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A New Surge of Teen Pregnancy
Author: Brennan20 Jun
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Congratulations on Your Teen Pregnancy?
Here’s a story that will, hopefully, make parents sit up and pay attention.
The New York Times asks the question, “Is There A Teen Pregnancy Pact in Gloucester, Massachusetts?”
Columnist Katy Zezima shares the story of a huge surge in teen pregnancies in the town, with 17 teens now pregnant and many more requesting pregnancy tests.
“At least 17 girls at the public high school in the seaside town of Gloucester, Mass., are expecting babies, and a Time magazine report says nearly half became pregnant after making a pact to do so and raise the children together.”“Local officials . . . acknowledged that many of the 17 pregnancies — a total four times as many as last school year at the 1,200-student school — had been intentional.”
The story goes on to explain that the social and financial climate in Gloucester has been severely impacted by economic downturns. While I don’t want to get into the pros and cons of sex education and handing out contraceptives to teens in this post, the article does emphasize that those programs had been eliminated due to budget cuts.
Teen Pregnancy Mindset?
Far more important, in my estimation, is the mind set of those girls.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk is quoted as saying:
“It’s the social environment these girls are coming from,” she added. “They think that a baby can give them love or give them status or fill an empty space in their life, and these girls are very, very young. And I think if you talk to any teenage mother who is caring for an infant, the road is not easy.”
Even more frightening is that the article reports many more teenagers coming to the local clinic requesting pregnancy tests.
Teen Pregnancy Not A New Issue
Why should we be concerned about teen pregnancies in one little town? Teen pregnancy is NOT a new issue.
Time Cover December 1985
Over the last several years, there has been a steady decline in the rate of teen pregnancies, but 34% of teen girls still become pregnant annually, with variations among ethnicities.
There are powerful reasons to be concerned about “pregnancy pacts”.
- The emotional neediness of teens who want to deliberately become pregnant is not unique to Gloucester.
- Economic and social upheavals are more and more widespread throughout the country.
- Teens are notorious for copying peer behavior.
- Teenage mothers have many financial and social disadvantages that they do not anticipate
- The children of those teenage mothers suffer from those same disadvantages, including lagging behind in early development.
I don’t want to be an alarmist but, after years of a steadily declining teenage birth rate, this alleged “pregnancy pact” could signal an upsurge in teen pregnancy, and the accompanying negative financial and emotional lifestyles that it leads to.
What Works?
Is this 1999 poster funny?
It is overly-simplistic to say that only growing older (past the teen years) will stop teen pregnancy.
I know that I don’t have all the answers, but we MUST take these social, emotional and financial considerations into account as we work to straighten-out our public schools.
As Don says in The Kingsland Plan we all need to become informed, and aware, and take positive action, to combat these social issues, as well as curriculum problems.
Until next time,
Brennan
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2 Responses for "A New Surge of Teen Pregnancy"
This Gloucester High School teen pregnancy pact sure sounds like your typical “self-destructive” behavior seen by young people as a society becomes more of a social state and less is expected of them by society. These kids all know that the government will pay for all the costs of their pregnancies and their baby’s care till the babies grow up at age 18. You see, these kids really don’t see any consequences to having a baby. Call it a tragedy, but I live in New Orleans, and very few pregnant mothers get married down here (even when they live with the father) because they’ll lose their government benefits. The liberals WANT a dependent citizenry so they just give out the checks. No questions asked. If you don’t believe me, then ask ANYONE from New Orleans about the “baby mama scam!”
Dear JOise,
The “baby mama scam” you refer to is alive and well all across the South, and in many other parts of the country as well. I could tell you horror stories about what I have seen working as a nurse.
As long as our laws encourage this type of anti-social behavior (and actual abuse of public funds) this immoral behavior will continue.
The biggest difference in Gloucester, according to what I’ve been able to research, is that these teens were more interested in building an extended ‘group’ family, rather than living unwed with the fathers to get government benefits.
Either way, whether it is a deliberate plot to leech off the hard work of others, or an opportunity to build a non-self-supporting independent family group, this unwed teen mother problem is disastrous for our country.
We need to work together to make MAJOR reform in our attitudes, our laws, and our educational system. Unfortunately, under the current status quo, we have a large segment of the population who has found a ‘gravy train’.
No one wants an innocent baby to suffer, but this abuse has become unbelievably widespread, not just in New Orleans.
Come join the movement! for change!
Brennan
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