As a teen, finding out that you’re expecting a baby can be a scary experience. Teen Pregnancy has become a major problem in today’s teenage society. Even though the birth rate has dropped by almost a third since the beginning of the 1990’s, the United States still has the highest rate for teen pregnancy among other countries around the world (www.pregnantteenhelp.org).

It costs our government over nine billion dollars to pay for all the expenses that are required to take care of a child. Broken down, $1.9 billion is used for health care, $2.3 billion for child welfare, $2.1 billion for incarceration and $2.9 billion in lower tax revenue (www.medicalnewstoday.com).

Carlos Ferrer, a freshman whose girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl about a month ago believes that having a baby is nothing to be ashamed of.

“I love my baby,” he said. “I’m not ashamed of her.”

Pregnancy can be a happy time for many women, but for teens it might be a time of depression and serious decisions

“I was shocked when I found out, I didn’t know what to do,” said junior Liz Maldonado who just returned from having her baby girl. “But I had to take responsibility for my actions.”

Fortunately for Maldonado, she’s been doing great in school.

“I’ve been doing better,” she said. “Some girls don’t come back to school; I won’t do that. I’m not going to stop my life and education just because I have a daughter.”

Many schools encourage pregnant teens to enroll in specialized schools that help pregnant girls with their babies like COPE (Continuing Opportunities for Purpose Education). COPE is a school that helps pregnant teens with special health care, education, child care training, academic course work, and the opportunity for promotion or graduation.

The Lifeline Family Center in Cape Coral, Florida is a program that provides a safe home and learning environment for young girls who are pregnant. Currently seven girls have been enrolled in their program, three of which have given birth

“The counselors told me to go to COPE,” said Maldonado, who instead got involved in a program called TAP (Teens Adapting to Pregnancy) which allows pregnant girls to take a break from school for a certain amount of time to take care of their baby.

Teaching and informing teenagers about safe sex and the problems that come along with it can help the teen pregnancy rate to continue to drop.