Stigma and Teen Pregnancy

Yesterday I spoke with a reporter about teen pregnancy and have been stewing over something she said ever since. She suggested that the "teen pregnancy" media in the last year or so, including films like Knocked Up and Juno, Jamie Lynn's pregnancy, and even the teens making a pact to get pregnant, might actually help reduce the stigma around teen pregnancy, and wouldn't that be a good thing?

The stigma around teen pregnancy facilitates people not talking about sexually active teens, teens not getting in to see doctors so they have adequate prenatal care and real options, illegal abortions, pregnant girls dropping out of school, and a host of consequences to the children of teen parents. None of those things are good - true!

If there was no stigma - if we acknowledged that "it just happens," would people get the information they need about teen pregnancy? Would the fact that teen moms get less education and have babies with more health concerns become everyday knowledge? Would parents talk to kids about the power and pleasure of sex in light of the emotional and physical risks or preventing diseases and unwanted pregnancy? Would schools have day care centers, would employers give extra money to families with small children to cover day care costs? Would teens go to their doctors more frequently and as soon as they start being sexually active - to be screened for infection and start reliable birth control?

I have to say that I am not so sure reducing the stigma is a good thing, or that any of those possible benefits would happen because if the stigma disappeared because as a society we are still in denial about the impact of our sexualized media. We do not want more teens having babies, and we do need parents to talk to their kids about not having sex, using barrier methods to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections if they are sexually active, and going to the doctor to get screened for chlamydia. We need comprehensive sexuality education in schools and for our society to stop sexualizing young girls and being surprised when they become sexually active. We also need the media to be a little more responsible by adding some scenes of regret about not using a barrier method, or better yet - the use of barrier methods! We can make a difference!

Photo credit: Rob!

Labels: Healthline, Pregnancy, Teen Health

Permalink | 1 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Teenage Birth Rate Increased in 2006

Well now there is something President Bush can take credit for - the teenage live birth rate increased by 3% in 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

We do not know if this is the start of a trend back up to the high of 61.8 live births per 1,000 females of 1991, but it sure is not a good sign, and can be added to the long list of evidence that abstinence-only education is not working for teens. We already know that abstinence-only education and not teaching teens about birth control leads to higher birth rates and sexually transmitted infection, and yet, the federal government continues to support it.

The other option is to teach comprehensive sexuality education which leads to delayed onset of sexual activity, higher rates of birth control use, higher rates of condom use, and fewer cases of sexually transmitted infection. Gee, it does not seem like a tough decision to me, but I guess that is why I am not the president.

Photo credit: ewedistrict

Labels: Healthline, Pregnancy, Sexuality Education

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Unwanted and Teen Pregnancy in the Media

Have you seen the movie "Juno?" It is a great movie about teenage pregnancy, but I have to admit, it pretty much normalizes teen pregnancy, continues the myth that it is "the girl's problem," and presents a year of Juno's life as just a blip - the result of one sexual act - and at the end everything pretty much goes back to the way it was and everyone moves on,which is not quite accurate, but I guess realism is not why we go to the movies.

I loved the character of Juno. She is bright, self-assured, sarcastic, and definitely dances to the beat of her own drum. The movie allows us to "peek" into her thoughts about what to do when she realizes she is pregnant, her decision, and the consequences of that decision in her rural town. She has to make difficult decisions with the support of her best friend, dad and step mom. I will not ruin the movie for you, but it is a good one to see with your teens - lots of opportunity for conversation will follow, trust me.

Another very interesting, but more mature movie about another type of unwanted pregnancy is "Waitress," which may be a little too mature for some teens. The heroine in this story also is young, lives in a rural place, makes amazing pies, is stuck in a very emotional abusive and unhappy marriage, finds herself pregnant, has an affair with her doctor during the very unwelcome pregnancy, and then ... there is a surprise ending! Sorry, but you should see it yourself, I promise.

Our reality is that one million teenagers in the United States become pregnant each year, 40% abort the pregnancy, and only 3% give the baby up for adoption, although much of the young adult literature focuses on keeping the baby and adoption. Abortion is not much fun to write about I guess, in spite of it being the decision made by half of the teenagers who find themselves pregnant.

Photo credit: numberstumper

Labels: Abortion, Media, Pregnancy, Teen Health

Permalink | 3 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Teen Birth Rate Rises for the First Time in 14 Years

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the teen birth rate in the United States rose in 2006 for the first time since 1991, and unmarried childbearing also rose significantly. Thee statistics are featured in a new report called "Births: Preliminary Data for 2006" by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Apparently between 2005 and 2006 the birth rate for teenagers age 15 to 19 years rose 3 percent after decreasing for the last 14 years. The largest increase was in non-Hispanic black teens, whose overall rate rose 5 percent in 2006. Similar increases are reported for American Indian and Alaska Native teens (4 percent), non-Hispanic white teens (3 percent), and Hispanic teens (2 percent).

The report also notes a record high number of cesarean births (31 percent), more preterm births, and a higher rate of low birthweight babies (less than 5 lbs. 8 oz.)were born. The only good news I could find in the report was that the birth rate for teens aged 10-14 declined 5 percent.

Reports like this should suggest to policy makers and parents that sexuality education and parenting about pregnancy is not doing what every parent wants, which is to help their children to be safe and healthy.

Photo credit: Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

Labels: Parenting, Pregnancy

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Six Steps to Increase the Number of Unintended Pregnancies

According to a brochure that I got in the mail today from Planned Parenthood, women's reproductive rights are in jeopardy. I thought I would translate the brochure into one for parents who want to encourage their teenagers to have a baby before they are 18.

Here is what parents can do:
1. Do not provide your children with real sex education. If you want to increase your child's chance of having an unintended pregnancy, teach only abstinence and do not discuss contraception or condom use.
2. Do not let the facts get in your way. Don't believe that condoms can protect from sexually transmitted infection and pregnancy, and don't teach your children to use them.
3. Refuse to let your children use birth control and do not tell them that after the age of 12 (in California) they are guaranteed confidential reproductive health care by law.
4. Make emergency contraception hard to get. Do not tell your children that they can get Plan B within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.
5. Do not let your kids see condoms ads - watch only Fox and CBS who are resisting condom ads.
6. Do not support family planning services that provide free or low cost contraception to women and vote for congress people who who refuse to increase funding to Title X programs.

There you have it - early grandparenthood, guaranteed!

Photo credit: mahalie

Labels: Pregnancy

Permalink | 3 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Reasons for Unprotected Sexual Intercourse

The May issue of the journal Contraception includes an article about the reasons teens are participating in unprotected intercourse, which in the United States leads to the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies of all industrialized nations.

Data collected from more than 7,800 women who reported unintended pregnancies between 2000 and 2002 were used to identify reasons given by young women for having had unprotected intercourse. The results suggest that we are not doing a very good job educating young people about reproduction and their health! Of these young women, the most common reason for having had unprotected intercourse was that they had not thought about protection before the intercourse, and were therefore not prepared to protect themselves. In addition, 33% thought they could not get pregnant at the time of the intercourse, and 10% thought their partner was sterile.

I think the scariest thing was that although all of these young women were not planning on getting pregnant, 30% of them said that at the time, it would have been OK, and they would not have minded, if they were to get pregnant. This "whatever," devil-may-care attitude suggests that these young women had no goals, plans, or motivation to do something with their lives! I think it was Marian Wright Edelman who said "The best contraception is a future," and these young women seem to exemplify that reality.

These results suggest that for many young women, avoiding sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and unintended pregnancy is not even on their priority list. I suggests that parents, teachers and medical professionals need to be doing something else to help these young women set conscious goals for their futures.

Photo Credit: hugovk

Labels: Pregnancy

Permalink | Email Post

Post your comment

Contraceptive Use is Helping to Reduce Adolescent Pregnancy Rates

So sorry to say - it is not abstinence! The January 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health includes an article that reports the declining adolescent pregnancy rates in the United States between 1995 and 2002 were primarily due to improved contraception use. Okay, okay, there was some of the decline explained by the delay in initiation of sexual intercourse, but the majority of the decline is explained by improved contraceptive use.

The authors presents data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG)which is a nationally representative household survey. The good news is the the adolescent pregnancy rates in the United States declined 27% from 1991 to 2000. In addition, the authors of this article found that 14% of the change in pregnancy risk among adolescents ages 15-19 was attributable to the decrease in the percentage of sexually active young women, while 86% was due to changes in contraceptive use, and all of the change in pregnancy risk among 18-19 year olds was the result of increased contraceptive use.

I do not know about you, but these findings raise some serious questions about the current US government policies that promote abstinence-only as the primary strategy to prevent teenage pregnancy!

Photo credit: kate auh20

Labels: Pregnancy

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment