Teenage Abortion Essay, Research Paper

Teenage abortion….a much more commonly used word then it used to be in the United States and in Middletown High. Years ago abortion wasn t even an option or something anyone would consider. If a girl became pregnant she would deal with the consequences of her actions, but now there is a way out of having a child. Abortion can be utilized as early as the morning after intercourse and as late as the third trimester of pregnancy. When a abortion is administered, the physicians remove the contents of the uterus. If the girl is in the first trimester (1-12 weeks), it is a fairly simple procedure that can be done in a doctor s office or clinic. The farther along the pregnancy, the longer the procedure and the more complicated it will become. Since teenage abortion has become much more popular, it s become a more interesting topic of conversation. It s so interesting because now some teens aren t as worried about getting pregnant, some feel it s unethical, and some just have no opinion. We are expecting that a very high percentage of teenagers at Middletown High School have had sex before and hopefully use protection. We are also expecting to discover that many teenagers will choose abortion for the simple fact that keeping a baby would completely change their lives. We developed a survey aimed towards teenagers aged 16-18, and of all races. We choose questions that would apply to our topic and help us understand our results. The first question we asked was Have you ever had sex?. This is important because it is a base question and can show us if people who do have sex are more adapt to have a abortion. The second question we asked was Are you sexually active?, this question was asked because many people who have had sex, at least once, don t do it repeatedly and may feel different about abortion. Our third question was Do you use protection?. This question shows how many people who are sexually active actually use protection against getting pregnant such as condoms, birth control pills and the best choice, abstinence. The fourth question on our survey was, If you or your girlfriend were pregnant would you: a)keep it b)put it up for adoption or c)have a abortion. In combination with the first question you can see if people who don t have sex were more likely to want to keep, give away, of abort a baby. Question five, Would you tell anyone if you or your girlfriend were pregnant and the choices you make?. This shows us if people are embarrassed with pregnancy and the choices they would have to make. Next, question six, Do you believe that abortion is ethical?, shows that even though abortion is an option, maybe some people may not agree with it. Question seven, Are you familiar with the abortion process?, shows that many people may want abortions but they have no idea what it is all about. The last question, Do you that teenagers who have kids are accepted in society?, shows that although many may want to keep a baby, or have sex without thinking of the results, do they really feel teenagers are accepted with children.

After we collected one hundred surveys from the students of MHS, we obtained many results. We compared them by using male to female method. Here are our results: MALES: FEMALES:total surveyed: 34 66haven t had sex: 32% 39%have had sex: 68% 61%sexually active: 56% 42%not sexually active: 44% 58%had sex-use protection: 96% 78%had sex-no protection: 4% 22%if pregnant & have had sexkeep it: 52% 53%adoption: 4% 3%abortion: 44% 44%if pregnant & haven t had sexkeep it: 75% 41%adoption: 0% 11%abortion: 25% 48%tell anyone & have had sexyes: 71% 53%no: 32% 35%tell anyone & haven t had sexyes: 68% 25%no: 32% 75%ethical & have had sexyes: 57% 53%no: 33% 30%ethical & haven t had sexyes: 43% 47%no: 73% 53%familiar with abortion & have had sexMALES: FEMALES:yes: 81% 58%no: 73% 48%familiar with abortion & haven t had sexyes: 55% 30%no: 36% 33%accepted in society with kids & have had sexyes: 46% 20% no: 57% 18%accepted in society with kids & haven t had sexyes: 45% 50%no: 45% 35%**to get the percentages we took for example: 24 people think abortion is ethical and have had sex out of a total 50 people who have had sex** These results were very interesting and gave us a idea of what everyone thinks about abortion. We learned that more than 2/3 of the students surveyed have had sex, but not nearly as many are sexually active. Also, although many males, 96%, who have sex use protection, only 78% of females use protection against pregnancy. From question 3, we discovered that out of both females and males who have had sex they equally surveyed that about + would choose abortion, and the other + would choose to keep it and only a very small percentage would even think of adoption. Another interesting fact we found was that more than 50% of teenagers who would choose sex, only 30-33% believe that it is ethical. Does that mean that people who have sex and could possibly get pregnant would have an abortion but some don t think it s ethical? That is a very odd discovery. The survey we developed was very informative and useful and gave us a lot of surprising results.

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