ABORTION

 What is Abortion? Abortion is the early ending of a pregnancy. Sometimes abortion happens on it own.

 This is called miscarriage or spontaneous abortion. But women can also choose to end a pregnancy by getting surgery or taking medicine. Abortion can also be define as a deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks.
. Teenage and pregnancy have been a trending news all over the country. Especially here in Nigeria a record has shown that a lady of 13yrs old has a pregnancy.

It has damage the image of young ladies in the world, making situation hard for them.

Instead of them to give birth to the child they found it default because they see it as disgrace in the community, Were by leading them to abortion. 

.  REASON WHY TEENAGE CHOOSE ABORTION

 Teens facing an unplanned pregnancy choose abortion for similar reasons as women in their twenties and thirties. Teens ask the same questions: Do I want this baby? Can I afford to raise a child? How will this impact my life? Am I ready to be a mother? Coming to a Decision A teen considering abortion is influenced by where she lives, her religious beliefs, her relationship with her parents, access to family planning services, and the behavior of her peer group. Her educational level and socioeconomic status also play a role.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, the reasons teens most often give for having an abortion are:

 * Not wanting their lives changed by the birth of a baby

 * Not being able to afford a baby

 * Not feeling mature or responsible enough to raise a child. Checking the views from different perspectives The following are the reason behind their decision

. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.

 . CONTINUING EDUCATION OR NOT. 

 . ACCESS TO ABORTION PROVIDERS. 

 . TEEN PREGNANCY BEFORE LEGALIZED ABORTION. . LINGERING SHAME. 

.MEDIA DEPICTION OF TEEN PREGNANCY AND ABORTION.

 . 
CHILDREN OF TEEN MOTHERS. 

*PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT Whether or not a teen opts for an abortion often hinges on a parent's knowledge and/or participation in the decision-making. All most all countries in the world require some form of parental permission or notification for a minor to obtain an abortion.
For teens whose parents are unaware that their daughter is sexually active, this is an additional obstacle that makes a difficult decision even more stressful. The majority of teen abortions involve a parent in some way; 60% of minors who have abortions do so with the knowledge of at least one parent, and a large majority of parents support their daughter's choice.

*CONTINUING EDUCATION...OR NOT The teen who worries that having a baby will change her life sees the writing on the wall.
 Most teen mothers lives are negatively impacted by the birth of a baby; their educational plans are interrupted, which subsequently limits their future earning potential and puts them at greater risk of raising their child in poverty.
 In comparison, teens who choose abortion are more successful in school and are more likely to graduate and pursue higher education; they typically come from a higher socioeconomic family background than those who give birth and become teen mothers. Even when socioeconomic factors are taken into consideration, pregnant teens are at a huge educational disadvantage.
 Teen mothers are significantly less likely to complete high school than their peers; only 40% of young women who give birth before age 18 earn a high school diploma as compared to other young women from similar socioeconomic situations who delay childbearing until age 20 or 21.
 In the long run, the prospects are even grimmer. Less than 2% of teen mothers who give birth before age 18 go on to earn a college degree by the time they turn 30.

 *ACCESS TO ABORTION PROVIDERS 'Choice' is not a choice when there's little or no access to abortion.
 For many teens in African region obtaining an abortion involves driving out of town and even sometimes out of state.
Limited access shuts the door on abortion for those without transportation or resources.
 Even when physical access is not an issue, the parental consent/parental notification laws which exist in 34 states in effect limit access for an underage teen unwilling to discuss the decision with a parent.

*TEEN PREGNANCY BEFORE LEGALIZED ABORTION The fear and hesitancy teens express at the thought of discussing pregnancy with their parents is deeply rooted in our culture.

Past generations regarded teen pregnancy as something deeply shameful.
 Prior to the legalization of abortion, a pregnant girl or young woman was often sent by her family to a home for unwed mothers, a practice that began in the early 20th century and remained until the 1970s.
To maintain the secret, friends, and acquaintances were told that the girl in question was 'staying with a relative.'
Teens who were afraid to tell their parents they were pregnant often grew desperate to end their pregnancies.
Some attempted self-induced abortions with herbs or toxic substances or sharp implements; others sought out illegal 'back alley' abortionists who were rarely medical professionals. Many girls and young women died as a result of these unsafe abortion methods.

 *LINGERING SHAME With the legalization of abortion with the Roe v. Wade decision in 1972, safe and legal medical means became available to most of the population, and the procedure could be done discreetly and quietly.
 Although the shame of teen pregnancy lingered, abortion was a way for a teen or young woman to hide her sexual activity and pregnancy from her parents.
High school-aged girls who 'kept their babies' were the subject of gossip and pity among students and parents.

*MEDIA DEPICTIONS OF TEEN PREGNANCY AND ABORTION Today, those views seem strange and outdated to the many teens who choose to become teen mothers. Mainstream media has come a long way in normalizing the idea of teen pregnancy .

Much rarer are depictions of teens choosing abortion -- a taboo subject in the eyes of Nollywood. Because teen pregnancy has become almost commonplace in many high schools, the pressure to 'keep it a secrete ' no longer exists as it did in past generations.
More and more teens are choosing to give birth, and a type of reverse pressure now exists, with many teens believing that teen motherhood is a desirable situation.

The very public pregnancies of famous teens such as Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin have added to the glamour of teen pregnancy.
Thus for some teens, the decision to have an abortion may be a choice that is criticized by peers who only see the excitement of being pregnant and having a baby.

 *CHILDREN OF TEEN MOTHERS It takes maturity for a teen to realize she's not mature enough to give birth and make a lifelong commitment to a child.
 Teens who choose abortion because they recognize their own immaturity and inability to care for a baby are making a responsible decision; it may not be one that everyone agrees with, but it also cuts short a cycle that is on the rise in Africa - children giving birth to children.
More and more studies indicate that children born to teen mothers begin school with significant disadvantages in learning, do poorer in school and on standardized tests, and are much more likely to drop out of school than the children of women who've delayed childbearing until they reach their twenties.
Abortion remains a controversial topic, and a pregnant teen considering abortion often finds herself in the proverbial situation of being between a rock and a hard place. But when finances, life circumstances and rocky personal relationships prevent a teen mother from being able to raise her child in a loving, safe, and stable environment, terminating a pregnancy may be her only viable choice.

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