The issue of unplanned pregnancy is a societal problem that ultimately reflects the lack of knowledge and consciousness of the general public. While some people are just irresponsible about preventing a pregnancy, others are ignorant, and might also suffer with abuse and violence. Texas should definitely focus on educating the public, instead of constantly allowing abortions. The focus should be on how to either prevent or plan a pregnancy, instead of terminating it.
Women do have a choice, especially when they are educated. The choice, however, should come before the pregnancy with the use of birth control. Education and guidance seem to be the only remedy to this sad reality, and this information needs to be available early in life. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the ages of mothers start as early as ten years old, and father’s as early as twelve! This data is the evidence that Texas should implement a permanent program in schools to deal with unplanned pregnancy, to teach the youth how and why to prevent it, and to truly explain the consequences of their choices. Hopefully, the parents of these students would also get involved, and perhaps this guidance would survive and be practiced outside the classroom.
Governor Perry has implemented the “abstinence only” program to the youth, which has been proven ineffective and unrealistic, since Texas holds the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. When confronted about the effectiveness of the abstinence program by the Texas Tribune interviewer, the governor insisted that this is the best Texas can do to educate its youth.
Although, I highly disagree with Perry’s approach about how to educate Texans about sexuality and healthy family planning, I do see a bright side on the newest sonogram law. Giving a woman a chance to make an informed decision might avoid regrets later on, and might also be a motivator to a healthier and more responsible sexual life. The bill accounts for important exceptions for victims of sexual assault and incest, and, in my opinion, it benefits the relationship between the doctor and the patient. The doctor will now have a chance to fully explain, advice, and support the patient truthfully, instead of ignoring the severity of the situation completely and regarding it as an ordinary procedure.
My problem with the sonogram law is that this is a remedial method to the issue, instead of a preventive one. I believe that corrective methods should only be used when every preventive method has failed. Once again, the only way Texas can reduce its birth rates and avoid the outrageous early pregnancies is to educate the public. Certainly, there are cases when the mother’s life is at risk or some other extreme situation exists, and an abortion might be the only resource available. In such rare cases, an abortion is understandable; however, for most cases it is just inhuman.
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I have read a commentary from my colleague’s blog, Cassia. The post is titled “To Educate, Not Terminate”. She brings up the issue of unplanned pregnancy is the societal problem that reflects the lack of knowledge of the general public. Instead of allowing abortions, Texas should focus on teaching the youth how and why to prevent getting pregnancy, and to truly explain the consequences of it. I always oppose abortions without exceptions because I also think abortion is just inhuman. Therefore, I totally agree with my colleague about this matter.
“According to the Texas Department State Health of Services, the ages of mothers start as early as ten years old, and father’s as early as twelve!” I think it is too early for kids to become parents at these young ages. They even still need to be taken care of. How can they raise a child at their young age? It’s just impossible. This is also the reason why school and also parents should get involved into this matter, since they all have a role to educate/teach their kids how things might happen, how to prevent pregnancy and clearly explain the consequences of doing it. Even so, abortion can’t be the only way to solve this problem. “This data is the evidence that Texas should implement a permanent program in schools to deal with unplanned pregnancy.” Cassie said.
Texas currently has the third-highest teen birth rate in the country. It also led the nation in the amount of government money it spent on abstinence-only education-the primary program to reduce teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases-that was to be presented in schools and other community-based agencies. Unfortunately, this program was ineffective and not working. “According to Cassie, the only way Texas can reduce its birth rates and avoid the outrageous early pregnancies is to educate the public. The focus should be on how to either prevent or plan a pregnancy, instead of terminating it.” I totally agree with her that the education is the only way, since Texas is not doing a really good job on teaching teens how to prevent and minimize the risks if sexual behavior occurs. Even when I was in high school, my school didn’t talk about sexual behaviors, therefore kids don’t know much about it. I also think parents should get involved; they have to teach their kids how to avoid pregnancy. Once it happens, there is no ways to solve the problems other than abortions.
The abortion sonogram bill has passed the Texas House and Senate. This bill allows women to have abortions. Truthfully, I really don’t like any programs that abortions get involved in because I think it’s very cruel to do so. Since this is the only remedy that Texas has, it will be working well that way. At least, this program gives a woman a chance to make her ultimate decision before she has an abortion. During the sonogram, the doctor must describe the fetus; the woman can choose whether she wants to see images from the sonogram or listen to the heartbeat. The woman will have to make her decisions after all, whether keep it or get rid of it. "In such rare cases, an abortion is understandable; however, for most cases it is just inhuman." Cassia said. I agree with her that abortion is just inhuman, but to me, the abortion also shouldn't be done without any exceptions. The action is just like killing an innocent child.
The only best way to the issue is to educate the teens at school. Parents need to look after their kids, tell them to do right things.
MY colleague miss Cassia brings up the issue of the ineffective education and laws used to prevent teen pregnancies. I agree with Cassia that something has to be done and the ways of educating this topic has to change.Even though I do not have any kids, this topic has always attracted my interest because growing up sex was never really talked about by schools nor my parents.Now through the years my experience with my friends I came to realize that you can not really teach someone about safe sex. Teaching safe sex is equivalent to teaching how to play Russian roulette, no matter how safe you are there will always be a chance of something wrong going on. The best way to reduce teen pregnancy and abortion is a higher relationship between parents and children. According to www.psychcentral.com, "Another study by these same authors found that teens who believe that their mothers approve of their using birth control are twice as likely to engage in sex than those who did not believe they had maternal approval. Jaccard and Dittus emphasize that talking about safer sex is not enough; parents must also discuss the social, emotional, familial, and moral outcomes of early intercourse. Here again, however, those teens reporting a good mother-teen relationship were less likely to engage in intercourse during the study period and those who engaged in intercourse were more likely to utilize birth control."
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