have been ended due to abortion. If the mother's life is not in danger then abortion should not be an option. Being able to carry a child is a natural condition, there are some inconveniences but most are socially active, capable of working, traveling, and exercising almost to the day the baby is born. There are alternatives like adoption and childcare, but you should be smart and take responsibility for what you did. This information is important because it tells you about alternatives and that having a child is
Did you know 80% of women abort their kid if they have down syndrome? Abortion is where they end the baby’s life well it is still in the womb. Abortion has been an issue since the 1960’s and continues to grow today. About 1/4 of pregnancies end in abortion and 1/3 of americans before the age of 45 have gotten an abortion. ( (Guttmacher.) Abortion should be illegal considering the reasons for it, ethics and medical effects.
It is time for the other options to be important. Reducing the need for abortion can be very simple, stop having unprotected sex and stop being careless. All women who are sexually active and do not want children need to be on birth control, they need to know about the morning after pill, and be educated in family planning services; these pans can cut out the option of abortion. Giving a baby to a family that wants one instead of taking innocent lives out of this world. An unborn baby has the right to live and to have the proper care of a wanted baby. It is not the baby’s fault that the mother does not want it. Abortion should not be the first option women think of as a contraception; contraception is too late in this case. Abortion is an awful alternative and this alternative should be a mothers last plan. Adoption is the best alternative. There are so many advantages in adoption rather than abortion. When a woman proceeds to have an abortion, the prices can range very high, the average price for an abortion is $2000, plus additional charges (qtd. American Adoptions). Adoption is free and blesses many families who are unable to have children. There are so many families who are on a waiting list from an adoption agency who are hoping
Not all minors are in a safe situation to obtain parental consent. When some teenage girls get pregnant they have to fear that they are going to be kicked out of their homes or even abused. Not all parents are understanding. Some may not approve of the abortion, but still kick their daughters out of the house. The girls are then left not only pregnant but trying to survive on their own. Other teenages have parents that are not around or can’t waste their time to give consent. Some minors would be safer or better off getting an abortion without parental consent.
One of the main reasons for high rates of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is the continuation of ineffective abstinence based education (Bell, 2009) and not allowing teenagers to make abortion related decisions. In the U.S. Eighty two percent of the teenage pregnancy is unintended and 37 % of total unintended pregnancies result in abortion. Teenagers choose to abort babies because of shame, staying focused on career, unstable financial status to support babies and not getting emotional and economic support from parents. Twenty two percent of pregnant teenagers choose not to tell their parents (ACLU, 2001).
24 percent of women having abortions are unmarried teenagers. Pregnancy can be a scary and extremely stressful time in a women?s life. To force a woman who is not ready for a child to go through with the birth is not the answer. Stress is not good for the fetus at all, and could lead to complications in the pregnancy, or even a miscarriage. People also seem to forget about a women?s mental health in these situations. A woman could be haunted for her lifetime of giving birth to an unborn child.
In the article “Abstinence Is the Best Policy in Preventing Teen Pregnancy” posted on the Opposing Viewpoints database, it is argued that teenagers are incapable of assessing and considering the risk of premarital sex and comprehension of the challenges in facing an unwanted pregnancy. The article goes on to say that while they are maturing, teens are drawn more to risky behavior including sexual behavior, and “as those choices get more risky […] guidance and limits from parents that are reinforced by peers, teachers, and other authority figures are critically important”. This article also challenges the results of sex education by stating that it is merely educational and shown to inform rather than change teens
Sex education in the United States is not very comprehensive and none regulated, which means that many American teenagers are without the proper information to make informed decisions about sex and sexual health. Many schools offer just abstinence only education and are unable to explain safe sex procedures, putting children at risk for unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. With the average age of intercourse at fifteen years old (Buehler 2014) and many parents uncomfortable with discussing the topic with their children, it is up to sex education classes in school to properly inform teenagers about their bodies and sex. Then when these teenagers are parents themselves, they will be better prepared to talk to their own children and this will hopefully help the American general public before more informed and more likely to have safe sex.
In 2011-2013 more than 80% of adolescents aged 15-19 had received formal information about sexual education. In the present sexual education is rarely taught today, unless you live in a suburban area. The more informed young adults are about sex at an early age the more it will refrain from a responsibility young adults are not ready for Sexual education classes usually start from grades 5th to 8th, sometimes earlier and young adults will live a more protected life. Thirteen states require discussion of sexual orientation in sex education classes. Nine of these states require inclusive discussion of sexual orientation, and the remaining four require that classes provide only negative information about sexual orientation(Guttmacher Institute, Sex and STD/HIV education, State Policies in Brief, October 2011). It is common for parents not to talk about sex to their children and children do not take the initiative to ask. The history behind young adults that gets pregnant still in high school is that they usually won’t finish school or has a difficult time living in a stable place. Only 40% of teen mothers graduate, and fewer than 2% graduate college before age 30. Sexual
No matter what kind of sex education provided, teenage pregnancy remains an uneasy issue in our country. “The United States continues to have one of the highest teen
Over the years, teenagers have been pushed to partake in adult behavior due to the sexual nature of the American culture, which is exacerbated by social media, television, and movies. In the media safe sex is not portarted. To combat this, sex education is taught in schools with the goal of teaching students accurate information about the sexual anatomy and activity, how to have safe sex, in addition to teaching all of the options teenagers have if they get pregnant without the input of religious or political views. However, some parents opposed sex education because they believe it promotes sexual activity. In reality, young adults will take part in sexual behavior despite their parents wishes; it is sex education that pushes teenagers to take safety precautions. Also, some parent’s religious views lead them to want to protect their child or children from “socially unacceptable” behavior such as having an abortion. Abortions is an option for women if they get pregnant and determine they can not have the child. There is a stigma around abortions that they are morally wrong, which has manifested through politics. It has separated the country into two sides, pro-choice and pro-life. The pro-choice party believes women should have the freedom to choose if they want an abortion. On the other hand, the pro-life party believes life begins at conception, therefore abortion is killing and should not occur. Although abortions are highly controversial, teenagers should be able to
"Teen pregnancy in the United States: In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years old, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another record for U.S. teens and a drop of 8% from 2014. Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist (cdc.gov)." As teenagers (in the United States), we are peer pressured or tempted to try new things. Some teens tend to try out drugs, and alcohol. However, some are having unprotected sex in which, is leads to having babies. This is called, teenage pregnancy. This has caused the United States to create records based off of the statistics and facts given from, researchers across the United States. In order to help prevent teenage pregnancy in the United States, teenagers must understand why, having a baby now isn’t such a smart move on their part.