Do you know any pregnant teenagers? Chances are good that you do. Apparently, teenage pregnancy is on the rise this year, and some sociologists believe it may have something to do with the movies “Knocked Up” and “Juno” which portrayed two young women who became pregnant and decided not to abort. I don’t know if sociologists are right on this or not.
However, in a recent article in TIME magazine called “Postcard: Gloucester” (June 30, 2008, p. 8), it was reported that Gloucester (MA) High School is seeing four times the number of teenage pregnancies as last year. Initially, “some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. …[But] School officials started looking into the matter…after an unusual number of girls began filing into the school clinic to find out if they were pregnant” with many of the girls repeatedly returning for multiple tests, and acting disappointed when they found out they were not pregnant.
It was soon discovered that many of the female students had made a pact with each other to get pregnant and raise their babies together.
Why would they do such a thing?
One student, a girl named Ireland who got pregnant as a freshman, said “They’re so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally.”
Are you loving other people unconditionally? It may be one of the greatest needs in our society today.
Loving someone unconditionally (like that) tends to get one sent to jail!
I think it is silly that western society sees teenage pregnancy as a problem.
Biologically, the healthiest time in a woman’s life to have a baby is when she is about 16. In many parts of the world, it is the norm for women to give birth when they are teenagers.
Britain and the USA are just weird.
For many girls who are poor and uneducated, becoming a mother is the only way they can get any kind of status in society.
I think we need to stop judging these girls and respect their choice.
Every Blessing in Christ
Matthew
The West is not weird, we just have different societies and priorities. A 16 year-old Westerner is basically an idiot. They have no concept of the world larger than themselves and can’t conceive a future beyond next year, if that far. A 16 year old Westerner who has a child is deciding the next 20 years of her life but doesn’t understand that. Most of these girls will regret their decisions when they find out that raising a child is not just about unconditional love, but about sacrifice, as well. Then they’ll try to pawn the kids off on their parents or the father’s parents and go live their lives.
Women in the unenlightened cultures are expected to have children early because women’s education isn’t a priority, women are on the lower rung of the class-ladder and are used to doing what they’re told. Not to mention life expectancy is lower (which forces you to grow up faster) and infant mortality is higher than in the West, so getting started early gives you more time.
When I think about all the women I know who got pregnant while they were teenagers and kept the child, probably 90% found themselves stuck in bad situations. They married the father even though they didn’t love him. They couldn’t go to college because they had to work to support the baby. The fathers resented them, leading to all kinds of marital discord, some of it serious. They didn’t get the chance to figure out what they wanted to be because they made a short-sighted and uniformed decision to be a mother.
None of this is good for the child, either.
I don’t think wanting to keep that life from one’s children or grandchildren is weird or judgemental.
Maybe if we avoid judging teenage mothers and find ways to make their lives easier, their having children can be a positive choice.
Perhaps it is society’s low opinion of teenage motherhood that makes it such a miserable reality for them.
Hi guys,
Thanks for the discussion on this.
I do think that most teenage mothers have no idea what they are getting themselves into, and that as a result of a baby, many of them (who come from bad situations) are setting themselves up for worse situations.
I agree also that one thing we all need to do is help teenagers feel loved and accepted no matter what.
I do think we should try and help girls and young women (and men, maybe?) who find themselves in these situations. Churches would probably be great at that. Jeremy, do you know any churches that have ministries for unwed mothers?
Having said that, I still think having sex without any form of contraception and “accidentally” getting pregnant in this day and age is really, really dumb.
I suspect a lot of them know they are going to get pregnant. Research has shown that in Britain a lot of teenage girls deliberately want to get pregnant.
As I said, for them becoming a mother gives them a status that they otherwise would not have.
With poor job prospects are their lives that much worse for becoming mothers?
Bullet,
There is some church/ministry here in Dallas that has a whole apartment complex where pregnant and unwed mothers can come and live. I don’t think it’s free, but it is quite cheap. The community provides free (or cheap) day care for the children so the mothers can go find jobs, and they also provide free job training for the mothers. It is a very cool ministry. I wish I could remember the name of it.
Also, the community I am part of, called Mosaic Arlington, does things for unwed mothers. They want to do more, and are moving in that direction.
My wife and I hope to do a lot of service with unwed mothers in the future.
Matthew,
That’s a good point about the status that comes with being a mother. I saw just today that ABC is coming out with a TV series about a pregnant teenager. It’s called “The Secret Life of a Teenager” or something like that. Maybe it’s CBS… my memory is failing!