Teenage Pregnancy in the United Kingdom

This report discusses the issue of teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom, including its causes, consequences, and the impact of the Teenage Pregnancy Policy. It explores the positive impact and consequences of the policy, social and economic consequences, neglect, and provides recommendations for addressing the problem. The report highlights the need for awareness and education to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy.

Teenage Pregnancy in
the United Kingdom

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................................3
Positive Impact and Consequences..........................................................................................................3
Social and Economic Consequences........................................................................................................4
Neglect....................................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Also known as adolescent pregnancy, teenage pregnancy is when a female under the age
of 20 years becomes pregnant. There are many causes that can lead to pregnancy among
teenagers such as a lack of communication, peer-pressure, forced marriage as well as low levels
of education. The rate of pregnancy among teenagers in the United Kingdom is comparatively
high in relation to other countries. the rate was highest during the years 1960s and 1971.
Majority of teenage pregnancies are not planned and almost half of them end in abortions (Bath
and et.al., 2017). There are many researches which show that teenage pregnancy is associated
with poor outcomes for both young parents as well as their children. Teenage pregnancy is a very
big problem in the UK as this can lead to an increased risk of living in poverty. Teenage
Pregnancy Policy UK is a policy that was launched in the country in the year 1990 to reduce the
conception rate by the year 2010. The policy was needed in the country because the rate of
pregnancy among teenagers was increasing drastically and there was a need to control the same.
The main aim of the policy was to reduce the historically high rate of teenage pregnancy as well
as reduce social exclusion. The essay includes an explanation about the legislation as its impact
on the topic. Apart from this, there is also a description of the different ways in which the policy
has helped service delivery and social care.
MAIN BODY
Positive Impact and Consequences
The overall impact of the Teenage Pregnancy Policy in terms of service delivery as well
as social care has been positive. This is because since the start of the strategy the overall rate of
pregnancy among teenagers under the age of 18 years has been reduced by 51%. The United
Kingdom has a long lifestyle of fairly high numbers of youth conceptions. Although the rates
have shown a slight lower over recent years, this decline has been appreciably decrease than that
observed in other western European countries. There have, but, been a few big adjustments in the
course of this period. First, the proportion of conceptions that end in termination has been rising
steadily and today, the percentage of those teenage conceptions which have come about within
marriage or stable partnership has reduced markedly (Bukasa and et.al., 2018). The children are
now able to talk to not only their parents, but even guardians or counsellors about pregnancy in
their age.

The policy has been highly effective in increasing the overall knowledge of the students
regarding teenage pregnancy and its consequences on the health. It has been observed that
teenagers are now able to speak up with their children about any such problems that they are
going through. This means that the overall communication between the young children as well as
their parents has improved. As a result, there has been a reduction in the rate of pregnancy
among teenagers. The government of the country has been able to deliver better services to the
people, especially the ones who belong to the teenage group. It is critical to become aware of the
precise degree for effective intervention or prevention, and the role and responsibility of
presidency and households (Chase, 2019). There must be a balance between individual rights and
social responsibility, and sensitivity to the processes of man or woman exchange.
Therefore, it can be said that the overall impact of the teenage pregnancy policy on the
delivery of services has been positive. Adolescent pregnancies are a worldwide hassle going on
in excessive-, center, and occasional-earnings international locations. Around the sector,
however, adolescent pregnancies are much more likely to occur in marginalized communities,
commonly driven by means of poverty and absence of schooling and employment opportunities.
Adolescent pregnancies additionally effect social improvement and the country wide financial
system. Such pregnancies are related to a multiplied hazard of miscarriages, abortion and other
destructive results. Although, since the implementation of the policy, there has been a change in
the indicators and this can be attributed up to a significant level to the policy. Therefore, it can be
said that the teenage pregnancy policy has significantly helped the country in reducing the
overall rate of pregnancy among teenagers (Denney and et.al., 2017). There has also been impact
on the mental level of the children as with the help of policy the number of negative impacts on
the society as well as the adolescents has be reduced.
Social and Economic Consequences
There were various social as well as economic consequences for the teenagers when they
deal with pregnancy at a very young age. Girls who become pregnant before 18 years of age
have a high tendency of experiencing violence in their marriage by their partners and as a result,
they have to drop out of the school. Social impacts of the respective policy for the teenage
pregnancy includes changes in the attitude of the parents as well as their teenage children, their
beliefs as well as behaviors. Different policies have key indicators that can be used to measure

the social impact of the policy. It has been observed that the respective policy had various
economic consequences and the United Kingdom has been able to overcome the negative
consequences in an effective manner. Both social care as well as service delivery have been
impacted in a positive manner because the rate of teenage pregnancy has reduced and teenagers
are now comfortable in speaking up with their parents about the topic.
Socially, the policy has been able to remove any barriers that had earlier made it difficult
for the parents and their children to communicate regarding the problem with each other. When
the parents are able to speak with their children regarding the same, any major problems are
identified and can be resolved effectively (Hadley, 2018). The young people should have the
right to control their individual health and the respective policy has helped in achieving the same.
A lot has changed since the policy was implemented in the United Kingdom and it can be said
that the overall impact of the policy has been positive. This is because the overall rate of teenage
pregnancy has reduced. But on the other hand, the government has also ensured that if any of the
teenagers become parents, they are able to get the required support for their children. The
government is committed to providing support to the young parents and ensure that they do not
face any difficulties.
As with powerful techniques to lessen teenage pregnancy, the answer to stepped forward
outcomes for teenage moms, younger fathers and their children, rests with a number offerings
operating together throughout the NHS, Local Authorities and the voluntary area. The key
ingredients of powerful guide are early identity and wishes evaluation in the antenatal duration
and committed, sustained aid from a lead expert – a ‘important buddy’ – coordinating and
drawing in professional offerings as needed. Referral pathways between maternity services and
on-going aid need to be in reality understood and watertight to save you teenage moms and
young fathers slipping thru the gaps among services and lacking the support they want (Johnson,
2018). And critically, all professionals and services need to be proactively welcoming to younger
parents to dispel the apprehensions which deters lots of them from having access to the very
offerings they need.
As charges of teenage pregnancy are inspired by a web of inter-related factors, the
strategy turned into necessarily multi-faceted in its method. As such, it isn't viable to pick out
causative pathways or estimate the relative contributions of every constituent component.

However, we conclude that six key features contributed to the fulfillment: growing an
opportunity for action; growing a proof primarily based method; powerful implementation;
regularly reviewing progress; embedding the approach in wider authorities programmes; and
presenting management at some stage in the programme. The studying stays applicable for the
United Kingdom as England’s teenage start rate remains higher than in different Western
European international locations. It additionally affords crucial classes for governments and
policy makers in other countries in search of to lessen teenage pregnancy fees.
Neglect
Although the policy has impacted the country in a positive manner, there are also some
negative ways in which the policy has impacted the same (Kamp and McSharry, 2018). If
teenage pregnancies are ignored, the problem can increase in the future and can have other
negative influences as well. in context to the United Kingdom, teenage pregnancies are a public
health problem that has to be resolved by adopting various measures. Some of the consequences
of neglecting the problem can include a low birth weight, a high blood pressure along with a
higher rate of mortality. Teenage pregnancy is a problem in the United Kingdom because
teenage mothers are less likely to complete their education also, they have to deal with a lot of
health problems. Early pregnancies amongst youth have primary fitness outcomes for adolescent
moms and their infants. Pregnancy and childbirth headaches are the leading reason of demise
amongst girls elderly 15–19 years globally, with low- and middle-income nations accounting for
ninety nine% of world maternal deaths of girls elderly 15–forty nine years (Whitworth, Cockerill
and Lamb, 2017). Adolescent mothers 10–19 years face higher dangers of eclampsia, puerperal
endometritis and systemic infections than women elderly 20–24 years. Additionally, some three.
9 million risky abortions among women aged 15–19 years arise every year, contributing to
maternal mortality, morbidity and lasting health issues.
Many services of social care can be made available for the young adolescents so that they
receive proper support as required. Counselling is also provided to young people in order to
make sure that there is no problem (Kaphagawani and Kalipeni, 2017). The respective policy
was for 10 years and therefore, since its implementation, there has been a lot of changes in the
key indicators. Therefore, Teenage pregnancy is an trouble of inequality affecting the health,
well-being, and lifestyles chances of young women, younger men, and their youngsters.

Consequently, excessive levels of minor pregnancy are of difficulty to more and more
developing and developed international locations. The UK Labour Government's Teenage
Pregnancy Strategy for England become one of the only a few examples of a nationally led,
regionally carried out proof-primarily based approach, resourced over a long length, with an
related discount of fifty one% in the below18 idea fee (Paton, Bullivant and Soto, 2020).
Therefore, it can be said that there is a need to revise the policy and implement new measures so
as to overcome the situation. As a result, awareness will increase among people and young
children will also feel comfortable in speaking about the issues that they might be going through.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that teenage pregnancy is an important issue
prevailing in the United Kingdom. The government has taken many initiatives in order to bring
down the increasing rates of pregnancy among teenage girls. One of the policies that was
introduced was, Teenage Pregnancy Policy Strategy. The main aim of this policy was to educate
children about the issue as well as the consequences of teenage pregnancy. Over the years, the
policy has significantly helped in bringing down the number of cases of pregnancy among
teenagers. It can be said that if the situation is neglected, it can lead to negative consequences
which can further impact the overall population of the country. The current issue is that although
the policy has many benefits and positive impacts, there are still some areas that need to be
address. Therefore, the respective country is suggested to revise the policy so that various gaps
can be identified. And therefore, various strategies can be developed as well as implemented in
order to resolve the same. It is also recommended that the country promotes awareness about
teenage pregnancy by educating young adults about the same. As a result, the problem can be
over come and improvements can be made to the existing condition. Thus, these are some of the
recommendations that can be made to the respective country to overcome the problem of high
rate of pregnancy among young adults.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Bath, S.C. and et.al., 2017. Thyroglobulin as a functional biomarker of iodine status in a cohort
study of pregnant women in the United Kingdom. Thyroid, 27(3), pp.426-433.
Bukasa, A. and et.al., 2018. Rubella infection in pregnancy and congenital rubella in United
Kingdom, 2003 to 2016. Eurosurveillance, 23(19), pp.17-00381.
Chase, E., 2019. Rethinking the marginalizing discourses around teenage pregnancy. Discourse:
Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 40(4), pp.560-572.
Denney, L. and et.al., 2017. Change the context not the girls: a critical analysis of efforts to
reduce teenage pregnancy in Sierra Leone. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 7(1),
p.11.
Hadley, A., 2018. Teenage pregnancy: strategies for prevention. Obstetrics, Gynaecology &
Reproductive Medicine, 28(4), pp.99-104.
Johnson, S., 2018. Teenage pregnancy—are we doing enough?. Midirs Midwifery Digest, 28(2),
pp.176-183.
Kamp, A. and McSharry, M., 2018. Re/assembling the pregnant and parenting teenager:
Narratives from the field. Peter Lang International Academic Publishers.
Kaphagawani, N.C. and Kalipeni, E., 2017. Sociocultural factors contributing to teenage
pregnancy in Zomba district, Malawi. Global public health, 12(6), pp.694-710.
Paton, D., Bullivant, S. and Soto, J., 2020. The impact of sex education mandates on teenage
pregnancy: International evidence. Health economics, 29(7), pp.790-807.
Whitworth, M., Cockerill, R. and Lamb, H., 2017. Antenatal management of teenage pregnancy.
Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Reproductive Medicine, 27(2), pp.50-56.