According to the
website, Poverty USA, there is “1 out 6 Americans live in poverty in the United
States, 1 out of 7 American households were food insecure last year [2013]”
(1). Poverty USA also mentions “46.2
million Americans lived in poverty last year” (1). The United States is no
longer a country with opportunities to the people living in it. It is no
surprise that there is a coincidence between poverty and unwanted pregnancy.
First of all there is
an increase in teenage pregnancy, age range 15 to 19 year olds, by 6% in the
past 2 years (2). Most of the cases are among teenagers who live in poverty.
These girls have a low level of education and therefore are not exposed to
proper sex education. Being in low level schools where attendance and academic
standards are low and where they do not receive the proper education in academics
subjects such as, Science, Mathematics, English and Reading, they are likely to
not be receiving sexual education. Being in a low income home, teenagers are
prone to skip school and wonder off all day rather than trying to learn
something that will change the course of their life. These teenage moms are
becoming more and more accepted by society rather than trying to prevent it.
Society assumes, because they have a low level of education they it is
acceptable for children to raise babies.
There are many options
given to a woman who is pregnant. One option can be keeping and raising the
baby. Another option is abortion if the child is not wanted. Third option is
adoption. Whatever option a woman may choose, there are reason backing up her
decision. It is however, very likely, who is living with a low income, and
cannot afford many things herself to opt for one of the options mentioned. One
must not judge the reasons behind the choices she makes because only she knows
what is going on and the life she wants and is able to offer that child.
A pregnant woman’s
visit to her OBGYN costs a minimum of $120 or more. A woman without insurance
coverage may end up paying more. Most women will visit their gynecologist once
a year which would be a total of $120 or more just once a year. A pregnant
woman is asked to visit their gynecologist at least once a month to see the
progress of the baby. Not only does the visit cost $120 or more but that visit
is multiplied by nine, if she is required to visit the gynecologist once a
month, for a total minimum cost of $1,080. This of course does not included the
expenses paid at delivery and during the
stay at the hospital. It also does not include any medication the mother may
decide to take while in delivery. This expense does not include the
prescriptions given to pregnant women of vitamins and supplements they take during
pregnancy.
Another facts that
poverty has on pregnant women is malnutrition. During pregnancy women are
required or encouraged to take care of themselves more than they would. This is
because a baby will take up a lot of the woman’s energy and resources. A woman
is encouraged to eat nutritious food and to have a stress free life so that the
baby is born strong a healthy. A woman who is living in poverty may not be able
to follow a doctor’s orders. If they cannot afford nutritious food they will
eat anything they can afford. Most of the less expensive foods a person can eat
are usually not nutritious for a person, nonetheless for an embryo.
When a woman with a low
income level goes through pregnancy she deals with more stress than she
normally would. She has multiple expenses that she has to pay while pregnant
and may have to leave her job temporarily as the pregnancy advances. If she
cannot work, she will not have money to have a proper nutrition and proper
medical attention. Also, the expense does not end when the child is born. The
expense continues when the mother wants to go back to work after pregnancy and
she has to pay someone or someplace to take care of her child so she can go to
work. pregnancy and poverty can be a difficult situation for someone who does
not know how they will be providing to themselves.
Work
Cited
(1) Poverty in the USA.
www.povertyUSA.org
(2) Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. About Teen
Pregnancy. http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/aboutteenpreg.htm
I think your post did a good on explaining the hardships that pregnant women endure financially. I believe people with even a steady income are usually surprised with how much it costs to have a baby. There are doctor appointments, basic needs of the baby, and care of the baby. Women who have low income have a difficult time with possibly paying for the doctor appointments. As you mentioned above, there is a fee required even after they had the baby. Not only does it hurt them financially, they may become more prone to stress because of everything that is going on. That isn't good for the mother or the baby. Overall, I like the way you explained the different outcome of being pregnant and living in poverty. -Erika Smith
ReplyDeleteI do not think that it should be seen as acceptable for these teens to go out and get pregnant, whether they have the intentions or not. The media glorifies teenage pregnancy too much making it look nice and sweet when it is the media portraying it and not real life. I am not blaming them in anyway I think that it could be better prevented. We cannot just blame it on low-income families that are unable to provide better education. I think regardless of the quality of school sex education should be important in the health curriculum to teach teens the qualities of safe sex if they should so choose. Also I think it is important for parents to play a role in educating their children about sex. It should not solely fall on the shoulders of the education system.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. There are just as many options to those of low income that become pregnant. It may not be ideal but there are places and organizations that are willing to help teen mothers make any decision that she might need to base on keeping it as well as receiving medical treatment. There are state based insurances that are there to help mothers that have babies or people even teens who become pregnant if they do not have insurance or the money to afford the expenses. It might still require co-pay but it would help stipend the amount that someone from a low-income family has to pay. I do believe it could be harder on someone who is a teen and living in a low income family because there is not all the resources you have to provide or to even house, such as a nursery, but there are options for these girls if they become pregnant. But we need to try and educate the teens more and make it less occurring.
Blogger response by Krista Woldeit,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a very good job explaining and elaborating on the costs associated with pregnancy. I also agree that the media glorifies teenage pregnancy and makes it more acceptable to get pregnant at a young age. I like the point that you made that schools in lower income cities/neighborhoods probably have less overall education on pregnancy but I think a crucial aspect of teenage pregnancy is having a good family structure where the parents can talk to their teens about pregnancy. It is important that schools provide education on pregnancy but I believe it is even more important that the parents have a strong influence on their children's and discuss important issues like pregnancy and their consequences. Even though there are programs and clinics that can help a pregnant teen, teenagers should be more aware of how difficult it is to raise a child and how much stress it places on not only on the pregnant teen but their entire family as well.