Example research essay topic: Washington D C Teenage Mothers - 1,103 words

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... points: 53 % of current and former teenage mothers on AFDC in 1992 had incomes below 50 % of the poverty line, compared with 41 % of women who did not give birth as teenagers. In part, their poverty reflects the fact that current and former teenage mothers are less likely than others to receive any financial support from their child's father because they were never married. And, although current and former teenage mothers on AFDC are as likely to work as women who did not have a baby as a teenager they earned an average of $ 1, 600 less in 1992. Their lower earnings resulted from a lack of education in 1992, 47 % of current and former teenage mothers on AFDC had graduated from high school, compared with 62 % of those who were older when they gave birth. Women on AFDC who began childbearing, as teenagers are more likely to have large families than women who waited until they were at least age 20 to have a baby.

Eighteen percent of women who had their first child as a teenager have four or more children-twice the proportion among women who did not give birth as a teenager. Because they tend to have less education and larger families, teenage mothers often have a harder time working their way off of welfare and becoming self-sufficient. As a consequence, they are disproportionately represented among those recipients who remain on AFDC for long periods of time. The most popular proposals during the welfare reform process are as follows; - A denial of AFDC benefits to unmarried teenage mothers under age 18, perhaps with a state option to extend the ban to even older unwed mothers; - A ban on additional benefits for women who have a child while on welfare; and - A revival of the "gag rule" through a prohibition on the use of welfare funds to provide abortion information and counseling as well as services. I feel that the ability to make decisions about whether and when to have a child is an essential prerequisite to taking charge of one's life. Yet, largely missing from the public debate on welfare reform is an acknowledgment of this fact and of the importance of ensuring that poor teenagers and adult women on or at risk of welfare have easy access to comprehensive family planning and abortion services that would enable them to avoid unintended pregnancies and unwanted births.

I cant imagine anyone arguing that family planning and abortion services, by themselves, are the key to reforming welfare. Nevertheless, their provision on a purely voluntary basis is a simple, cost-effective strategy that would "empower" poor women and, at the same time, have a positive impact on unplanned childbearing. Granted, not all women use contraceptives, or use them effectively, but contraception does work, for teenagers as well as adult women. Publicly funded family planning services have prevented an average of 1. 2 million unintended pregnancies, including 509, 000 unintended births and 516, 000 additional abortions, each year.

Every dollar spent on publicly subsidized family planning services saves more than $ 4 that would otherwise be spent to provide medical care, welfare benefits and other social services to women who by law would be eligible for such services if they became pregnant and gave birth. Meanwhile, public funding of abortion services for Medicaid-eligible women has been severely restricted since the mid- 1970 s. Studies have shown that 20 - 35 % of Medicaid-eligible women (most of whom are AFDC recipients) who would have abortions if coverage were available continue their pregnancies to term in the absence of coverage-at a cost of millions of dollars annually to the federal government and the states. Sexual activity is now common among teenagers in the United States, and there is little difference in levels of sexual activity among adolescents of different income levels. However, poor and low-income teenagers are less likely to use contraceptives when they have intercourse, and thus are more likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy. When they do get pregnant, teenagers from disadvantaged families are also less likely than their more affluent peers to have an abortion; about 60 % of poor teenagers and nearly half of low-income adolescents continue their pregnancy and give birth.

All too often, the poorest of these young women have-and perceive that they have-futures that are bleak. They see little reason why having a baby now will make their lives "worse, " or, why waiting until later will make their lives "better. " A major challenge is to provide these young women with realistic incentives to wait. That means guaranteeing them-and their partners-access to the education and training that will enable them to get good jobs, which, in turn, will give these young people reason to hope that their lives will improve. It also means assuring that family planning and abortion services are widely available on a voluntary basis to all poor and low-income teenagers who want to delay having a baby.

Efforts to prevent adolescent pregnancies and births must be targeted not just at those already poor or currently living in welfare families, but at all women at risk of poverty and welfare, since research shows that most young women who give birth as a teenager do not immediately go on welfare. Eventually, however, many fall into poverty, and very often, welfare dependency. The currently proposed disincentives to teenage pregnancies and out-of-wedlock births are misguided in this regard, if for no other reason than because they are targeted largely at the very small proportion of young women who are likely to go on public assistance immediately upon the birth of their baby. Yet, very often there is a lag sometimes of several years between the time most teenagers who eventually become welfare-dependent give birth and when they actually begin to receive AFDC benefits. These women are not expecting to go on welfare when they have a child and therefore are unlikely to change their behavior as a result of restrictions on welfare eligibility related to childbearing. The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), The Politics of Blame: Family Planning, Abortion and the Poor, New York, 1995.

AGI, Sex and America's Teenagers, New York, 1994. General Accounting Office (GAO), "Families on Welfare: Sharp Rise in Never-Married Women Reflects Societal Trend, " GAO/HERS- 94 - 92, Washington, D. C. , May 1994. GAO, "Families on Welfare: Teenage Mothers Least Likely to Become Self-Sufficient, " GAO/HERS- 94 - 115, Washington, D. C. , May 1994. U.

S. House of Representatives, Overview of Entitlement Programs: 1994 Green Book, Washington, D. C. , July 15, 1994. Bibliography:

Research essay sample on Washington D C Teenage Mothers