Underage pregnancy in the UK

[lee1287]

Right, serious question, why is the rate of pregnancy so high with Teenagers in the UK?

Why does the UK have such a high rate? 51 out of 1000 in the highest parts of britain.

Why? It baffles me how people can have sex without a condom, becoming a dad would scare the hell out of me, why doesnt it for these people?

What do you think is the reason for such high rates in he UK, or for that matter, any country?

Sorry if it's a silly thread but i'm just curiouss

 

[lee1287]

No win for you.

 

[angel34]

Where I live, which is in a nice area, people as young as 12 are having sex. It has become normal for someone young to become pregnant.

 

[UberMore]

Cos the kids of today sure do like to bang.
And people assume that the Pill (if they even do use contraception) is a 100% safety net.

Also, booze. It's cheap here in England, and an average weekend (and some weekdays) comprises of getting hammered.

 

[lee1287]

why are they doing it? When i was 12 i was into pokemon and yu-gi-oh, not poking her. (harharharr)

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I know several girls around my age who are/have been/were pregnant.

Here are the reasons I know of:

On the pill but took drugs (drugs stop the effect of womens contraceptives)
They wanted a child.
They just didn't use a condom for whatever reason.
Didn't use a condom because they were dunk.
Boyfriend dun goofd and put the condom on wrong.
'Rape' (it sounds harsh but no one believed her).
Chavs sleeping around and not bothering with a condom because 'it's the womans responsibility'.
Lady chavs sleeping around claiming 'it's the mans responsibility'.

 

[SonicWaffle]

I don't know, I live in Hampshire, which has the highest rate in the UK, and I've known lots of teenage mums, although a lot get abortions. I can't think of a good reason, it's not like we don't get educated or anything, and we get free condoms and Pills. It's odd...

Hampshire contains such cities as Southampton and the festering hell-hole that is Portsmouth. It's not particularly surprising that we have problems like a high rate of teen mothers.

I'm going to go with alcohol.

I'd have gone with Gary Glitter.

 

[Zanaxal]

Kids are stupid and parents don't care to put any boundries, because boundries isn't what carebear parents think as nice. Nuff said.

Getting the same problem over here aswell slowly. Parents just dont seem to care and give kids money for their drug habit = WTF?

 

[Erana]

Why? It baffles me how people can have sex without a condom, becoming a dad would scare the hell out of me, why doesnt it for these people?

You have enough dignity to go, "Hey, I fathered a child. I'm going to be this child's father now."
There are a lot of little ner-do-wells what go, "Hey, I fathered a child. Who gives a damn? I don't like condoms anyway. Bye, mother of my child!"

There are a lot of men who get off too easy when it comes to child support 'n such. My father fought for partial custody so he'd have to pay significantly less in child support, then made being with him too dangerous for us to be with him. And, of course, any attempts made to change this were met with him going, "She keeps the children from me! SHE'S at fault here!" Men don't have to tote around the child for months. They can just up and leave before there's any noticable trace of the pregnancy. And then men are less biologically and socially programmed to nurture than women.
Am I a bit bitter? admittedly, yes, but I have the utmost respect for good fathers, especially those who will stick it through the toughest of what parenting can offer. I know someone who became a daddy at 17. He's intelligent, but wasn't that smart as a kid, if you know what I mean. Still, he's becoming a good man, so I have an appreciation for who he's become.

And I just ranted way off topic, didn't I? Sorry 'bout that...

 

[Wutaiflea]

As a former inhabitant of the Isle of Wight, which had for a long time had the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the UK, I can say I'm one of the few people from my class at high school that doesn't have at least one child, and that most of them had a child in their teens.

I think that firstly, there was a lot of boredom involved. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, and what little there was was shut during the winter- there was nothing to do but get drunk, get high and have sex.

Also, while it was unfortunate that the gender spread of the local population meant that there were more guys aged 20-40 than there were women, a lot of the men that chose to go on the pull at the bus stops outside high schools were extremely irresponsible.
Most of the older boyfriends that my peers had were interested in sex and little else, and would let my friends "fall in love with them" without having any respect for their feelings.
Also, the amount of stories you'd hear along the lines of "my 37 year old boyfriend says condoms ruin sex" was unbelievable.
(This is not a slur on men in general- this is literally what I experienced at the time, in this particular part of the world)

I do think though, that the other main factor is the change in attitude. As my mum, who is in her late 60s, always said, when she was a teenager, most of her friends got pregnant in their teens- they just had to get married as a result.
Back in the 50s, getting married seemed to wash away a lot of the societal pressure on young parents. Divorce was also less accepted, so these teenage marriages ended up lasting until today, where more pensioners are getting divorced than ever before.

Rates of teenage pregnancy really haven't changed that much. Its more a shift in how its perceived.

 

[wammnebu]

You know i was wondering this while watching the first few seasons of the new doctor who. The amount of shotgun weddings and "happy accidents" was rather staggering.

 

[Hosker]

I only consider someone to be under-age if they are physically too young to be pregnant.

On topic though, because there are a lot of chavetts around?

 

[lee1287]

Why? It baffles me how people can have sex without a condom, becoming a dad would scare the hell out of me, why doesnt it for these people?

You have enough dignity to go, "Hey, I fathered a child. I'm going to be this child's father now."
There are a lot of little ner-do-wells what go, "Hey, I fathered a child. Who gives a damn? I don't like condoms anyway. Bye, mother of my child!"

There are a lot of men who get off too easy when it comes to child support 'n such. My father fought for partial custody so he'd have to pay significantly less in child support, then made being with him too dangerous for us to be with him. And, of course, any attempts made to change this were met with him going, "She keeps the children from me! SHE'S at fault here!" Men don't have to tote around the child for months. They can just up and leave before there's any noticable trace of the pregnancy. And then men are less biologically and socially programmed to nurture than women.
Am I a bit bitter? admittedly, yes, but I have the utmost respect for good fathers, especially those who will stick it through the toughest of what parenting can offer. I know someone who became a daddy at 17. He's intelligent, but wasn't that smart as a kid, if you know what I mean. Still, he's becoming a good man, so I have an appreciation for who he's become.

And I just ranted way off topic, didn't I? Sorry 'bout that...

Dont worry about going off topic

How can they not be there for a child? wouldnt there be a inkling in there mind telling them that they should take responsibility and do what's right? People baffle me!

 

[Verlander]

Back in the day, that was the age a lot of people had kids. It's only in the last 100 years or so that we've started having them so late, mainly due to difference in equality in education and the workplace for women.

I had sex for the first time at 14, was regularly getting it at 16, and at 17 a girl fell pregnant due to a faulty condom. She aborted (without telling me) and I've continued to have a high sex drive since. It's a natural thing. I'm now in my mid 20's, and have no intention of having a child, like a lot of childless people my own age (at the moment anyway).

Basically, a lot of people have sex at that age, and some of them end up pregnant, but most don't. I think some young mothers feel that having a child validates them as an adult, and they can get a lot from it, including money, and the opportunity to drop out of school.

 

[Senaro]

Teens are getting pregnant because they're having sex. I thought we were clear that was how this worked.

 

[number2301]

Simple (99%) solution to the problem, all teenage girls get the implant at 13. Job done.

As for why? Well teenagers aren't good at seeing the long term consequences, and it's a very passionate time, sometimes you get carried away. As for why it's bad in the UK specifically, very poor sex education and backwards attitudes towards sex. We need to be more adult and less Christian/"won't somebody think of the children" about it.

I only consider someone to be under-age if they are physically too young to be pregnant.

On topic though, because there are a lot of chavetts around?

Firstly wow. Secondly, physical and mental maturation happen at different rates, particularly now with the level of nutrition we get.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Not enough videogames. It seems Geekdom is the ultimate contraceptive. Or at least is is in my experience.

It's an Issue I'm worried about because I have a younger sister and would hate for something horrible to happen to her.

 

[lee1287]

Back in the day, that was the age a lot of people had kids. It's only in the last 100 years or so that we've started having them so late, mainly due to difference in equality in education and the workplace for women.

I had sex for the first time at 14, was regularly getting it at 16, and at 17 a girl fell pregnant due to a faulty condom. She aborted (without telling me) and I've continued to have a high sex drive since. It's a natural thing. I'm now in my mid 20's, and have no intention of having a child, like a lot of childless people my own age (at the moment anyway).

Basically, a lot of people have sex at that age, and some of them end up pregnant, but most don't. I think some young mothers feel that having a child validates them as an adult, and they can get a lot from it, including money, and the opportunity to drop out of school.

I hear what you're saying, i had sex at 14 and i didnt use a condom, the reason for that was because i was too embarased about buying them (LOL excuse) But i don't think thats a reason these days, and yeah nature intends us to have childrne when we start puberty.

Sex is natural, and i understand young childrne want it for whatrever reason, but with all the sexual education we get, free condoms, contraceptive drugs and help you can get, why do they STILL fall pregnant?