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Hood 1
Kortnie Hood
Mrs.Pace
ENGL 1301
11 December 2022
Stress during Teen Pregnancy shouldn't be Put to the Back Burner.
Any mother is familiar with the phrase stress is bad for the baby, which is more true than
you could know. Teen mothers are all too familiar with the stress a pregnancy causes but these
young women have extra stress piled on top. Whether it's from their peers talking down or about
them or their family’s disappointment in them, it all puts their mental health down. This leads to
more anxiety, sadness, and overall a stressful pregnancy.
Stress plays a big part in the health of the baby. The writers of March Of Dimes writes
“Serious or long-lasting stress may affect your immune system… This can increase the chances
of getting an infection of the uterus.” The effects of stress on the baby included a greater chance
of the baby being premature and/or an underweight. An underweight baby could have trouble
breathing, eating, have brain bleeds, and more. Brain bleeds could heal themselves but in some
cases it has to be fixed by surgery. A premature baby could have to stay in the NICU, or
Neonatal intensive care unit. This is because the baby could drop temperature rapidly from the
lack of body fat, and many other problems. There are other health problems that are longer
lasting with having a premature baby including breathing problems, hearing problems and they
are at a greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.
The school system is a big part of why students look down on their pregnant classmates.
Every high school student has to take a class called Sex Ed. This class is supposed to teach kids
about the reproduction process, but it has turned into teaching kids that teen pregnancy is
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something to be ashamed of, and these young mothers are the scum of the earth. This leads to
these young, naive brains to look down upon teen pregnant women. The writers of Stanford
Medicine in the article called Understanding the Teen Brain says “The rational part of a teen’s
brain isn't fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so.” This leads teens to think more
emotionally and when presented with the idea of teen pregnancy is something to be ashamed of.
They think of it as they should shame the soon to be mothers. They don't think of the long term
consequences of their words. Sex ed needs to be tought differntly if any of these belifes will
change. Instead of focusing on teen pregnancy, teach about the reproductive system. Teach how
to protect themselves and if they are sexually active what to look out for when thinking they
have a STD. Students should learn about the risk of having sex, they shouldn’t learn that sex is
something to be ashamed of, but something to careful of, and to think carefully before deciding
to ingage in sex. Instead of showing how pregnant teens are shamed, show the difficulties they
go through. Teach the struggles of being a single parent, working two full time jobs to make sure
they can provide for their little family. Kids shouldn't be taught to hate someone just because of
the situation they are in.
Parents are always shocked when their child comes to them and says they're pregnant.
They don't know how to act and usually react negatively. Some parents take this to the extreme
though. Rebecca Lanning says “ I felt condemned by them” talking about her parents. She felt as
if her parents were driving her away. The wedge that was driven in between her and her parents
made her depressed and anxiety rise. These two mental health illnesses cause stress to rise
dramatically, furthermore putting the baby at risk. A pregnant woman needs to rest as much as
possible, but when they have depression, or anxiety it makes it hard to sleep. Their anxiety has
them up, thinking of all of the fears of the future. It plays scenarios in their head that will
Hood 3
probably never happen. Depression brings back the sadness of when their family tried to push
them away, this leads to nights crying instead of sleeping. There should be some kind of resource
for the mothers to call for help with their parents. There should be support groups for parents that
can't wrap their heads around the fact that their baby is having a baby. There could be someone
to calm the parents down, and give the mothers a place to stay if the discussion doesn't go well.
When the pregnancy is brought to the public, the mother is bombarded with advice, both
negative and positive. Family assumes that they'll keep it, friends assume they're giving it up for
adoption, and the mother is so overwhelmed she has no clue what is going to happen. Allison
Crews writes “It was assumed my son would be given up for adoption, just a few weeks earlier it
had been assumed he would be aborted. I am not sure who made this decision. But it was not
me.” She goes on to say that there was a family lined up to take her son, up to the day he was
born. The adoption agency who was on her case told her that it doesn't matter what she wants,
she's giving up her baby. She did get to keep her baby though. The morning he was born she told
the nurse she wanted her son, and that she wasn't giving up her baby. Teen mothers need people
to listen to what they want. The case workers need to be better trained in teen pregnant mothers.
They should be trained in how to handle the parents and the teens, and how to see if what the
parents are actually saying is what the pregnant girl wants. Having case workers who specialize
in teen parents would be a great addition. Classes, observation, tests are all good resources to use
to make sure this case workers are ready to help these teen mothers.
The stress of being pregnant is enough at itself, but adding in the constand judgment, and
opinions of others the stress gets harmful to the baby. Parents can sometimes make this even
worse. To help these mothers through the stress these mothers need people who know them, and
know the signs of a decision that they don't want to happen, happening. These young women
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deserve to have a peaceful pregnecy, and how to acheve that is with a new sex ed curriculum, a
group home for teen mothers to shelter them from their families, and case workers that speciales
in teen pregnant mothers.

Hood 5
Work Cited
Crews, Allison. "When I Was Garbage." Teen Pregnancy,
edited by Myra H. Immell, Greenhaven Press, 2001.
link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010085212/OVIC?u=txshracd2628&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=06f7
57d8. Accessed 4 Dec. 2022. Originally published in Girl-Mom.
Lanning, Rebecca. "Adoption Is an Option for Pregnant Teenagers." Teenage Pregnancy,
edited by Auriana Ojeda, Greenhaven Press, 2003.
link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010165247/OVIC?u=txshracd2628&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=9ddf691a.
Accessed 4 Dec. 2022.
“Stress and Pregnancy.” March of Dimes,
www.marchofdimes.org/find-support/topics/pregnancy/stress-and-pregnancy
“Understanding the Teen Brain.” Stanford Medicine Children’s Health,
www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=understanding-the-teen-brain-1-3051.
“Premature Birth.” Mayo Clinic, 14 Apr. 2021,
www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/premature-birth/symptoms-causes/syc-20376730
“Low Birthweight.” March of Dimes,
www.marchofdimes.org/find-support/topics/birth/low-birthweight. Accessed 10 Dec. 2022.

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Hood 1

Stress during Teen Pregnancy shouldn't be Put to the Back Burner.

more anxiety, sadness, and overall a stressful pregnancy.

are at a greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.

the situation they are in.

in teen pregnant mothers.

Crews, Allison. "When I Was Garbage." Teen Pregnancy,

edited by Myra H. Immell, Greenhaven Press, 2001.

57d8. Accessed 4 Dec. 2022. Originally published in Girl-Mom.

Lanning, Rebecca. "Adoption Is an Option for Pregnant Teenagers." Teenage Pregnancy,

edited by Auriana Ojeda, Greenhaven Press, 2003.

Accessed 4 Dec. 2022.

“Stress and Pregnancy.” March of Dimes,

Accessed 10 Dec. 2022.

“Understanding the Teen Brain.” Stanford Medicine Children’s Health,

Accessed 10 Dec. 2022.

“Premature Birth.” Mayo Clinic, 14 Apr. 2021,

“Low Birthweight.” March of Dimes,

www.marchofdimes.org/find-support/topics/birth/low-birthweight. Accessed 10 Dec. 2022.

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