Recently, it seems that a lot of the news spotlight has been on the topic of teen pregnancy. This is largely due to both the pregnancy of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter and the birth of 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears's baby girl. Thousands of teenage girls a year have to life with taking care of a baby while, at the same time, trying to live as "normal" of a life as they possibly can.
The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world, and although dropping in the past years, is still too high (www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_ATSRH.html). Teenage pregnancy results in less teenagers going to college and more people having to be on welfare. Through this post, I am in no way trying to say anything against those who have had children as teenagers, but rather try and think about what works in helping to prevent these pregnancies.
As a nation, there has been a lot of action towards preventing teen pregnancy such as online resources, national programs, and even ads on television and billboards. While writing this blog, I was watching a TV program on the CW and there was an addition at the end of the show warning teenagers against teen pregnancy.
I find it interesting, however, that there is consistently a condescending tone when this subject is brought up. Some people act as if a teen pregnancy could be the most humiliating thing that could happen to a person. This, to me, makes matters even worse. This attitude has to scare young teenage mothers into either not telling their family about their pregnancy or not searching for the help that is out there for them because they feel embarrassed or ashamed. How is that supposed to help any situation?
If there were more support from our communities where young women find themselves in this situation, then they would feel more comfortable getting help and creating a better future for both them and their child.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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