Pregnancy before marriage is a personal choice. Two adults are mature enough to take a decision for intercourse and take the responsibility to bear a child or not if circumstances arise. But is it really true? Why do some people back out of their decisions? It is because our society often times considers it a curse and people are ashamed to talk about it. Pregnancy before marriage can’t be said to be a matter of choice, most of the times.
Marriage and pregnancy should be considered as two separate issues. After getting pregnant, a woman may think that the partner she loved will support her and take the responsibility to nurture a baby. But it is seen that most of the men prefer to walk out. No doubt there are gentlemen who take responsibility and support their partners.
People are aware of the mental stress that one goes through in such situations but it is quite sad to decide it as a sinful act and consider it to be a taboo. When society should come together and guide women in such situations, they prefer to it hide it and treat them as outcasts.
Teenage Pregnancy
Pregnancy before marriage is divided into fragments. The most important topic to take into account is teenage pregnancy. Teens are not always aware of what could go wrong while taking such steps because they may be involved in casual sex or one night stands. Sometimes this occurs under peer pressure as they think it would be cool to indulge in sex without any sense of responsibility or safety. But they are not aware of the consequences and how it can affect a person mentally, physically and even emotionally.
Teenagers often get confused and try to hide their pregnancy from their parents. They get stressed out and try to search for things on Google that could be easily accessible. The numerous list of ‘search results’ creates chaos in their minds.
Teenagers often suffer, their behaviour pattern changes and it affects their mental health. Teenage pregnancy is a very sensitive issue. If a teenager decides to have a baby it becomes difficult, a child taking care of a child seems more difficult than we can imagine. Nurturing a child takes a lot of effort, they can’t complete their own studies and encourage themselves for a better future.
Pregnancy As A Result Of Sexual Abuse
Pregnancy before marriage can also happen because of abuse and molestation. Parents try to hide when such a thing happens as the issue of honour comes into play in Indian society. The unfortunate assumption is that no one will get married to a girl who gets pregnant before marriage. Girls are conditioned in this patriarchal setup and are made to feel that it is their fault. This further develops a sense of fear and insecurity which holds them back further leading to low self-esteem.
Society’s outlook towards single parents, unfortunately, is not very positive even in the 21st century. If a girl chooses to be a single parent in our society, it becomes quite a challenging task as she gets scrutinised for her choice every now and then. No one wants to offer a house to them. They are questioned for taking such a decision. “What had happened? Did her husband abandon her?” are some of the questions that a single mother gets bombarded with almost making it impossible for her to live in peace.
Let’s Be More Accepting
Talking about pregnancy before marriage should be welcomed. Considering it as a taboo can lead to someone’s death due to mental health issues. People should open up and accept that mistakes happen but it is not right to punish someone for their whole life. To curb the rise in suicides and mental illnesses, social awareness must be created among youngsters and society must get supportive to talk about in open. If this can happen we can save millions of lives and decrease the level of anxiety that youngsters go through. We need to create a healthy society to live in.