A Mom Before the Prom

Now that the national attention on Bristol Palin's pregnancy is fading (for the time being) it seems the only discussion it inspired was about John McCain's vetting process and, by extension, his decision-making abilities. But there is another far more important subject raised by the 17-year-old's pregnancy. For decades, teen pregnancy has been viewed as a problem, a danger to the children of young mothers and a hurdle to the success of the adolescent mothers.

But recent public displays of contraceptive failure by girls of visibility and means gives the misleading appearance that teen motherhood might be a lifestyle upgrade. Clearly one of the exacerbating factors is that someone like Bristol Palin is part of what feels like a growing trend: the normalizing of teen pregnancy and teen motherhood in the United States. Bristol is not alone in suggesting that to be a 17-year-old mother is not only acceptable, but exciting. Last year Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney's then 16-year-old sister, had her baby. (The Spears', it's worth noting, were proponents of abstinence-only too.) Last year also featured the movie Juno, in which star Ellen Page played a 16-year-old whose quick-wit and sarcasm made her unwanted pregnancy seem as challenging as a bad case of acne. The attention garnered by each of these girls stripped away layers of what had for years been cautions against this very fate.

None of these occasions has prompted examination of the risks and damage caused by teen pregnancy and teen motherhood. And, it should be noted, recent data show that the rate of teen pregnancy in the U.S., which is already the highest in the developed world, is on the rise. The last year witnessed a dramatic 3 percent spike in the number of pubescent parents.

Of course, Bristol, Juno and Jamie Lynn don't exemplify the average American girl confronting unintended pregnancy. And the problem is the average American teen doesn't really know that. Take it from school officials in Gloucester, Massachusetts who witnessed a four fold increase in teen pregnancies last year. The principal even suspected the spike was a coordinated effort charging that the 18 girls planned a "pact" to all get pregnant. It's clear that girls today are getting a glamorized message about teen pregnancy. The choice the fictional character Juno made, adoption, is almost a fiction these days too. Approximately 1 percent of pregnant teens opt to give a child up for adoption. And then Jamie Lynn Spears is a teen millionaire. Her pregnancy only enhanced her fortune. The first photos of her baby fetched a million dollars. The spotlight on Bristol Palin offers false comfort too. Bristol has resources available to her that none of her pregnant teen counterparts does -- like the secret service, the ultimate nanny.

The average teen girl would be led to believe that teen pregnancy doesn't ruin adolescence, but instead brings lavish amounts of attention, an adoring and adorable teen father, and an endless supply of parental support. The reality for most teen moms could not be more different. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, eight in 10 teen fathers do not marry the mother of their first child. Kids without involved fathers are twice as likely to drop out of school, twice as likely to abuse alcohol or drugs, twice as likely to end up in jail, and two to three times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems. Children who live apart from their fathers are also five times more likely to be poor than children with both parents at home.

Teen mothers, typically left to go it alone, are less likely to complete the education necessary to qualify for a well-paying job -- in fact, parenthood is the leading cause of school drop out among teen girls. College then becomes the remotest of possibilities. Less than two percent of mothers who have children before age 18 complete college by the age of 30.

Too often heartbreaking sacrifices are also foisted on the child of a teenage mom. The children of teen mothers are more likely to be born prematurely at low birthweight compared to children of older mothers, which raises the probability of infant death and disease, mental retardation, and mental illness. Children of teen mothers are 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade and are less likely to complete high school. The children of teen parents also suffer higher rates of abuse and neglect (two times higher).

Teen girls and their children are not the only ones paying dearly. Teen childbearing in the United States costs taxpayers (federal, state, and local) approximately $9.1 billion each year. Most of the costs are associated with services to address the negative consequences detailed above.

Teen pregnancy needs to be discussed honestly whenever the next Juno, Jamie Lynn or Bristol takes her baby bump primetime. Otherwise, "pregnancy pact" is a term we can all start getting used to.

For breaking news on threats to birth control access and information visit birthcontrolwatch.org

Comments

[indy100]

As someone who married at 17, and had a daughter get pregnant at 17, I believe that what we need in this country is more sex education, not less, and access to contraceptives. ABSTINANCE ONLY EDUCATION DOES NOT WORK. Never has, never will. Kids need the facts and the ability to protect themselves from disease and pregnancy.

I agree that the media glamorizes teen pregnancy, and most Americans know more about Britney Spears than who their elected leaders are. While I am glad that there is no longer a stigma attached to unmarried mothers (I'm an adoptee myself), it's not all fun and glamour either. Being a mom is HARD. And it's harder when you're young, have limited education and sometimes no support network. Options are limited, the choices are hard.

[crystalhaidl]

Cristina, you bring up critical concerns about society's failure to guide our children and teens re the ramifications of behavioral choices.

The media definitely is at fault for its adhesion to celebrity and the overall glamorization of everything.
Palin's comment "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned," was a 1/2 truth, but not the complete or fully accountable answer, in her role as both mother and political leader.

As role models, part of the problem is that many adults grapple with the same failures to not use contraceptives or to allow a moment of sexual desire to rule over us. Unplanned pregnancy is still common in those of us over 21. I include myself in the latter group. The difference being that we have the greater opportunity to have experience, resources and legal maturity to better handle those choices than teens, of course.

It's striking -- and i think very comparable--that in the 90s, the media was highlighting stories of teen girls in D.C. planning their funerals, as it was their natural environment to see so many youth die. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n13_v85/ai_14809482 I

[user168]

"The foundation of every state is the education of its youth."

[user168]

"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much."

[girlwhowentaway]

Please read "The Girls Who Went Away" by Ann Fessler. Opinion about unmarried pregnant women (regardless of age) changes with each generation.

[PamperedHousecat]

Don't decide that these girls got pregnant because they didn't know any better.
Having taught at the high school level, many girls told me they got pregnant on purpose. MORE than one said it was because "a baby gives you complete love". This is so sad. However, I also heard more than one mother say "I can't wait to be a grandma" knowing that their oldest kid is only 15.
Teen pregnancy has lost its element of shame. When I was coming up, a girl that got pregnant would be kicked out of school. The problem is, the boy that GOT her pregnant had no such penalty.

[PaulBradford]

It seems as if there's no way to be on the right side of this issue. If you oppose programs and policies to provide aid to young mothers, you're anti-woman and anti-poor. If you support them, you're guilty of encouraging the very behavior we should be trying to reduce. I'll take my chances with providing aid, and looking for some OTHER reason to get girls to avoid teenage pregnancy than the prospect that it would be a financial and emotional nightmare.

[Pulladigm]

Teen pregnancy is assumed by most to be the result of ignorance and a mistake. No one, that I have heard of, has done an in-depth study of adolescent mothers direct or by talking to the friends of these young woman to determine the causes.
Many adolescent girls' status in their peer group is identified w/ their couple status. That is, do they have a boyfriend and how 'hot' is he? As a result many girls become pregnant w/ an eye toward binding their boy friend to them.
I know that this appears to be putting the blame on the victims. I am aware that that seems unfair. However, unfortunately, sometimes that is where part of the blame lies.

[Star2000dancer]

In alot of cases the babt will be killed, ignored, hated, & abused for their entire life. When a woman doe'nt want the baby, they really do'nt want the babies. Those are the ones that should nnever have to be born into that hell.

[Elizabeth Gregory - Huffpost Blogger]

Palin"s candidacy brings front and center the whole set of questions to do with the politics of women"s work implied in all the mommy wars talk of the past ten years. We know the world (including the family) benefits when women can both raise kids and contribute in the paid workforce, but as a culture we"ve adopted an emperor"s new clothes mindset (in so many realms!) pretending that we don"t see what"s in front of us"in this case pretending that kids having kids"especially without real information about what it will mean for them"isn"t a loss to the economic/cultural system overall.
My understanding was that the "pregnancy pact" claims were false"that in fact the girls" pregnancies were linked to cut in funding of birth control access in the high school. But that wasn"t the way the media played it. A lot of the glamorization of pregnancy these days has to do with the press "pushing babies" as the exciting choice for women of all ages.
Which isn"t to say that people shouldn"t ever have kids young " they just need facts and a choice in the matter so that it really is an informed decision. When they do have kids, women of all ages suffer from the lack of support for family in our nation (see my recent posts on the topic). Lots of room for improvement!

[SoutheastReview]

Oh my! Has anyone read "Kristin Lavransdatter," a three volume novel about 13th century Scandanavia by Nobel winner Sigrid Undset? Kristin adhered to virginity and delaying gratification too, until she met Erlend and jumped the nunnery fence. Great literature from every age, including a 'Good Book' that many proselytizers favor, illustrates the centrality and inevitability of the human sexual response after puberty, menstruation, etc.

All who want rational conversation that is not proto-Nazi about this subject must acknowledge this premise's veracity. Otherwise, mumbo-jumbo judgment and horse-manure opinions gag the exchange before it can start. So saying, I am willing to start from this spot: people are sexual animals, not as a matter of choice but as a matter of biology; while individual responses to this fact vary, to posit that religion or education can lead to abstinence is at best absurd and at worst a criminal conspiracy against young women who end up 'holding the bag,' as it were.

Rational, honest, and sex-positive education, in conjunction with freely available contraception and abortion as a medical/personal option on demand, are inescapable aspects of human rights in any context other than fundamentalist nightmares or brutal throwbacks to feudal reaction. In reality, of course, as anyone who reads--Undset and others for the feudal context, Nobelist Orhan Pamuck and others for one set of fundamentalists, anyway--recognizes, we've never lived down to the insanity of the present 'promise-keeper's' hypocritical nonsense. Hopefully, we never will.

[dshwa]

It's hard to understand why we don't get this. If you look around the world, countries with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates are the ones with the most comprehensive sex education and liberal contraception policies. Holland, for example. It's even true just in the subset areas of this country: The places with the best sex education have the lowest teen pregnancy rates.

I wish someone in the media had asked Palin this, because it was the only legitimate question about her daughter:

"You have been a strong proponent of abstinence only sex education your entire political career. Scientific studies have shown that compared against comprehensive sex education these programs fail to prevent teenage pregnancy or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and in some cases actually increase risky sexual behaviors. Has your current family situation in regards to your daughter caused you to reconsider your position?"

That's a question I would have liked Katie Couric to ask.

[SoutheastReview]

The YouTube video of the reaction shot would have had the most hits in history.

[erikpritchard]

The idea that people are any kind of animal was the central justification of eugenics, so I'm reluctant to use the term, "sexual animals." Additionally, the term is a bit on the dehumanizing side, no?
I abstained from sex until after high school precisely because of religion and education. Surely I'm not alone. Therefore education or religious codes do influence sexual choices; outright denying this (you said it was absurd) isn't honest observation.
I think your suggestions rely too heavily on the philosophy of materialism. When we accept a purely materialist point of view, we have lost something human. So while your suggestions for dealing with the problem of teen pregnancy may appear practical, I'm not sure if their efficacy outweighs the loss of humanity. Ultimately the philosophy of materialism degrades the idea of human rights.
I'm suggesting a different starting point for the problem; one that is not so hard-core materialist. I don't think it would include free abortions for everybody. It could be abstinence education, it could be regular sex-education. Certainly it would include the reality that having a baby is a lot of unglamorous work.

[SoutheastReview]

"To each his own" is a 'Golden Rule' corollary. However, if one's 'own' advances political agendas that promote certain spiritual orientations, which insist that people are 'non-material' beings, well, I guess we'd have lots to argue. And I'm pretty sure that I'd have a lot of deceased 'founding fathers and mothers' and a substantial portion of living citizens on my side of the debate. Since I never said that abstinence itself was bad, however, I figure that we need to start with a note about that rather than getting into what the implications of your post might be.

Anyhow, I also never suggested that religious codes couldn't lead to varied choices. In fact, I said the opposite. Some people are practically asexual without a single intervening day in church or otherwise 'tied to the whipping post' of religious belief. Still, such is not the approach of the majority, most likely the vast majority, of our kind.

Here is what I did write:
"while individual responses to this fact(and, unless one holds that biology is meaningless, human sexuality is a fact) vary, to posit that religion or education can lead to abstinence is at best absurd and at worst a criminal conspiracy against young women."
I'll qualify this a bit, to soften the blow. "While individual responses to this fact vary, to posit that religion or education can lead to GENERAL AND HEALTHY abstinence is at best absurd and at worst a criminal conspiracy against young women."

[melpol]

Most middle class Americans have paid the price of fun time to be where they are financially. While others were busy having sex or watching ballgames, they spent most of their time figuring out ways to make a buck. Success is not for a chosen few, its for the few that choose it. If you are a person that is going to spend most of your youth having fun do not expect to earn a decent salary in the future. But never be jealous of those that made the sacrifice.

[dshwa]

That's elitist crap and you know it. Besides, teen pregnancy is nearly 100% preventable. It's morally superior people like you who want to punish those who've made different choices who are at fault here.

[tavote08]

My great great grandmother was about 13 yrs old when she had my great-grandmother, my great-grandmother was 12 yrs old when she had my grandmother, my grandmother was 15 yrs old when she had my mother, my mother was 18 yrs old when she had me, and I was twenty-seven yrs old when I had my daughter.

My daughter is a 16 yrs old virgin and because I believe in what I'm about to write here we are clear about sex and the responsibilities that come with such a choice. However, based on our conversations the majority of her friends, ages13-17, are sexually active.

2 b continued

[tavote08]

I've read thru most of the comments here and for the most part the point is being missed... In past generations it was the norm for women to have babies young but as time evolves things change and I believe each generation has an obligaton to do better than the last. The problem is we, as a society, have failed this generation, so rather than accept that failure we attempt to glorify it, make excuses, bury our head in the sand. or point fingers and judge... Race, religion, sex, economic background, political affiliation, pro-choice, pro-life it doesn't matter somewhere along the way we stop putting the children first.

In this day and age there is no such thing as an accidental pregnancy but there are such things as a lack of parental guidance, a lack of education, a lack of community support, a lack of self-worth, and a lack of standards (trust, morals, values, respect, convictions) I would venture to say all teenage pregnancies, short of rape, fit somewhere in these catagories. If we step up and take resposibility they will follow our lead...
"It Takes a Village to Raise A Child" Hillary Rodham Clinton

Just my two cents....

[disgusted48]

Parents that have children, that have children, should feel some responsibility for the situation. They weren't there for them emotionally, or didn't have a relationship where the child could go to the parent to discuss birth control options, or the parents did not discuss the child's future and set goals for that child, or the parent just let the child run wild. sarah palin and the first dude let their daughter down, and society down. America needs our children to be the best they can be. We don't need anymore pregnant high school drop outs. Hopefully the palins can turn this around and support bristol in finishing high school, and going on the get some kind of training or education. sarah palin should dedicate her time to mothering her teenage, little and infant children. See if she can get that right first before she starts making decisions for the rest of us.

[NoNotAgain]

disgusted I agree with you. What are we doing to our children ?
For years as a STD nurse clinician in an inner city clinic-- pregnancy like STD's is no
respector of persons.

There were those who freguent our clinics to hide from their private MD's.
The story was basically the same, it did not matter what side of town they ( youth) were from.
Lack of goals
Too much freedom
Mixed messages from the parents
Sex, early pregnancies,STD,Hiv and Aids not discussed in the home and if the question was asked " Who is responsible for this child of under age parent ?"did anyone answer it.This is not cute and this baby is not a doll !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Outcome-----------mother and father are high school drop outs----like Palins children but many of our youth will not be cared for as Palin' high school drop outs. There is a Scary possibility this
group will be the poster child " Sex, Under Age Pregnancy,High School Drop Out,May get you a room in the White House"" Sickening--------------

[kyria]

Can we please stop attacking young women for having children? Physically, the teenage years are the optimal time for reproduction. In many traditional societies, babies are raised by their grandmothers. This allows teenage mothers time to grow up without harming the kids. The problem isn't teenage pregnancy, but the fact that women are still forced into a patriarchal system that punishes us no matter what we do.

[berrycooda]

Oh boo hoo hoo....Who do you think is paying for these teen age pregnancies...They have the babies,
grandma's baby sit and the gov't pays for college and rent asst. and wick programs + food stamps.

How about doing it right....First comes love...then comes marriage then comes the baby carriage.

Get your education first ... then go to work like many nice girls do and quit relying on the liberal
government to give you a free ride.

[disgusted48]

berrycooda,

newsflash the government is not liberal. The congress has had a slim democratic majority for 18 months, but was firmly republican since 1994, and the supreme court and the executive branches have been republican for the last eight years.

Try it be more logical and correct in your responses as opposed to angry name calling, and slinging around incorrect information that you heard somewhere, but can't back up as fact.

Although kyria is definitely wrong in her assertions, why are you and other republicans so hateful and angry?

[volma]

Cut and paste conservative propaganda...The government is not liberal and has not been for years and years...You need to get an education. Women on TANIF, AKA, Temporary Assistance for Needy families program, AKA WELFARE, has a 5 year limit. The recipients are required to check in every day at their local Jobs center, attend once a week workshops with their weekly paper work proving what jobs they have looked for as required along with names numbers etc, and the requirement is higher than those who are collecting unemployment. If they fail to find any job, they are required to attend more seminars to correct the employment market... Any person in their right mind would want a job just to get out of this punitive system.....Poor people are not allowed to go to college, they can if they get student grants and loans which is available to any who are eligible for it, and they work full time, which allows plenty of time to be a good parent.....Many families who are in the military depend on WIC and foodstamps too. I don't know what planet BC is from, what time in history he/she lives in but apparently it's not earth, USA 2008...All you managed to do is spout old worn out, non relevant or true propaganda! At least you could educate and update your speel!.

[r bee]

Of course, in Conservative Fairytale Land nice girls are supposed to dump their jobs as soon as they can find husbands and live off of the man's paycheck...who's getting a free ride now, eh?

[meede]

Excuse me -- This Grandma already did her time thank you very much including the sex education and providing birth control with said daughter.

Grandma has a job earning towards her own retirement. Grandma has a life with friends, to travel. Not Grandma's responsibility to raise daughter's child for her to return to engage in her playful life as that is what many statistics are. There is being supportive and helpful -- but definitely Grandma's life doesn't stop because daughter got pregnant. Daughter cannot handle care/upbringing of child with some help from Grandma -- then she has to seriously decide her options, one being adoption.

To say to quit attacking young women -- it's not attacking but it's not coddling them when they have been provided all the tools and they choose to be irresponsible. Get pregnant as a teen, then it's the teen's responsibility, with some help, as to daycare, feedings, diapers, school, work, etc.

In the case of Bristol -- it's a fact -- birth control was not an option. If you believe teenage years are the optimal time -- you need some counselling. If a counsellor has advised you of that, that person should be reported and you should find a new one.

Your ref to traditional societies -- excuse me, we're in 2008 in the US -- not the 1950's when girls would have been sent away. Forced into a patriarchal system etc. -- I don't know your situation but if you are not under counselling,

[volma]

Kyria, the teen years are not the best time physically in any form (biologically,emotionally financially etc..) to have children... Parenting is hard hard work in every sense, teens and any children born now are in a cutthroat new world, a college education is required just to live modestly.. Without this the fate of being the working poor awaits them...Struggling to keep food on the table, having no medical insurance the negatives out weigh the positives.I have worked with working poor families...It's a ugly spiral, it keeps women and children poor, the conservative government does not want these people to break out of their poverty...As long as you have a underclass of uneducated poor people you have a job market for work that no one else wants to do......No parent would want to condemn their children into a life of perpetual, poverty..I know what I am talking about, I was married by 17 had my first child at 19 divorced/abandoned by 21 it was a hard long struggle for me and my child, not fun glamorous or exciting...I gave up the rest of my youth and struggled at low wage jobs ..I wouldn't recommend looking for love, or prince charming to rescue you, that's only in fairytale s...Teens are still so young and naive.

[darker]

Nobody's attacking young women for having children.

Have you noticed the HYPOCRISY of the RIGHTWING HATE MONGERS who
promote their PATHOLOGICAL MISOGYNY and fascism by NOT funding
CONTRACEPTION, WOMEN'S HEALTH, EDUCATION and ABORTION RIGHTS?

All of these are REPUBLICAN smoke & mirrors "issues" when ALL of them SHOULD BE A RIGHT.

No more years for Republican corruption and lies.
Vote for common sense and responsibility.
Obama-Biden.

[klmebane]

actually, medically, teenagers and young girls have more than a double risk for numerous birth defects, complications, and miscarriage. generally speaking teens are not responsible enough to do what they need to do while they are pregnant, like taking vitamins, getting prenatal check-ups, and not smoking, drinking, or doing drugs. yes, there are teens who do very well at parenting but they are the exception, not the rule. also, i'm a firm believer that if you need your mom/dad to raise your kid you shouldn't be having it. have kids when you can do the majority of the work yourself. parents and grandparents have different relationships with the children in question.

[berrycooda]

Some of these girls get pregnant and can afford to care for their offspring.

There is another group who get pregnant and know the government will send them a check plus
food stamps, rent assistance, college etc.

The more babies they have, the bigger the check gets.
The father's stay with them and don't get married so single mothers get all the rewarding government
perks.

[nk007]

berrycooda:

There you go again with your veiled racism! It is O.K for rich white teens to be pregnant but poor blacks get pregnant so that they can have more checks from the government. You people are such hypocrites! You used to argue that Black teens get pregnant because they are highly sexualized and lack family values, but now that the "emperor has no clothes" you resort to welfare cheats. I got news for you: rich whites get more of our tax money, though we don't call it welfare. But I suppose you view yourself as family values Christian.

[JustMyWords]

LOL - what planet are you from? You ARE aware, aren't you, that what you seem to think of as 'money for nothing' doesn't even come close to being enough to raise a child on? Despite your Ronald-Reagan-Cadillac-Welfare-Queen rhetoric, no one has children just to collect what you apparently think is some kind of wild cash bonanza....

[NoNotAgain]

derrycooda,who do you think will take care of Palin's

two high school drop outs ? They will not need a $ 100.00 per month check
because the government will take care of them,either on Penn.Ave or Juno Alaska.