Years ago, teenage pregnancy was viewed as a social dilemma and was looked down on and labeled, but can the same be said for today’s day and age?

Teenage pregnancy is a big issue that needs to be properly addressed. According to Lovetoknow.com pregnancy statistics, over 800,000 teenage girls become pregnant every year and 78 percent of these pregnancies are unplanned. Fifty percent of these pregnancies are aborted, the other half who keep their babies struggle to make a decent living. Thirty percent of that other half will have earned high school diplomas by the age of 30 years old.

A large portion of these teen moms do not have support from family or the fathers of their children, meaning that lack of assistance and credibility to get a decent job will lead to them living well below the poverty line. Taking a look at the children of teen moms, statistics show that they are at a much higher risk of developing social, physical or behavioral problems. Since teen moms are still in the process of developing mentally and physically, their babies are also at a higher risk of being born premature, which can lead to developmental disabilities or chronic medical statuses. In addition to medical problems, children of teen moms have to deal with many other possible problems as they get older.

Males born to teen moms are 13 percent more likely to end up in jail, while daughters being 20 percent more likely to have children of their own as teenagers. Both are more susceptible to lower standardized test scores and less likely to earn a high school diploma. With all of the struggles that come with teenage pregnancy, why does it seem as though we are glorifying it here in America?

Among developed countries, the United States has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy, with a rate twice as much as Canada and almost four times as much as Germany and France. It is clear that this is a huge issue in the U.S. and we should be taking every measure in solving this issue. One way that our society has tried to bring this problem forward is through the television production of the show known as “Teen Mom” on MTV.

This show follows the lives of six teenage mothers, documenting the struggles that they have to go through. But is this production making teens more aware or just simply promoting the idea of becoming pregnant? Although the show does display the many personal problems that teen moms can experience, it may also give other teens the impression that they can become stars through pregnancy.

This fall marked the show’s second season. During the first season, MTV approached teenage girls that were already pregnant previously and already going through their own problems. This season’s cast consists of teens that viewed the show last season. It is evident that giving these teens their own show can give off the wrong impression for teen parents nationwide.

In the show, the teens complain that they are broke and struggling, which may be the case for regular teens, but not this star-studded cast. The stars of the first season racked up between $60,000 to $65,000 each, accoding to Tvsquad.com. Upon discovering this information teens nationwide would get the impression that being teenage parents could land them worldwide fame and money, which is not the impression that needs to be made.

There are many controversies as to whether or not MTV is glorifying teenage pregnancy or trying to make teens more aware of the problems that arise, either way we need to go about a different route. Instead of giving them a show of their own, we need to steer more towards lectures that articulate the issues.

Maybe we should go as far as having classes starting in middle school that address different teenage problems including teen pregnancy. Simply watching these shows such as “Teen Mom” will only make our children want to become teen parent stars themselves. Teenage pregnancy is a threat to the wellbeing of the parents and their children. It also hurts our nation financially with 80 percent of teenage parents relying on government aid, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We need to place more emphasis on educating teens at a younger age of the threat that teenage pregnancy poses to their lives.

Curtis Bloomfield is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].