Red The Book: Since When Is Teen Pregnancy Cool?

This post was written by Cindy Morand, 19, an author of RED the Book, a collection of personal essays written by 58 American teenage girls, recently released in paperback. She's studying finance at the University of Buffalo.

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As a teenager from a mixed racial background and a student of economics, as well as a first-time voter, I couldn't have asked for a more dazzling or personally relevant year in American history. It's been hard not to see progress, legacies in the making, everywhere I look.

The firsts and lessons have been indelible for young people in this country--which I came to from Mexico when I was in high school. We've seen what women and people of color can achieve, the power of the Internet as applied by an older generation to modernize grassroots activism for my generation, the consequences of many Americans trying to live lives we could not afford. But there's one issue on which we seem to be headed in a most oblivious, backward direction--return of the shotgun wedding and all.

Since when did teen pregnancy become cool? Do we really want our young people to think that they should find a high-school sweetheart, have a child, become popular as a result, and live glamorously ever after?

A little over a year ago, 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, the star of Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, announced her pregnancy; in June, she considered herself "very blessed" to have become a mother. Next, of course, was September's McCain campaign revelation that Bristol Palin, then 17 and the daughter of our would-be vice president, was five months' pregnant. She just had a baby boy, and--like it did for Jamie Lynn and in the fictional universe of Juno--I'm sure it'll work out fine for Ms. Palin (or the future Mrs. Johnston).

Passing judgment on the girl who let herself get in this way is no new prejudice in our culture. But in the past year, we seem to have shifted from considering her easy to considering her pregnancy, marriage, and mothering easy. The latest, highly public examples of pregnant teenagers make it look effortless to downright adorable--Academy Award-winning, even. She's a celebrity, she's cool, she's in control. She gets emotional and financial support from her family. She gets engaged. (Or, as Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin so brilliantly put it: "I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers.") Finishing school? Not an issue.

We've initiated a dangerous new member of the breakfast club: the no-problem pregnant teenager.

And she's far from the good fictional fun of the prom queen or the gossip girl, the nerd or even the burnout. She doesn't get the chance to leave it all behind with high-school graduation. In fact, according to a 2008 study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 26 percent of high-school dropouts did so to become a parent. We all know the obstacles these girls face from there--and alone, as nearly 80 percent of fathers do not marry their baby's teen mother. It rarely ends with the great Bristol-Levi love story. Almost 80 percent of unmarried teen mothers receive welfare, at an annual cost to the US government of more than $8 million. The report also finds that dropouts "are twice as likely as high school graduates to slip into poverty from one year to the next."

Now, as far as years and poverty go, this one and the next are as terrifying as any my generation has seen. Plus, the teen birth rate in the U.S. is showing an uptick--a 3 percent increase between 2005 and 2006--for the first time after a 15-year decline.
The economic climate, combined with our highly romanticized idea of the proud and pregnant teenager, create the perfect storm for a teen-pregnancy crisis. Not-for-profits that provide counseling, family planning, and medical care are hurting for funding, and I can't think of a more strictly out-of-pocket expense for this demographic than contraception--probably not something many young people got from their parents as a holiday gift.

It is particularly disturbing to me--a 19-year-old with a French-Mexican background--to see girls in the States not respecting their bodies. Recent data shows that 53 percent of Latina teens will become pregnant at least once before they turn 20. Let's just say that if it happened to me, the family scenario would not play out with all of us arms around each other on a national stage. I knew one girl in my private Catholic school back in Mexico who got pregnant; her wealthy and well known parents kicked her out of the house. To get pregnant as a teen and without being married was seen as a sin, and many neighbors claimed that the devil had gotten into the family's house.

In this country, soon after Jamie Lynn announced her pregnancy, my cousin, who had just turned 13, asked me if having sex and getting pregnant at her age was bad. I responded with the story of a girl who was in my New York public high-school class. We were both ambitious and working to the best of our abilities to get into competitive colleges. As we started our senior year, though, I noticed she wasn't showing up for A.P. Calculus. A few days later, I saw her out of school and saw that she was pregnant. "We miss you in math class!" I told her. She said, sadly, "I have no time for that stuff anymore."

The new administration has to put that decision, education or motherhood, in the past for this country's young people. From the inaugural stage on forward, our president-elect has to make teen pregnancy a highly visible, priority issue--and not in the Bristol Palin way. The first step is to publicly acknowledge teen pregnancy as a problem and that marriage doesn't count as a solution. It's a matter of painting a true picture of what pregnancy is for an average teenager in the U.S. today.
In 2007, Illinois Senator Barack Obama sponsored the Communities of Color Teen Pregnancy Prevention Act, a bill "to prevent the incidence of unintended pregnancies...among teens in racial or ethnic minority or immigrant communities." I hope Obama continues his commitment to the issue. I hope he presents American girls--like Sasha and Malia--with positive role models and a sense of possibility. After all, look what he's accomplished in the past nine months.

Comments

[quindy]

You didn't mention the religious brainwashing concerning teenage pregnancy. Pro-lifers have been in power for the past 8 years and the number of teen pregnancies went significantly up. Abstinence only education obviously does not work, but it was pushed by the Bush administration as only option. Nowhere in the civilized world will you find so many pregnant teenagers as in the USA. Choosing parenthood at 16 over abortion is simply crazy. Nobody is ready to be parent at that age no matter what support system they have. Abortion has become a taboo - nobody wants to even talk about it. As traumatic as abortion is it is still better option than parenthood at young age.

[rickmachado]

Hi Quindy,

Thanks for responding.

You are correct about the religious brainwashing, but , believe it or not, experts everywhere indicate that religion plays no part of the TBR (teen birth rate). You can be as religious as St. Peter, and the stats don't bear it out that it helps or hurts.

The TBR has been going down since about 1991, down to it's lowest level. But not because of the idiots in power, but because the TBR is tied exclusively to the economy. As unemployment goes up, so does the TBR. As it goes down, so does the TBR.

That's because, when unemployment goes up, where are men? Working, away from home, gainfully employed? No.

They are home, getting into mischief, trouble, problems. The towns with the highest TBR have the highest rates of Sex Abuse, have the most crime, most violence.

It's an Adult Problem. Not a teen problem. Watch it skyrocket during these troubled times.

[Cindy Morand]

I am a TEENAGER. My perspective comes from what I see around me. Please tell me that having sex is the solution to our problems. Having sex is not going to make someone happy at all times, sure for the time while one is engaging in the activity. If a girl is 13, I think she should be studying, doing her homework, playing, involved in after school activities, NOT HAVING SEX.

If your argument is that sex should be considered acceptable among teens because it brings happiness. Then you are also saying that lower grades, dropping out of school, being pregnant for 9 months, suffering, being a child while bringing a child to this world is consider happiness.

I do not need a PhD to see that there's something wrong with teen pregnancy.

And I am sure that if these teens were focused on their dreams and goals, they would be happy.

BEING PREGNANT IS NOT COOL WHEN YOU ARE A CHILD YOURSELF. Sure there are different scenarios for different teens, but to those who are doing it for the "cool" reason or the "I want to feel grown up" reason THEN YES WE SHOULD HELP THEM... LET THEM KNOW THAT EDUCATION IS
THE KEY TO SUCCESS... especially when other students in other nations are applying to the same universities as we are, jobs, etc.

I am an insider, I am a teen. Your perspective is from an outsider, I am sure when you were a teen things where different.

[rickmachado]

Hello Cindy,
Thanks for bringing this subject to light.

Reread my comments. I never said anything about having sex=happiness. Except for Sex Abuse and Early Sexualization, I never even mentioned the word sex.

That's because sex doesn't have anything to do with The TBR. Being pregnant as a teen 13-17 is about everything BUT sex. Please don't confuse the two.

You connect sex with pregnancy- saying having sex=lower grades, dropouts, suffering- NOT true. You're buying into the Straight Adult Male Fallacy. Abstinence good. Sex bad. Many many young girls have sex and go on with their lives without getting pregnant or suffering from it.

I agree with you everything's wrong with teen pregnancy ages 13-17, and 13 is too young for sex for most.

They are not "doing it" to "feel cool", or because "I want to feel grown up". Reread the dynamics. They know education is important. They don't need nor want lectures.

Happiness is elusive for many Cindy. Asking them to focus on dreams and goals is missing the point- they see their dreams and goals as out of reach- that's why they choose pregnancy. They see their future pretty much like their present- bleak and grim.

Faye Waddleton( Planned Parenthood) said it best. " If you want to keep a young girl from getting pregnant, don't give her a condom. Give her a better future".

It's the Adults Cindy, that need to be lectured to. Not teens.
Rick M

[theotocopolous]

Spot on, though I disagree with the notion that Juno made either pregnancy or motherhood look easy.

[rickmachado]

HuffPost's Pick

As a public speaker on Teen Pregnancy, I marvel at the ignorance people display on this subject..

Teen pregnancy is not a teen problem, it is an adult problem.

Teens "choose" pregnancy, even if they can't articulate it, when they lack competing options and choices.

It's a social problem, created by Straight Adult Males

It was Bill Clinton and his slimeball administration, who created the Teen Mom Myth, perpetuated it, and convinced America of the need for abstinence


These are the dynamics behind the TBR.

The Adult Birth Rate
Sex Abuse
Early Sexualization
Poverty, Emotional, Social, and Economic
Violent/Chaotic households
Economic/E­motional/S­ocial attraction to Older Adult Males
Failed Educational Policies
Lack of Local Health Care
Male Abandonment
Teen Pregnancy - Excellent Choice

And as far as her question "when did teen pregnancy become cool?"

When everything else stopped being cool. , from lack of good jobs, to financially strapped, failing schools, to increased crime, to wars for ignorant stupid adults, to lack of adult role models, to missing health care, to crumbling, depressed towns, to being priced out of college, to failing marraiges, to increased homelessness, to lost pensions, to depressed wages, to losing homes, to higher infant mortality, to conservative idealogues taking over the law, to massive hostility towards sex education, it's all this and more that made teen pregnancy seem so cool. It's about searching for happiness in a country that doesn't have a lot to be happy about.

[MirelisG]

Since when is sex the equivalent of happiness? Since when is it the only option out there for teens of poor social/economic backgrounds? Since when are there limited options for other sources of happiness?

I am 19 years-old, from Washington Heights in Manhattan, my mother has never made more than $30,000 in her life, and my father lives in another country-- guess what, I have never been pregnant, nor has sex been an escape. I can read a book, join a book club, go out to dinner, dancing, catch a movie with my friends and feel the same happiness. I have been with my current boyfriend for two years and unprotected sex IS NOT an option. Your theory is admirable, even commendable, but not entirely true. Sex is an option, not a last resort. Poor parenting plays a strong role, but when it boils down to the issue, teens are the ones making their choices with or without parental consent. Teen pregnancy is an issue. There is no arguing that. In an over populated world, the last thing we need is irresponsible teens looking for some fun and ultimately bringing a helpless child into their ill-equipped lives. Sequentially, these teen parents wind up making their already poor situations even more unfortunate.

And just because everything else stopped being cool doesn't mean teen sex has to become cool. When will school, books or careera become cool? How about we preach that instead of pretending teen pregnancy is ok?