Teen Pregnancy

^ thats all true, but maybe she meant about her friends who are unable to get jobs. i dunno.
it may have ruined her friends lives, even though it doesnt ruin everyones...

There's been a huge spike in teenage pregnancies in my town. i have seven friends under the age of eighteen with one or two kids already, it's a growing problem.

But I think it's mostly because there's nothing to do in my town except have sex and do drugs, sadly.

Yesterday in my Personal and Family Development class, we were talking about teenage pregnancy and this one girl couldn't get the fact that it was not where you want to be. She was saying stuff like "I can just get him to wear a condom!" and while we were telling her that they don't always work, she didn't get it. Also, when my teacher was saying that if a teenage girl had a baby, it's most likely our tax money that's going into that baby, the girl was just smiling and saying "Thank you!"


...I just kind of thought that's what the mentality of some of the teenage mothers have/had.

well obviously its not ideal to be pregnant in your teens but everyone does make mistakes and if the mother is willing to take full responsibility of the child and she gets the support she needs from the father and her family then its not as bad.

also with the teenage girls getting the money once they have a baby (in sydney, its $3000 and ive heard many stories of girls who have just had a baby just to get the money, and even know a few) but they dont seem to realise that they cant just spend the money on themselves. (im not saying every teenage girl would do this) but a lost of them want the money for themselves.
and although $3000 is a great start to help with a child, it is not nearly enough to raise a child. raising a child costs a lot more than that.

Jynx;:

If the pregnancy is accidental, the parents need to think if they're in a suitable position to keep the child. Finacially, house-wise etc. If they are, go right ahead. If they can't, then I don't think it's right to keep a child that you cannot give a healthy lifestyle to when there are other options.

If that were the guideline, there would be a population crisis, because I'd say easily 80% of the children are born to people who are not financially ready, don't have a home (they may rent, live with family, etc) and most certainly don't provide a healthy lifestyle. If they did, we wouldn't have such a childhood obesity epidemic, among a hundred other things.

im not against teen pregnancy, i think its ok, as long as the teens are responisble and mature enough to have a child.

but i watched 60 minutes tonight, and they interviewed 3 teen girls and their partners, ages 15-17.
the first girl was 16 and her and her boyfriend (who was 16 or 17) were still at school. theyd already had the child, a healthy boy named levi. the whole time they were giggling when saying the word 'sex' and they kept saying they just didnt want to use contraception. they are very good with the child, but they didnt come accross as very mature.
the second girl was 15 and pregnant, her bf 19 years old. (over here, thats illegal). anyway, she lost her virginity at 12 years old!! and was pregnant at 14, but miscarried. she claimed she just forgot the pill, and started giggling. here she sits carrying a child, because again, she forgot the pill and her bf 'didnt feel like wearing condoms cos he didnt like them'. i really dont think this couple are fit to raise a child as they were very immature throughout the interview, but who knows. they may be ok.
the last girl was 17 years old, her bf 23. (again, illegal over here) and she ame from a christian family. her parents were not happy at all, but do support her. she seemed fairly mature, but still giggled at the word 'sex'.
im not saying anything bad against these teens. i hope they will raise their children well, and im sure they will with the help of their own parents. but what im saying is, these teens can barely say the words 'penis', 'sex' and 'condom' without breaking into a fit of giggles. if they are that immature, are they honestly mature enough to raise a child?

and one doctor was saying teens just shouldnt have sex. but, no offense to him, as if that is going to happen. out of 90 girls in my year, i know of about about 30 that have had sex, and about 75 that have done everything but sex. there is no way that all teens are going to obstain from sex. im sorry, but its just not going to happen.

i shall try and find a copy of the interviews. im sure 60 minutes will post it up on their website at some point.

I think teen pregnancy is sad. It shows how irresponsible the person is, and I honestly think that in most cases abortion or adoption should be considered. I have never met any teen mother who was taking care of her child on her own. The child was either a burden on a family member who was the actual person taking care of the child, or severely neglected. The thing about adoption is that a lot of kids never get adopted and stay in the foster system all their lives. Adoption sounds like an awesome concept, but in a lot of cases turns out terribly sad. I believe that a lot of these mothers should have abortions. They are simply not ready for the responsibility of a child. Without abortion, there would be a lot more neglected/unwanted children in the world.

Teen pregnancy is stupid. I see so many young girls walking on the streets with their kids running around out of control. My question is where is the dad? seriously.

I see so many girls walking around the streets with their kids running around out of control. My question is, where is the father?

I always see young teenage girls walking around the streets with their kids going out of control. My question is, where is the father?

As long as the teen has the financal help, and parents who are willing to help and if the father doesn't run away when she's pregnant then I think that it's fine, I mean she'll have the help that she needs then what's the difference. I know how it is because i was a teen mother though I DIDNT CHOOSE to have sex at 14 I was RAPED.

Under Pressure.:

Teen pregnancy is stupid.

No it's not. Most teenage pregnancies are accidents. What is stupid is teens who have absolutely no protection while having sex and live under this illusion that they won't get pregnant. Another thing that worries me is that there are teens who get pregnant once because they didn't have any protection, but they don't learn from that. It's like, you've already had one child, and you're not going to do anything to prevent another? That's stupid.

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My question is where is the dad? seriously.

Most teenage fathers bail out on the moms, duh.

I was watching a program on teenage mothers and one man stated that people are the most selfish when they are teens, but that parenting a child (well) is the most selfless thing you can do. I whole heartedly agree with that, so I applaud teen mothers (and fathers) who are willing to give up their lives to raise their child. I know teen mothers who got pregnant, had a child, and then got back in school. Of course they have support from their family, but still, that's great.

And just a side note, it was mentioned that pregnant teens dropout of school and that that screws them over. It may not damn them to a life of poverty, but dropouts do make a significantly lower amount than graduates and with a child it can be difficult to make ends meet.

Most teenagers have unprotected sex and they believe that they won't get pregnant.I think that having sex when you're at age of 14 or 15 isn't the best thing to do.Mostly,people who have sex at that age can't take responsibility.So,I think that they have to blame theirselves for being mothers and fathers at that early age.