The "P" Word
By: Jenny Heath

What do Oprah Winfrey, Rosanne Barr and Loretta Lynn all have in
common? Along with being strong famous women, they were all pregnant
as teenagers. Given our society’s current fascination with celebrities, it is
not hard to find recent stories of teenage celebrity pregnancies such as
Jamie Lynn Spears or Keisha Castle-Hughes. Even though we hear so much
about teen pregnancy from media sources, there was a decline of 36% from
1990-2002 of teen pregnancies according to data from the Guttmacher
Institute, however, newer research from The National Campaign to End
Teenage Pregnancy suggests that rates have increased by 3% from 2005 to
2006.

Growing up as a young woman
in our culture, many girls get
the message from families,
religious institutions and
schools about the perils of
pregnancy. To be sure,
pregnancy and motherhood are
life changing in that they
impact all future decisions.

One doesn’t have to think hard
to find fictional media images
of struggling teen mothers
(think of the made-for-TV movies, Fifteen and Pregnant and Mom at
Sixteen) in fact there is almost a whole TV network devoted to it called
Lifetime for Women (a misnomer perhaps since most of the story plots are
against women.) Who are the writers and directors of these stories about
young pregnant women? Many of the teen mothers are even played by older
actors. Ironically, many of the popular movies or TV shows are not written
or directed by young women but rather older adults and often directed by
men. Rather than focusing on media that is not created by the subjects it
talks about, this author went in search to hear stories from actual teens. If
one wants to find out what teens are thinking about in regards to teen
pregnancy, the search needs to begin with local and community agencies
that are working directly with teenagers.

On March 11, 2008, four hours after school was released, what would you
expect most teens to be doing? Many people wouldn’t be surprised to find
out that a group of about 18 teenagers, between the ages of 15-18, were
sitting around mounds of pizza, talking passionately about their peers. I was
surprised however to hear about what they were so engaged in discussing
issues around sex education and teen pregnancy. For the past 5 years,
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (representing Maine, New
Hampshire and Vermont) have been hosting teen council meetings where
they invited teens to come in to talk about what’s on their mind and use
their rich discussions to help change and update their programming for
teens. (And you thought people didn’t listen to you?)

Catriona McHardy, the Vice President of Education and Training opened the
office’s doors and pizza boxes to me and here is what I learned:

Teens know so much about sex education and teen pregnancy. If they are in
a safe space to talk about real issues, they have strong positions about their
own personal beliefs and take those views seriously. (How can schools use
teen’s knowledge to advocate for teen leadership and ownership of their
own bodies and futures?) Many teens admitted that sex education was
important for all teens but for some freshman year is too early and for
others sophomore year is too late.  

Most teens get their information about sex
education and teen pregnancy from TV,
movies, magazines, their families and
friends. Sometimes getting your informa-
tion from various sources can help people
gain different perspectives and ideas. It
can be dangerous however if the informa-
tion is coming from a group or a person
that has a hidden agenda. Or it can be
overly biased, say for example, you get all
your relationship tips from watching TV, if many of those producers are
around the same age or the same gender they might have advice that is
beneficial to them. Question all media, including this article!

Most teens feel like teen pregnancy is not a good thing, in fact, there are
many negative consequences associated with it. Although some teens felt
like they may get support from parents, friends or family members, most of
the students in the group feel bad when they see pregnant peers in the halls.
They feel for their classmates because they know that people are judging
them and that teens are still young themselves. A lot of teens also felt that
there are so many pressures and responsibilities already. Having a baby
makes it difficult to finish school which in turn makes it hard to earn a good
living to support yourself and your child.  

Schools have different ways of handling teen pregnancy. Since many of the
students came from different schools, there were different opinions about
what they thought would happen to pregnant peers. One student shared that
she believed students could actually be kicked out of school for being
pregnant. Another student thought that students could take a leave of
absence and could choose to come back when they are ready. Another teen
thought that in her school, if a teen leaves for any reason they are not
allowed to come back. (Check out your school policy, do you think it is fair?)

Teenagers have babies for many different reasons. Some students thought
maybe boyfriends pressure their girlfriends to have babies in order to seem
more “manly”. Others thought that young women might choose to have a
baby to get out of school, get away from their home life, or as a way to keep
their boyfriend. (This article does not support these strategies). It is also
possible that teens make quick decisions and don’t actually plan for the
consequences such as pregnancy or STDS. (A new study this week suggests
that 1 in 4 teens have an STD).

Although, this article certainly wants to reiterate many other articles and
experts’ opinions about the lasting and life-changing quality of teenage
pregnancies, this author would like to discover more and hear more from
the actual teens themselves. The world needs to hear not just their personal
stories but also their views on policies and legislation. Young men and
women need to change and create policies that impact their bodies and
reproductive rights. Giving the current political arena this may begin with
them choosing candidates and local representatives that reflect their own
views. (You don’t need to be able to vote to show your support this
campaign season).

In order to make healthy choices about our bodies, friends and
relationships it is important to understand what resources are available.
The internet is overloaded with thousands of websites devoted to sex
education and information on teen pregnancy. Be careful when searching
through sites, because many websites try to trick their viewers with phony
data or false claims. One way to tell if a website might be slanting the truth
is to look at its sponsors. Sometimes certain political or religious groups will
sponsor websites to promote their beliefs. (This isn’t necessarily a negative
thing, but something users should be aware of). Here are some helpful links
for more information on teen pregnancy:

http://www.teenwire.com/
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/
http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/state-data/default.aspx