GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY reply a discussion – Description
CharlesThe risk associated with adolescent pregnancy has short- and long-term implications. For example, while embarrassment and overcoming hormonal changes encompass short term risks, the growing fetus’s health, the birthing process, and social, economic challenges may comprise long term challenges. According to Angel Falkner, the lack of maturity, emotional and cognitive changes in adolescents may be a precursor for poor decision making and an increase in at-risk behaviors leading to pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), relationship violence, and substance abuse (Falkner (2018).To mitigate and restore hope to the affected youths, the federal government, states, and other stakeholders have been at the forefront of educating and providing material and financial support to the young mothers. In the US. the estimate associated with teen pregnancy is as high as $28 billion per year or an average of $5,500 for each teen parent (Pregnancy Prevention. (n.d). Hence, the necessity for direct investment in the prevention of early pregnancy and associated risks. For example, In the Fiscal year 2010, the federal government appropriated $100 million in grant funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program to address high teen pregnancy rates, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and associated sexual risk behaviors (Pregnancy Prevention. (n.d.). At the State level, Kentucky supports and funds school and community-based programs such as Kentucky PREP- Personal Responsibility Education Program, which offers a comprehensive sexual health education program that includes abstinence, contraception, reproductive and sexual health. The rate of adolescent pregnancy varies by State. While it is notable that the teenage pregnancy rate has been on the decline, disparities exist within racial/ethnic, geographic, and low socioeconomic communities. Kentucky has the seventh-highest teen birth rate of 24.9 births per 1,000 women. This is a significant decrease from 27.3 in 2018. Kentucky’s urban counties have seen a larger decline in teen pregnancies than in its rural counties (Adolescent health program – Cabinet for health and family services. (n.d.). This is likely because teens in rural areas have little access to health care, including access to contraceptives, are more likely to live in poverty, and have fewer educational opportunities. The disparity in these pregnancy rates is largely explained by the lack of healthcare and education in rural areas
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