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Stop killing children and ruining their lives, teens have no rights to make someone else suffer for their mistakes. Some teens are so irresponsible; they?d go and have a child when they can?t even take care of themselves yet. So I do not support teen pregnancy and don?t think it?s a good thing. I know that there are other people who support my argument and some people who don?t. But I believe that everyone believes in what they believe in for a reason. So I?ll respect that but everyone should have an open mind and try to view a situation at another angle. Also if there?s anytime that you find something that sounds reasonable for you to support, support it, no one said that you have to support a belief for your whole life.

First of all, let?s look at the situation a teen is in right now. No car, no house, doesn?t have a profession (working at a fast-food restaurant is not a professional job and etc...). Or a proper education yet, yes they could finish high school with the child but chances are very slim, because less than 1/3 of teen mothers do receive a high school diploma. So in other words, a teenager isn?t stable enough to support a family as of yet. That?s one of the many other main components towards why teenagers shouldn?t have kids yet.

Secondly, lets look at the position the child of a particular teenage mother is in. A pregnant teenager could abort the baby and go on with her life. But by doing this she is practically taking away an innocent child?s life. Then she can always keep the child but chances are she?ll quit school because of all the pressure. So if the mother was to quit school and go to work to support the child, everything is going to be alright right? Well, it?s a pretty nice thought but wrong, there?s no way that a teenager without a high school diploma could support a family. You might be thinking, but there?s the father, right? Well the problem here is the girl and the guy isn?t married so he could just leave her irresponsibly. Also the girl is going to have to move out one day and how?s life going to be for her child from then on?

Finally, lets look at teenage pregnancy at the angle of the pregnant girl?s family. When a girl is pregnant her family has to bear a lot of shame including the girl herself. Then there?s all the scolding the girl would be receiving instead of congratulation presents. While the guys family, well nothing really happens in the guy?s family except the parents might tell the son good job son, you?re getting a BMW tomorrow. Then the guy?s family might throw a party so that the guy could invite his new-girlfriend over. All the shame of teenage pregnancy goes to the girl and her family. Now even though some families don?t care if their teenage daughter comes home pregnant, but it?s very rare. Like here?s an example, you?re a parent one day and your 14 year old daughter came home saying, ?Mom, dad my boy friend got me pregnant and he?s busy mashing on some other chick now, is that ok?? What would your reaction be?

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the different treatments and responsiblities each gender have towards the kid or don't have. or whatever that comes to your mind, lol.

Abortion seems to me to be the best choice of action in the event of team pregnancy. However if they decide to let the baby develop then both parties should be equally responsible for raising it.

I couldn't agree with you more--the abstinance-only education is the biggest problem as far as teen pregnancies are concerned; people just have these idealist and unrealistic expectations of others, and that includes the expectation that teens shouldn't have sex. Well believe it or not, they're going to, so might as well make the best out of the situation.

While I do agree with you, Omnileech, I think the parents have some responsibility anyway. Since schools are obviously not doing it, I think parents should be the ones to teach their kids about sex and the consequences. There are still kids that, even after sitting through a health class, don't understand what can happen after they have sex.

There are boys I know who are stupid enough to think "more condoms = better" instead of realizing that condoms are made for you to only wear one. I do not have sex with boys, (well, I might some day, but I don't see it happening any time soon, but that's beside the point) but, for a few reasons, I understand birth control better than most straight people in my school.

First, my mom is a labor and delivery nurse, so when we found out I was having a little brother at age two and a half, she gave me an illustrated book about having babies. It didn't talk about sex exactly, it was the "when a mommy and daddy love each other very much" abridged version, but it did explain the baby growing in the uterus. We went all over it again when I was four and a half and my brother was two when my sister was born. Then when we got old enough to understand the mechanics of sex involved in baby making, we were taught that. Then we were taught all the emotional and relationship things, and why I should not have sex until I'm ready, and that I wouldn't be ready for a long time.

My mom taught me all of these things before I ever had a sex ed class (which was in seventh grade) I already knew all about hetero-sex. I already knew all about pregnancy, birth contro, and STDs, and much more about the female body (MY body) than they ever taught in school.

Sorry I got kind of off topic there and kind of ranty. The point is, I'm not getting pregnant any time soon, and wouldn't be even if I was having sex with a boy, because my mom taught me all about sex all through my childhood that was congruent with my maturity level. I don't know anybody else who actually had that. I was mostly the one who taught other kids actual information about sex to counteract what they were getting from the media, their older siblings, and the idiot kids on the bus. Even though we don't have abstinance only sex ed at my school, I don't think they talk about it early enough. Nobody wants to admit that children are sexual, but they are, and they learn a lot of misinformation from a very young age. Teen pregnancy would be a much smaller problem if parents would get involved in their children's education.

I do not see where I am disagreering with you guys. I never was much interested in sex so I didn't learn the mechanics of it until high school health class. I agree that it is the responsibility of the parent to teach kids about it but I'm saying that it is unfair for the parents to have to raise a new baby because their teen children did not use protection.

Sorry, I got distracted with some music for long enough that I was logged out... sweatdrop

Anyway, what I mean is, if the parents have not taught their children sufficiently, they have a responsibility to at least help take care of their teenager's child. I don't mean they should take care of it without the help of their teenager, but I do think that they need to help, because teenagers are not generally good parents, and would really need some assistance, especially if they intend to stay in school.

At the very least, they should help their teenager decide what to do with the baby without pressuring them one way or the other. If the parents make their teenager keep the baby, by threatening to pull support if they don't, or taking away college tuition, or something like that, then they should definitely more than just help take care of it.

Look at how gender neutral I was being. xd Most of those would usually be "daughter" instead of "teenager," but if a teenaged boy fathers a baby, I think he should take care of the baby too, and his parents should help as much as hers, or more if hers are not helping.

I think that a pregnant teen needs counseling and support more than she needs people telling her what to do. Which is why I believe in information rather than obedience. I think that she should be presented with all the information possible and then she should decide. A baby changes everything, but an abortion may do that as well. (I know this isn't much help but the book Listen Up!: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation has one such story.) I don't think a person is doing herself a "favor" if she blindly goes and has an abortion. A pregnancy is still a responsibility to be thought of, hopefully before you get pregnant.



It doesn't help, but we had people from a teen clinic come to talk to us about those things. Is that included in all health classes across the country? Probably not, but it's a start.



They don't want to ackgnowledge the fact that OMG! GAY PEOPLE HAVE SEX! it's not vaginal sex and they're not used to it, I guess.

We had some clinic come in, again,a nd they actually ahd models to show us how a cervical exam is done and how to insert various contraceptives. They weren't embarrassed to name the parts, which was refreshing, but we didn't talk about the clitoris.