Seperate schools for pregnant girls vs. homeschooling vs. staying in school

An article on Takepart.comhttp://www.takepart.com/news/2011/02/09/what-do-teen-moms-need-most-a-quality-education- outlines the experience of an attorney and her thoughts on helping pregnant teens graduate. 

In short, she argues that pregnant teens often are forced out of school simply for being pregnant.  They sometimes are home schooled.  However, in New York City a small number of "P schools" were established.  These schools were specially designed for pregnant teens.  While geared toward pregnant teens, the schools are criticized by her as being too easy.  It is no doubt difficult to raise a newborn and go to school, but is it fair to graduate pregnant teens if they don't face the same rigorous studies as other high school students?  The P schools are now closed in New York.

Do you think its a good idea to have special schools for teenage mothers?  They have specific and unique needs and could benefit from a special school.  Do you think teenage mothers should try and stay at their current school, even though it might be difficult to complete attendance and academic requirements while raising a child?  Should Teenage mother be home schooled?  Is it more important to have the diploma than learn the information it symbolizes?

Although difficult, I think it would be best for teen mothers to attempt to graduate from regular high schools.  I think that the better education is worth the extra time and effort, and resources should be spent trying to keep teen parents in school rather than establishing special schools for them.

Taylor Z.

Is teenage marriage a solution?

Is teenage marriage a solution?

Teen Mom's Leah Pulls Plug on Marriage

Teen Mom's Leah Pulls Plug on Marriage,

Divorcing Corey After Six Months

An avid Teen Mom watcher as well as Sixteen and Pregnant watcher, this news crushed me yesterday. We were all pulling for them! But, it seems like its final. Corey and Leah are getting divorced. This made me look into more statistics on teenage marriage/divorce rates. Was it just fame going to their heads or are teenage couples just not always ready for it? I looked at an article by the Center for Law and Social Policy, and it seems like marriage just isn't always in the best interest so young. What do you all think? Should couples try to "make it work" for the baby? Or is it better to wait it out until your older?

Sarah D

Title X...again

We all know the crazy controversy that went on last week about the government shutting down. SHUTTING DOWN!? That can't be good for the economy. Why is this even relevant to this blog about 16 and pregnant. WELL since you asked...I shall tell you...Kind of. I'm not really well versed in the taxes, budget cuts, and political parties areas but what I do know made some sense to me. It was basically a stalemate between the democrats and the republicans about tax cuts for funding for family planning organizations. Well of course the word abortions loomed in the air every conversation that was had. The parties couldn't agree so everything was going to be at a stand still. Entertainingly enough the President's reaction to John Boehner when he asked for the elimination of funds for title X....Obama said "Nope. ZERO"

This is so fascinating the back and fourth between the two parties about issues that most of these men would not even have to endure once in their live. Thursday it was decided that no money would be cut and the government wouldn't shut down. Go America! What do you all think?

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/09/6439868-obama-to-boehner-on-title-x-cuts-nope-zero


-Alice M.

Granting Teens Some Help $$$

Recently, (Thursday September 10, 2010 to be exact) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that $155 million in teen pregnancy prevention grants are being awarded to states, non-profit organizations, school districts, universities, and others. These grants will support the replication of teen pregnancy prevention programs that have been shown to be effective through rigorous research as well as the testing of new, innovative approaches to combating teen pregnancy.

“This investment will help bring evidence-based initiatives to more communities across the country while also testing new approaches so we can expand our toolkit of effective interventions." says HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. I think this will be help our country deal with the teen pregnancy epidemic in an educational and positive way. There is no way this program can hurt and I hope teens truly benefit from these new opportunities and start making wiser decisions on their own. 

$100 million comes from the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program.

$55 million comes from the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP)

-Kelsey P.

"Bills, bills, bills"

There is a new bill trying to be passed called "heartbeat bill". It stipulates that women cannot get an abortion if a heartbeat of the fetus can be detected. The only exception to the law is if the abortion is done in a medical emergency. The article "Abortions battles spring up nationwide as states test the limits of Roe v. Wade" explains how the bill came to be and states the bill does not seem likely to pass, however that won't stop anti-abortionists from trying.

I believe that if this bill would pass, there will be few abortions because a fetus' heart beats 4 weeks after conception. Most women do not know they are even pregnant at that time unless they were trying to conceive and if they were trying to conceive then they would not need to utilize an abortion in the first place. I disagree with this bill and agree that it likely will not pass.

Other states meanwhile are trying to pass bills, like Texas that requires women to get a sonogram before they get an abortion. I think that this is terrible because it will further the guilt some people feel towards abortion and then you will have an increase in unwanted children being born. South Dakota is trying to pass a bill that says women have to receive a consultation 72 hours before the abortion. A consultation for what? To talk them out of it? To give them resources for counseling? This has some pros and cons.

Kristen, M

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20044823-503544.html

Young People Have Sex

So, I found this video, on my grandmother's Facebook page of all places: We Have Sex. It's a video of Methodist college students, basically, creating  PSA in favor of standing with Planned Parenthood and standing up for Title X funding from the US government. After watching this video, I began to think about how relevant it was in relation to our 16&Pregnant class. Often times, more times than not, the topic of teenagers having sex is a bit of a taboo subject matter. Older generations don't like to think that teenagers have sex, but they do. Sometimes teens have sex because it feels good, because they love someone, or because they want to feel loved.

The education of teenagers as sexual beings is extremely important to the progress of their emotional and physical development. When education programs shift toward an abistance only teaching method and students have Bristol Palin to look up to as a role model, the unanswered questions and overall ignorance toward teen's sexuality could be dangerously detrimental. If funding for Title X and ogranizations like Planned Parenthood are cut, students with abstinence-only education are left to fend for themselves in a world they are not equipped to handle properly.

Young people have sex. It's essential that we educate and provide options to keep them safe, healthy, and happy.

-Andrea W.

What are the consequences of choosing to keep a child?

If teen pregnancy could be reduced or eliminated by better education or social environment, should it?  Are there any problems innate in becoming pregnant at a young age, or are all of the problems caused by society's views on teen pregnancy?

There are many social, economical, and personal consequences of becoming pregnant as a teenager.  Teen mothers face many problems ranging from criticism by peers and family, economic troubles, and even health risks for both the baby and themselves.  

A study by authors at the CDC (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1477817/pdf/pubhealthrep00178-0074.pdf) set out to see if there is a correlation between infant death and the age of the mother.

Two and a half million births were included in the study, and only mothers between the ages of 10 and 29 years old.  Their is a strong correlation between infant death and low birth weight.  But the question remains: is low birth weight inherent to babies of young mothers, or are environmental factors mostly to blame?

The authors of the study elaborated on adjustments of the data to include socio-economic status.  With these adjustments, the mortality rates of teen mothers became significantly closer to those who gave birth in their twenties.  Furthermore, by counting for the lack of prenatal care, the authors believe that their is no, or significantly less, increased risk to babies born to teenage mothers.  They believe that all or most of the problems caused by teen pregnancies result from bad pre-natal care and poor economic status.

This study was conducted many years ago, do you think that infant mortality for infants born to teenage mothers has improved with better access to prenatal care?  Or have we failed as a society to give teen mothers access to such needed care?


-Taylor Z.

Why Teen Pregnancy is a Poverty Problem

Why Teen Pregnancy is a Poverty Problem 

This short article addresses the issues of Poverty and Teenage pregnancy and the correlation between the two. I chose this article because I thought the relationship between the highest area of teenage pregnancies and poverty according to state was very interesting. "Mississippi, for example, has the nation's highest rate of poverty and the third highest rate of teen pregnancies. New Mexico is third in poverty and second in teen pregnancies. Texas leads in teen pregnancies and comes in ninth in the poverty rankings." "(M G). What other contributing factors come into play when it comes to teenage pregnancy? Another issue that made me think while reading this article was, if we are a thriving economic country why comparatively do you still have such a high percentage of teenage pregnancies? Should we make abstinence only education or should we be teaching teenagers about the dangers and precautions necessary for a healthy sex life?

Sarah D

What does it take to fight teen pregnancy

     Teen pregnancy the newest fad in social problems has been plaguing the news lately. The society has been trying to "fix" the problem. What does it really take to fix a problem of this stature? What about $30 million dollars? As if we haven't tried to bandage this wound with band-aids why not through money on top of it? The tax payers are already emptying their pockets to pay for welfare and WIC but now there may or may not people a governmental push for more money. There has not been a proven program that lowers teen pregnancies so what will the $30 million dollars actually go to? The article from wwl.com says that there will be pushes to even ask out faith-based institutions for help with this.
     In my own opinion the only thing that will "fight" this social problem is a culture shift. Maybe teen pregnancy will be less prevalent or more accepted but what will an extra $30 million dollars help?

-Alice McElroy

$30 Mil to prevent teen pregnancy?

Home Is Not Where The Heart Is For Some Pregnant Teens..

“Women exposed to abuse, violence and family strife in childhood are more likely than those without such experiences to have a teenage pregnancy; the greater the number of adverse childhood experiences, the higher the likelihood of pregnancy”, this is according to a retrospective study of women attending a primary care clinic in San Diego. It is never really discussed in the episodes of “Teen Mom” and “16 & Pregnant” the background of the young people that get pregnant, but obviously this could play a part in why they had sex and got pregnant.

Obviously the show would not display too much, if any, abuse or violence between family members so it is important to keep these factors in mind when watching the show and remember they could be present. It is unfortunate that the gift of a child has to be the “accident” of a dysfunctional relationship between family members. 

Sadly, it makes sense that someone getting hurt would just simply want to be loved. This would explain their consent to sex, even if they know the risks. Could the answer be that we need more counseling about teaching teens to get help if they are hurting at home rather than sex itself?

--Kelsey P

Absent Teenage Fathers. Fact or Fiction?

In the NPR video of "MTV's 'Teen Mom' Makes for Teaching Moments", it was stated that none of the fathers stuck around for their child in 16 and Pregnant 2. I have also noticed that it was quite frequent to see the father become absent some or all of the time. How prevalent is absent teenage fathers in the US?

According to Times' article "Teenage Fathers: The Missing Father Myth", discusses that not only were teenage fathers willing, but were eager to help. Times also stated that teenage fathers are usually depicted as "churlish scamps, irresponsible hit-and-run artists out to prove their sexual prowess without a thought for the consequences". They went on to discover, however, that "82% reported having daily contact with their children; 74% said they contributed to the child's financial support. Almost 90% maintained a relationship with the mother, whom they had known for an average of two years". The article went on to discuss some of the struggles teen fathers face and what programs are being established to help them as well as teen mothers. I think it is important to remember that for every teen mom there is a father too.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1074862-1,00.html

-Montgomery, K

Glamorizing Teen Pregnancy?

Are they celebrities or the best birth control ever?

The ever elicit and opinionated Kim Kardashian has something to say about the controversy swirling around MTV's "Teen Mom" and "16 & Pregnant" franchise: teen pregnancy shouldn't be the "trendy thing to do". Kardashian quickly took to her personal blog to proclaim her concern for the supposedly ever-growing teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. after her appearance on the Today Show.

Though the idea of teen pregnancy has been splashed all over media outlets, statistics say that teen pregnancy rates have actually dropped - and that MTV can be thanked for that. In Janice Armstrong's article "Teen Pregnancy Rate Drops" for Philly.com, she compares the effects "16 & Pregnant" as well as "Teen Mom" to those of a "cold shower". Further in her piece, and interviewee suggests that the fear of glamorizing teen pregnancy through the media, may be a generational issue. While the older generation sees shows like "Teen Mom" and "16 & Pregnant" as a way to idolize teen mothers and reckless intercourse, the younger generation sees this as a wake up call and "probably the best teen-pregnancy PSAs that have ever been produced."

If Kim Kardashian feels that watching your peers go through agonizing pregnancies/labors and countless fights with families and/or significant others is glamorizing the notion of teen pregnancy rather than discouraging it, she must have a very obtuse definition of "glamorizing".

-Andrea W.