GainesvilleMoms.com

Sorry, I didn't have the link to this so I'm just posting the whole story.

There are so many issues bundled up in the news of teen pregnancy. I thought the movie "Juno" was great and didn't glamorize teen pregnancy. But even with the closing scene of Juno crying in her hospital bed post-partum, do you think it made teen pregnancy look too easy?


Does pregnancy look a little too cool lately?
By MEGAN K. SCOTT
Associated Press Writer
News that 17 girls at a Massachusetts high school became pregnant this year is raising questions about whether pregnancy has become something alluring to teens.

Many teen pregnancies still take place against a backdrop of economic distress or a search for love, experts say — that's been the case for years.

But counselors say they now are also concerned about a combination of factors that may make it easier for teens to become sexually active without fully understanding the potential consequences: Glamour shots of pregnant celebs are featured in magazines and on TV alongside increasingly sexualized fashions and images of younger girls.

Nationwide, the teen birth rate rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006, the most recent year with data available, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was the first increase recorded since 1991, though federal officials said it might be a one-year statistical blip.

Some say teens' understanding of pregnancy and parenthood may be skewed by real-life celebrity pregnancies as well as some recent fictional movies.

While there have always been celebrities who had babies, today's teen girls absorb coverage of their favorite actresses and singers voraciously: A report issued by Experian Consumer Resarch, found that 23 percent of teen girls surveyed in 2004 had read Us Weekly in the last six months, compared with 6 percent in 2000, for example.
Front and center in those celebrity magazines: Babies and their fashionable mamas.

Barely a week goes by without some kind of celebrity baby coverage — speculation about "baby bumps;" coverage of swanky celebrity baby showers; and of course, loving pictures of the babies themselves, often with their adoring, perfectly styled moms.

Carol Weston, who writes an advice column for Girls' Life magazine, says the glamorous images of pregnant celebrities can inspire young girls to become mothers. Teens get the idea that pregnancy is fun, says Weston, author of "Girltalk: All the Stuff Your Sister Never Told You."

Kimberly Hughes, a 16-year-old from Glen Rock, N.J., who reads US Weekly, People and CosmoGIRL!, agrees.

"I like reading the stories. It's really interesting seeing the lives of celebrities. It seems to be so easy for them, but in reality, it's not like that for them at all," she says. Baby pictures in particular send a certain message, she says. "It's like look at what you can do if you have a baby. Look at these cool perks you get out of it."

Magazine editors say celebrity pregnancy has always been news.

"People has been covering and celebrating celebrity babies for over 34 years from Cher and Greg Allman's son to Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's twins," the magazine said in a statement. "Our readers have come to expect these kinds of intimate family moments in the pages of the magazine, and we plan to continue to deliver this inside access."

Us Weekly declined to comment.

Movies can also influence teens, Weston said. After "Juno," an Oscar-winning 2007 movie about a regular high school student who becomes pregnant, came out, Weston received lots of letters from teens who wanted to have babies, she said.

Weston said girls may not realize that most stories don't end like Juno's, who found a beautiful, rich woman to take care of her baby and still kept her boyfriend.

"It's not that pretty, especially if you have no degree, no job, and no mate," she says.

The Hollywood endings suggest that the U.S. is not taking pregnancy seriously enough, says Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

"To me, it just seems like another choice in life," he says. "Like, 'what color clothes am I going to wear on Friday? What movie am I going to go to? Should I have a baby?'"

Tierra Townsend, 18, of Tampa, Fla., who has a 1-year-old son, says there's no glamour to being a teen mom. She thought the baby's father was going to be there for her, but he is no longer part of her or his son's life. She never finished high school and is working at McDonald's to make ends meet.

"I would say to any young female who is trying to have a child at a young age, 'Don't,'" she says. "Stay in shool, get a good education, save kids until later when you are married."

Sex also seems to be everywhere: The number of sexual scenes on television has nearly doubled since 1998, according to Sex on TV 4, a biennial study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. And there are plenty of children's dolls and characters — not to mention teen stars — who wear skimpy clothes or have exaggerated, sensual shapes.

Of course, no one thinks teens are running out to have babies because they saw a pretty big-bellied woman in a magazine or a cartoon character with cleavage.

But for girls searching for direction or low on self-esteem or parental support, the combinations of these factors may make it easier for teens to have sex and figure the consequences won't be such a big deal. Girls from poor homes are especially vulnerable, experts say.

"When communities are stressed and families are stressed, it's very difficult for parents to be providing the kind of love and nurturing that adolescents need," says Ellen deLara, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Syracuse. "When that happens, adolescents will try to come up with something that will meet their needs for love and support."

If the problem is pop culture, perhaps part of the answer is, too. A new NBC reality series, "The Baby Borrowers," features five couples, ages 18-20, tasked with taking care of babies, toddlers, pre-teens, teens and senior citizens. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy worked with NBC on the show and created a special discussion guide.

Next week, ABC Family is airing "The Secret Life of an American Teenager," with "good-girl band geek Amy" who is "smart, talented ... and pregnant."

Most teens are certainly not longing to have babies, says Nadine Kaslow, a professor in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. Parents can use the images of pregnancy in pop culture, and the pregnancy outbreak in Gloucester, Mass., to talk to their children about their attitudes toward sex and pregnancy.

"Parents and schools really need to be open in talking about all sorts of topics including premarital sex, having babies and contraception," says Kaslow. "We need to really help kids think through this."

This is a very scary idea. Although some teens are quite mature, very very few are ready for parenthood. Yes, there are some teen mothers who go on to do amazing things with their lives -- they are wonderful mothers, they go to college, they succeed professionally -- but none of that is without huge challenges. There should definitely be more education about just how much work being a mom is.

I've always believed in some of the most old-fashioned, cliqued sayings...like an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I've had the vague idea (since I became a step-parent to a pack of wild teenagers about 15 years ago) that if any of my kids thought teen parenting was cool, I'd make them first spend 40 hours one week volunteering (i.e., no pay) in a daycare center, and then I'd borrow a friend or relative's small child for a weekend to make my teen have full charge of the child. If that doesn't cure them, I don't think anything will.

i really don't think we can blame hollywood or the media for this one. i think there is almost an entire generation of young girls who are starving for love and believe that if they have a baby, they will find that life long love. they just have no idea the responsibility that will accompany a baby.

many many many girls this age are from broken homes for one reason or another or have been raised by single moms their entire life. i have a young friend in this very situation. she got pregnant and lost the baby. but from the very beginning, she talked about how much this baby was going to complete her life, and at 19 mind you!

i guess i just think this is bigger than what they see on tv and in magazines.

Not so sure we can blame it on Hollywood, or broken homes, single mothers, too much hormones in the food they eat (said to cause early breast development and early menstruation). Teenage pregnancy is as old as the hills. Possibly it is a compelling topic and was picked this week to sell newspapers and get air time? Would we feel intentional teen pregnancy was on the rise, if we did not hear it in the news recently? I am not sure that I would believe that and many of my family and friends teach high school. My best friend, as a child, was raised by a single mother her entire life. Nothing ever seemed “broken” to me about there home. It was filled w/ laughter, love and anything a little girl could need to feel safe and secure. Today she is a popular news anchor with a major network. She is beautiful, rich and well adjusted (not that any of those things are a single measure of success/happiness). I have another friend that was the child of teen parents. She owns a large company w/ her husband and is opening a new branch in Hong Kong this year. She has a beautiful 7 year old daughter and a wonderful husband. I have two nieces’ raised by their father after being deserted by their mother. They both finished their first two years of college while in high school, are finishing up college before they reach 20. One is engaged to the boy who achieved a perfect score on the SAT and is finishing up his MBA at UF at 22 years old (neither are/have been pregnant). Again, their home never seemed “broken” to me. Could this “epidemic” be what it always has been… simply lusty teenagers doing what has been done for many, many years and the reason many of us are alive today, just taking place in a world where it is openly discussed and not a hidden skeleton, or deep dark family secret? In my personal experience, which is truly the only thing we can ever count on as fact, the world is a better place because of these people. My life has been better because of them.….just saying, I am not going to be quick to accept the fact that it is intentional, or to judge if it is.

Although, I think the three percent increase may not be as staggering as we believe. From what I have read, every year leading up to this has had a decline, and so that three percent may not even be as high as the pregnancy rate in the late 90s. Something to consider.

I visit with the homeless teenagers and they are alot of them that are having babies and already have another baby. Their first baby their mother or the state has. Teenagers everywhere are having babies way too young. I had my first child at 20 and I was married and had my mother just 4 houses down the street from me and I needed help. Raising a child is hard.Kids feel that a child will give them love that they want from their mom or a boyfriend, etc. They get pregant just to keep a man sometimes.

I think also that people are not educating girls on how difficult pregnancy really is. I'm 26 and had no clue how hard this would be on my mind, body and emotions for nearly a YEAR of my life! I watch my husband play basketball, go skiing, and stay busy with friends like it's nothing and the reality is that for men little has to change physically. Now, he deals with me and the future responsibilities but many teenage boys don't even do that so the changes are all happening to these young girls and they have no idea how "not cute and fun" pregnancy can really be...then comes baby...the really hard part!

I was a teen mom, and in no way shape or form could I blame anyone other than myself. I knew full well what could or couldn't happen. It is so easy to blame Hollywood, lifestyle, economic statis, etc. but the truth is that these teens, male and female, are going to do what they want to do. It is our job as parents to educate our children not Hollywood's or anyone elses for that matter. I talk to my kids EVERYDAY about how hard it has been to provide for them at such a young age. I just hope that my kids make diffrent choices than I did!!!

Yes, the story of teenage pregnanacy is as old as the hills, and teens will do what teens will do.

For every success story of teenage parents, there are scores of stories of suffering, lifelong poverty and minimum-wage jobs.

I think the point of the discussion is simply a reminder of the huge responsibility/blessing parenting is and how it should not be taken lightly.

A dear neighbor of mine adopted two beautiful children (a boy and a girl), showered them with love and caring.

When the 16-year-old got pregnant by her 16-year-old boyfriend, my friends turned their living and dining rooms into a newlywed/baby's room suite.

The girl had been in competitive sports, was looking forward to a sports scholarship and who knows what else.

Now the two are treading water -- they since have had baby No. 2. They likely will find a way to get their goals back on track but it will be hard.

Nothing in life is perfect, nothing is guaranteed. But we as parents want a better life for our kids.

And unwanted pregnancies, for many (not all) teen moms, creates a cycle of poverty that is difficult to break out of.