Pregnancy Complications = Death

Complications of pregnancy results in the deaths of an estimated 70,000 teen girls in developing countries (second world countries) each year. In third world countries the rates are even higher. Overall half a million women die every year in childbirth due to complications.

So what is it like in the developed country like the UK, Canada or the USA?

Honestly, its not much better.

In the USA pregnancy is the leading cause of death for young women ages 15 through 19.

Its sad but true.

Certainly things could be done to prevent this, but the truth is that many teenagers who are not fully grown simply are not ready to bear children.

And the fact that health insurance in the USA is lagging behind the rest of the western world doesn't help either.

In the UK, where we have high standards for our hospitals we really are not much better. Part of it is societal. The kind of society the results in children as young as 12 getting pregnant and having babies.

FACT: In the UK girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy than women in their 20s.

Its not just the mother's lives who are at risk either. Babies are 60 per cent more likely to die if their mother is under 18.

20 per cent of girls worldwide have their first child before the age of 18. Teen pregnancy living in a third world country is basically a death sentence and its not much better in 2nd or 1st world countries.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in 2006 there were 435,436 babies born to women ages 15 to 19 in the United States.

Teenagers in the USA are also more likely to have premature births. Premature births are 14.5% for teenage women in the USA, compared to 11.9% for women 20 to 29 years old. Premature babies are often grossly underweight. Babies born weighing less than 3 1/3 pounds are 100 times more likely to die than normal weight babies.

Babies born to teenage girls in the USA under the age of 15 are 240 percent more likely to die during or soon after childbirth.

And if you factor in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) then the statistics are even higher, since SIDS is much higher with premature / underweight babies...

All in all... teen pregnancy is a huge risk for both the mother and the baby. Even if you live in a developed country like the USA, Canada or the UK it still kills.

What is bizarre is that the majority (70%) of American women who get an abortion is NOT teenagers. Its actually women in their 20s who are single mothers and already have one or more children. They get pregnant AGAIN and decide that one extra mouth to feed is enough.

I think part of the problem is that teenagers think they are immortal and they don't know the risks of teenage pregnancy and that they have great faith in doctors. They think that even if something goes wrong that they will somehow survive. Teenagers are ever immortal optimists.

And its killing them. Pregnancy is the leading cause of death for young women ages 15 through 19.

Something to think about.