What do you guys think about teen pregnancy?

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ediblemitten

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Mar 20, 2011
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AlloAllo said:
ediblemitten said:
It has less to do with age or good parenting and more to do with the fact that a child is an extra mouth to feed, and the parent who must care for that child (if we're talking about teen pregnancy), likely comes from a lower income household. As well, because this teenager hasn't yet finished high school, her ability to find gainful employment with a solid income to support her child is stunted at that moment (being a high school graduate looks good on a resume). One must also remember that if said teen comes from a lower tax-bracket, her parent(s) likely would have a tough time feeding the baby (along with the rest of the family), causing likely financial strain. If both parents work, it means that the mother must take care of the child, impacting her schooling and her ability to find gainful employment. If a parent of the mother decides to take on some responsibility for the child, the problems becomes one of lost income. The hours spent feeding, changing, and taking care of a newborn infant are all hours said parent would have likely been working, thus creating even larger issues as that lost income would have been very useful in taking care of the infant.

See what I mean?
....Are you maybe trying to say... that getting pregnant may cause problems? Thou surely jest!

As I already said, they'll have more problems than others. Problems happens. People deal with them. Life can't always be easy, can it now.
No need for sarcasm. Your post seemed to suggest that the only issue a teen mother might face would be one of social stigma.
 

Felstaff

Senior Member
Sep 19, 2011
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Edit: Oops, didn't see the length of necromancy. What's the etiquette on resurrecting threads on this forum? A month? A week? A day? ...sixteen minutes and the banhammer comes out?
CannibalCorpses said:
As long as i didn't have anything to do with it i'm good with teen pregnancy :p
You're possible the smartest, least judgemental person in this thread. *high fives*

I think teen pregnancy definitely has cause for concern; is the teenager mature enough to handle the difficulties of raising a child? Obviously, the answer can never be a black-and-white 'yes', as no-one can make that judgement unless they are experiencing it themselves. Is it more likely a teenager is less suitable to raise a child than a woman aged 20 or over? Possibly; those extra years of existence can really teach you well. I'm in favour of pregnancy if the mother wants it, and wants the best for her child. If the father's present, then more power to them.

However, I don't think the brunt of the debate should be at teenage mothers themselves. They seem to face the brunt of criticism and judgement (just look at this thread for example), even if they are of splendid character, and the child itself has hit the cosmic jackpot by being born to Western parents where it will have all the luxuries of W.A.S.P. privilege. I actually think the brunt of criticism should be made at the painful lack of sex education available to growing kids. Conservative Christians the world over (okay, mainly the US) have always forced an abstinence agenda, and it's just...so... ineffective!

People. Are going. To. Have Sex.

It's what people do. It's why we have people. Sex is good, and people have it. Lots! I wish I was having it right now! Although my co-workers might be giving me strange looks.

Teaching abstinence in lieu of learning about the intricacies and pitfalls sex brings with it (i.e. protection from pregnancy, STIs, STDs, drunken regret) is like teaching kids mathematics only ever using the plus symbol.

"Miss; what's 'multiplication'?"
"NEVER YOU MIND. THE PLUS SIGN IS GOD'S ONE TRUE SIGN AND YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WICKED SLANTY CROSS: IT'S THE WORK OF THE DEVIL"

Or teaching children geography, but only the locations of the 50 US States (something I suspect that happens often). Pretending it doesn't exist just leaves the student ignorant, and most likely unquestionably religious.

It is this chronic lack of sex education that creates a generation of uneducated teenage moms in the first place. You might not think it, but there are grown people out there who do not realise that pregnancy is a result of inserting a hoohoo into a yaya. Possibly because no-one's ever brought up the terms 'penetrative sexual intercourse', 'ejaculation', and 'impregnation'. (No doubt they use euphemisms like 'hoohoo' and 'yaya'). I have an ex who is a midwife, and she was assisting the birth of this lady's 13th child. Thirteenth. Turns out, the woman didn't realise that intercourse, rather than 'God Smiling On Her', caused her pregnancies.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQq1s43yW8bjU--RliQFU1jz-EZzSuBWfhT8IcOBKcIdu2jxe47lECQpbtV6w
True story.