Teenage Pregnancy

[itachi-hime]

Why?

Teenage pregnancy has SKYROCKETED in America. I think the lack of education is disgusting.

My personal opinion, (WITHOUT TURNING THIS INTO AN ABORTION DEBATE) is that if my daughter got pregnant as a teenager, she'd be going straight to the clinic. Why? Why should I have to take care of someone else's child if they too are still a child?

I understand that it is important to educate your child and keep a careful eye on things, but you can have the best relationship in the world with your kid and they will still be curious and I blame that on our shitty American society.

Sex is everywhere. YET Americans are sooo uptight about it. Teenagers are CURIOUS. They are NOT getting the proper education when it comes to sex. Sure, we know that when a penis enters a vagina and ejaculates, given the right condition, a baby is conceived. That's just a biological process. Other than that, sex is all hush-hush-hush. Taboo. TABOO IS EXCITING FOR TEENAGERS. Tell them straight up. It's not that cool, it's not worth destroying your life, and a baby's life over it. Give them free condoms at school, do whatever you have to. (Condoms are expensive now. I looked at some the other night. $6.00 for 3!!!)

Why aren't these kids learning what happens AFTER that orgasm? Why aren't they learning that something like 2% of women end up going to college and getting a decent life after having a child at 14?

YOU RUIN YOUR LIFE BY HAVING A KID WITHOUT A STABLE JOB AND A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD.

I'm not saying that this happens to everyone. My mother had me when she was 19 and had a waitress job and my dad was a cook. They barely had enough to take care of me, but they did. Now my mother has her BA in Business and she makes 150k a year. My father never finished high-school but he builds kitcars and sells them, making around 90k a year on average.

When I was in high school HALF of the girls in my graduating class were pregnant and the year before that and the year before that also. My graduating class was 62 people, 30 being girls and 15 being pregnant.

I went to a poor backwards school (because even though WE weren't poor the school was because it was all rural around it), but I know it happens everywhere because the girls I worked with were from other schools with a graduating class of 2,000 and most of them were pregnant too!

I remember talking to these girls about sex. All the conversations were the same.

"Oh, so you have sex. Do you use condoms?"
"I don't like them." or "I'm allergic."
"How about the pill?"
"The pill makes me sick." EVERY LAST ONE OF THESE PEOPLE SAID THIS. Know what else makes you sick, MORNING SICKNESS.

As a girl, I know that birth control doesn't make you feel the greatest, but there are different kinds. I am stuck having to take a higher dose but if I don't my cysts will explode and I will get very sick.

Birth control has added benefits for girls also. Most women don't get any more pimples and their periods are regulated. I think the benefits outweigh the risk entirely.

A girl in class once announced that she was pregnant by telling the teacher that she could have her baby because she didn't want it and the teacher couldn't have kids.

I don't believe in adoption. I have worked with foster kids and some of them turned out great, but most of them were misguided, abused, and had lived in several different homes. IF YOU CAN'T TAKE CARE OF IT DON'T HAVE IT!

Sure it isn't the baby's fault that you got pregnant, but should the baby have to suffer because of it? Why burden two people?

I didn't know about sex until 8th grade when they told me I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. We never had a sex ed course. They still don't. My fiancee's little sister is 10 (long story) and they are teaching her about it in 5th grade. They should have to have some kind of refresher after that also. They may not really grasp the concept that young, but there was a girl in 6th grade I remember who got pregnant.

When I asked a girl if she was embarrassed to walk around as a pregnant teen she said yes. When the pregnant teenager at my old job talked about the free college, free food, free health care, free day care she COMPLAINED about the taxes being taken out of her check. Where do you think that money goes?

It's almost as if they're advocating it! I just don't understand.

Do we need better education or is it just ignorance? Why has it gone up so very high?

 

[Despain]

My personal opinion, is that if my daughter got pregnant as a teenager, she'd be going straight to the clinic. Why? Why should I have to take care of someone else's child if they too are still a child?

It would be your daughter's decision and not yours. And a lot of this depends very much on the father. In a lot of these cases, yeah it's probably some scummy kid trying to get some easy pussy. But sometimes he could be a decent kid who is willing to take on the responsibility.

They are NOT getting the proper education when it comes to sex.

I don't understand where you're getting this at all. I learned the details of sex pretty much every year in school from the fourth grade through the tenth, in horrible detail. Maybe I just had a particularly good school system.

Give them free condoms at school, do whatever you have to. (Condoms are expensive now. I looked at some the other night. $6.00 for 3!!!)

Most high schools and all public universities do give out free condoms.

When I was in high school HALF of the girls in my graduating class were pregnant and the year before that and the year before that also. My graduating class was 62 people, 30 being girls and 15 being pregnant.

I think that says a lot about your school in particular. In my school only one girl got pregnant, and she was eighteen years old.

Generally it sounds likt a lot of this is coming from poor personal experience. Sure it sucks that you and the people in your area didn't get the proper education, but today sex education is everywhere. Everywhere, and it's up to the people to listen to it or not.

 

[Karasawa]

@itachi: First of all, let me assure you that teenagers are not ignorant when it comes to sex. No, they are quite educated in the subject both by schools or other sources. They already know all of this going into intercourse. They're simply taking risks.

A good friend of mine got pregnant a year ago. She was only a freshman. Now she's at home caring for her baby and waiting to get her GED. And hey, if she's going to go do that for her kid, I support her at least for that. Everyone makes mistakes, even teenagers.  Some take precautions, others feel that they will only be having sex with one person in their life, and therefore do not.

If you don't understand, it's better to chalk it up to youth, not ignorance on the subject matter.

 

[itachi-hime]

It would be your daughter's decision and not yours. And a lot of this depends very much on the father. In a lot of these cases, yeah it's probably some scummy kid trying to get some easy pussy. But sometimes he could be a decent kid who is willing to take on the responsibility.

You can't physically force her, no. But there are other ways, and by law the boyfriend could be faced with some serious charges. If you aren't old enough to have a job, or sign a loan, you aren't old enough to handle the responsibility of a child.

It's good that it didn't happen by you. But the fact of the matter is is that it has gone up significantly in the past 15 years.

If there was more sex education millions wouldn't be dying of aids.

@Karasawa: To chalk it up to youth isn't an excuse. Oh, he's young. He just wondered what drugs are like. No. We are supposed to be taking care of the youth and educating them. If they really, truly understood the risks, why not try to prevent them? It is ignorance to not use a condom when you aren't ready or even old enough to be taking care of a life.

As for being with the one person thing, you should STILL take precautions. When I got engaged I still took precautions, even though I knew I would only be with him for the rest of my life. When you are ready to have a child and are able to take care of it, this is the only time when you wouldn't want to take them. Just leaving it up to chance at 15 because you love billy more than anything and you think he's going to marry you does NOT constitute as being ready or able to take care of the possible child.

You can't force people to listen, no. Just like you can't force people to care if smoking gives them cancer. But with people pressing it harder and harder more people quit. If it was pressed harder, we wouldn't be having so many problems.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

Umm. No.
If there was more sex ed - like where I live where it's taught since 2nd grade now in poorer neighborhoods, it doesn't prove less aids - since NYC has a HUGE amount and raise lately in the disease in those neighborhoods.

Half of AIDs comes from people not caring.  Not not knowing.

 

[Sailerius]

Sex education is nonexistent in my school system, too.  From fifth grade through eighth grade, we only had abstinence education.  And no free condoms--no, they're vile things for vile people that indulge in vile activities.  And no, I didn't go to a private or religious school; I've been in public school since kindergarten.  My class is kind of an oddity, though... there are several dozen teen mothers in the classes below us and the classes that graduated before, but our class strangely has never had a single pregnant girl.  Weird.

 

[itachi-hime]

@sixtyandaquarter: That could be a factor also, but why wouldn't someone care about throwing their life away just for one good time in the sack? What does that say about our society?

If half of it is from not caring than we should take care of the other half, shouldn't we?

I was mainly aiming my comment towards Africa, where it is very hard to educate them.  Putting up trojan billboards in rural places in ENGLISH is not going to help the bushman, where most of the problems are.

Another problem is the Catholic church. They had to digress and say that condoms were OK because too many people were dying in Africa because they felt religiously they weren't allowed to use condoms or any type of contraception.

They get ridiculous about it. Even the old method of counting your days in the cycle and when you ovulated was considered against the church.

People still believe this and there is a family who has 17 kids because they don't believe in contraception and could barely take care of their kids. They almost got them taken away. So what did they do? THEY GAVE THEM A NEW, FREE PLACE TO LIVE.

Just because you had 17 kids and they were almost taken away, we should entitle them to free things? So they can keep their kids? If they couldn't take care of them, why did they have so many? They should have had them taken away, not given a free house.

Why aren't the poor vets on the street given houses after the served in the war? That makes more sense to me. Americans are screwed up.

And as for abstinence, that's a joke. Sex is human nature. We wouldn't be here without it. People who take the abstinence pledge think oral sex is ok, because they are uneducated and guess what, they get STDs. To teach abstinence is the biggest show of church-controlled ignorance since it was against doctrine to use contraceptives.

It's hard not to bring the church in on this discussion, but alot of the problems come from people being so sexually repressed they start to do odd things like molest children and so forth.

Face it, America is controlled by the church and this is a big problem and that's why we have these sexually related problems.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

You do realize it's not a case of "Oh well Ima get me some AIDs' *hump hump hump*

You do realize most people who contract the disease sexually contract it from people who didn't know they had it right?  That sex ed isn't the issue, but getting people to go to the doctor is - and c'mon, have you tried to talk someone into getting a flu shot or going to the dentist?  This is worse.

Funny.
Most everyone I know isn't controlled by the church - infact I don't know a single person who goes to church let alone can name all 10 commandments - hell they can name the 7 deadly sins thanks to a movie.

People have AIDs in Africa because they can't afford shit in Africa.
Because there are major wars in Africa and it's a lot better to try to medicate and feed than it is to educate.  A starving intellectual compared to his neighbor is no where near as useful as a fed ignorant with a disease everyone else has.
It's a horrible truth, but a truth none the less.
Create peace, then save the lives.  People are trying to have as many kids as they can because it's so hard to survive, and AIDs is just there.  It's just there.
It's not a huge deal.  Why?
One out of three have it.  It's not going anywhere.  People are too poor and don't care.

Why aren't the poor vets - no stay on topic, thanks.
That made no fucking sense.  USA and England have no official nation language.  Interesting fact, but not on topic.  I don't like cats.  Interesting tidbit but not on topic.  I think people should stop listening to blue grass because of my opinions on it, interesting?  No.  On topic?  No.

 

[itachi-hime]

People wouldn't get AIDS if they had a brain in their heads and used a condom. Simple as that. It's not a matter of not knowing the person you are screwing has it or not, it's a matter of protecting yourself because they MIGHT have it.

Did you know it's against the law to know you have AIDS and not warn the person that you have it before you engage in intercourse?

A sad truth is the money that is going to the people in Africa isn't being all spent. Why? Because if they help the victim to the fullest extent of the money, they will enrage the enemy further, creating bigger wars.

If it is so hard to survive, why would they be having more and more kids? They are completely uneducated. If all of them knew that AIDS spreads like wildfire and kills the babies they are trying to have, you think that they wouldn't care? I thought by having more kids they were trying to perpetuate the race to live. They must care.

It is a HUGE deal that millions are dying. Just because one in three people have it, doesn't mean that it can't be solved.

I was comparing the fact that there are poor people on the street who deserve houses from the government and don't get them and then there are people who do get them just because they have a plethora of children and the government gives it to them. It's called an ANALOGY.

I didn't say every person is controlled by it. I said AMERICA. We were based on Christianity and it severely affects us today. It's not all a bad thing, Christianity has some good morals. But it lacks the ability to keep up with the time, thus cultural lag, which creates a conflict. (again, with abstinence and the negative view toward contraceptives.)

Why do the politicians fight about gay marriage? Because the church has a problem with it. And if the politician is an orthodox church goer he is going to use that as a bases for his ideas and impose them on what he thinks is right and wrong. What about antidisestablishmentarianism? Nonexistent. It doesn't matter if ninety percent of the population was atheist, if you have seventy percent orthodox Christian politicians, this is who will represent us.

Thus, the Christian morals are imposed (because that is who is in charge) upon us such as the view of contraceptives as I have said above and the unending struggle to drive all the traits that make humans human out of us such as sexually repressing the general population.

And if we weren't sexually repressed we would talk about it more and educated our kids more and it wouldn't be so taboo and exciting for kids to try and there wouldn't be so many knocked up teens.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

People wouldn't get AIDS if they had a brain in their heads and used a condom. Simple as that. It's not a matter of not knowing the person you are screwing has it or not, it's a matter of protecting yourself because they MIGHT have it.

Because it's so simple.  Your either a fucking moron or you don't have aids?
Yeah because simple trust and respect for someone you truly feel for has nothing to do with it, self esteem and all that - no course not, they're just retards on the short bus.

Seriously.
Honestly.
It has nothing to do with putting the condom on.  It has to do with trust and actual acceptance.  That's like saying "if no one pulled the trigger no one would get shot".  Fictional.  Fine.  But fictional.

Did you know it's against the law to know you have AIDS and not warn the person that you have it before you engage in intercourse?

Yeah.
Did you know most people who get aids get it from someone who didn't know they even had it?

A sad truth is the money that is going to the people in Africa isn't being all spent. Why? Because if they help the victim to the fullest extent of the money, they will enrage the enemy further, creating bigger wars.

If it is so hard to survive, why would they be having more and more kids? They are completely uneducated.

Simple history would solve this question.  Because, you know, when your expectency to reach adult hood is cut in half - you tend to have twice as many babies as your normally would, to ensure that at least SOMEONE gets to blow out their 18th birthday candle.

The harder it is for a child to grow and have children of their own, the more children a society will have.  It's not the only reason for a boon in children, but it's a huge one.
That's how humans survived the black plague, the wars, the famine - you name a tragedy, that's how we survived.  By popping out babies as if we were a factory line.

If all of them knew that AIDS spreads like wildfire and kills the babies they are trying to have, you think that they wouldn't care? I thought by having more kids they were trying to perpetuate the race to live. They must care.

What?
You do realize these people aren't going "lulz he dead why?".
They know.  They know better than you and me.
But what can they do?  Honestly?

Hey, click*pop, do me a favor don't have sex because you've got aids, thanks.

I was comparing the fact that there are poor people on the street who deserve houses from the government and don't get them and then there are people who do get them just because they have a plethora of children and the government gives it to them. It's called an ANALOGY.

Yeah, it's an ANALOGY.
Learn to use them correctly.  Because just randomly throwing them out is not an ANALOGY.  It's called BLANKETS.

 

[Sic Semper Tyranosaurus]

Man, people whacking off all over this thread. :-\

I believe that education in the use of birth control could be more effective than "No sex, ok?" because, honestly, kids are gonna fuck anyways. God damn, that wasn't so hard.

 

[shiroun]

My school has like 3 non-virgins, no preggys AT ALL.

Then again I live in a rich area, we are educated as hell.


At any rate, people in my area know what safe precautions are, we have no sluts, nothing like that.





We have myspace.


Sad?

 

[Venetia]

It's really not just education. Sex education--more than simple "stay abstinent, ya'll!"--was a horrendously boring part of every year I was in school from 4th grade to 10th grade, and in 10th grade I had to take Sex Ed for an entire f'ing semester. It sucked.

You throw up pictures of the clap and gen. warts, and about 1 in 1,000,000 kids say, "shit, that's f'ing gross. I'm going to avoid sex now at all costs because of that nasty pic."

Kids and young adults, generally, have an invincibility complex. Death is far, far away. Only a few people get disease. It can't ever happen to them. They'll be fine.

Yeah, sure, there's a risk, but when you're getting hot and heavy with someone else I highly doubt you're going to picture that image of herpes or think of that AIDS statistic.

I know it never stopped me from "indulging"!

That isn't to say that education isn't highly important--it is. It's important to know what these diseases are, what they can do, and WHY you should practice safe sex. It's important to know that condoms DON'T prevent AIDS and are only 70% effective against pregnancy without spermacide. Girls need to know why they get their period, what happens when pregnant, the physics of virginity, and how the "rhythm method" doesn't protect you against squat. Boys need to know the physics of the erection, why it happens, and how resilient their sperm are/how much they make.

But education is a lesser tool to availability. Free clinics near high schools don't perpetuate sex, they prevent unwanted pregnancies (with control) and provide assistance/testing/education to those in need. Condoms and birth control need to be readily available. Doctors need to get proactive with enforcing laws about reporting AIDS patients. And this needs to happen worldwide.

What no one seems to understand, especially the very religious, is that unwanted pregnancies are almost as bad as abortions. Abortions are murder of the body, and growing up an unwanted child/losing the rest of your life to a kid you don't want, is murder of the mind and "soul".

Slipping on a rubber hurts no one. Men make hundreds of thousands of sperm a day, none of them living much longer than 24 hours, so it's antiquated to think that "spending your seed" on something non-fertile is a waste. All birth control does is prevent you from wasting your life, or, taking another.

Birth control, masturbation, oral sex as an alternative--these are reasonable, healthy things to teach and practice. Kids won't become more promiscuous if they know of these things!

P.S., I went to a high school that was renowned for one statistic: Most teenaged pregnancies in the COUNTRY.

 

[Untra]

I remember first getting the sex ed. class In 5th grade. It was there they explained how the male and female organs function, and how a baby is born. Most of the "family life" course was an explanation on how cells divide and how an embryo forms. For the next four years, it was all I needed to know. I already knew most of the stuff I'd later learn in 9th grade from my mom, who's a nurse that helps in the maternity ward.

I got my second dosage of sex ed. last semester, where I learned of (for a second time) condoms, pregnancies, masturbation, STD's, aids, and the affects of drugs and alcohol on unborn babies. I couldn't help but think to myself how odd it was, that in 5th grade I learned about the miracle of life, while this year I learned about how much babies suck.

In colorado, schools seem more concerned about the number of kids abusing drugs then having unprotected sex. I have only seen a few pregnant girls at my highschool, but everybody's confident their babies are going to wind up as aborted eight month fetuses.

Teen pregnancies arn't the main concern where I live, as it seems everyone's stuck at third base. Illegal drugs continue to be the prevailing force here.

 

[adelicatedoll]

This is a pretty heated discussion.

But, I have to agree that it's not all about being informed. I took sex ed. classes/health classes throughout high school and in junior high. We all saw the pictures of the gross diseases; herpes, warts, clap, etc. I personally just passed the picture right on because I probably would've gotten sick.

I don't think there is any way to pin getting pregnant, getting aids or getting any of these diseases on just one thing. We can say, "Oh, lack of education! Lack of being informed!", or "They're all stupid! All retards!", or "They take the risks.", "They didn't think it could happen to them." But, it's all of these things. You get those young kids who make excuses for not wearing a condom or taking the pill. You get the ones who think it won't happen to them.

Now, I can say that I only knew of one person who got pregnant in school. And she dumped the kid on her parents. I think that's wrong, but mainly on the parents behalf for allowing her to do that. If my daughter had a child, you better believe I'd make her take care of it. Yes, I'd help, but it's her responsibility. She created the baby, she's going to take care of it and raise it.

I don't know what the girls excuse was for getting pregnant. She was very promiscuous though, so I guess she had it comin'. I also knew a girl who got one of those lovely diseases (thankfully it was cured with some antibiotics), but it wasn't that she was stupid. She did trust the guy; she cared about him, yadda yadda.

Now, there are dumb people in the world. I knew a girl in high school who thought that if you were having sex in the water, there was no way you could get pregnant! Aha. If only. She got laughed at a lot. But, this also shows misunderstanding. So.. it's everything. And with sex being everywhere, people are bound to do it with or without protection. I know in the heat of the moment, there have been times where I'd think, "We don't have any condoms, screw it! Let's do it anyways!" But, then not even two seconds later, another voice chimes in "baby.. baby, baby.. baby.. baby." And then just as quickly as I said "let's do it" I'm saying, "let's not." *shrugs* It's all a matter of how risky a person wants to be.

 

[Red Dawn]

I don't think it has anything to do with education.

I don't know for sure, but I assume that most teens who get pregnant know the basics. I've done sex ed from year 6 to year 10 (Um... that's 5th grade to 9th grade I think), and I'm pretty sure it's mandatory here. So, the majority know perfectly well that when they have sex with so-and-so, there is a risk that they'll get pregnant. They just don't care. They don't sit down and think of what will happen if they do get pregnant. Even if they know other teens that have gotten pregnant, they think 'oh, just because it happened to them doesn't mean it'll happen to me'. No matter what statistics they are shown, no matter what they are told, they'll still assume they'll come out fine.
If you are not like that, but still just once get carried away in the moment, it's still dumb, but meh(You can't postpone sex for the 10mins it takes to go to a shop and back with condoms?).
There are still chances with contraception, but, meh. If it's just failed then I don't hate you. For that reason, at least.
Pretty much all of that applys to girls only. The guy won't be facing any repercussions(sp?) aside from... well, he won't be facing pregnancy. He can blend into the background and claim he's never seen the girl before.
Also, a lot of pregnancy when people aren't thinking clearly, I'm mainly talking about being drunk. When you're drunk you don't think all that through and really just do what you want.

It's important to know that condoms... are only 70% effective against pregnancy without spermacide.

Wait, what? 70%? I'm pretty sure that they say like 97%, and I doubt they'd be false advertising something like that (Payout to every preggo that used one... well, the guy used one... meh).
Since sperm can't diffuse through the latex, the only way for the condom to not work is if it splits or tears. Then other contraception will come in handy, but otherwise there isn't much point.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

You quoted something, yet didn't read the whole quote - nice.
She said 70% with out spermicide.  The spermicide fills in that 27% point gap.  As in, with spermicide it jumps to the 90 something percentiles.

 

[Red Dawn]

I did actually read that, that's why i said 'Then other contraception will come in handy, but otherwise there isn't much point.'
What I was saying was that there is a 3% chance of the condom breaking, not a 30% chance. A condom would be kinda useless if it broke 1/3 of the time. And even if it breaks, the hole is gonna be teensy so not a lot of semen will get through, and it won't be going very fast without it's initial speed boost, so the chances of getting pregnant from that are reduced.

 

[Ninjitsu]

@"The pill makes me sick." EVERY LAST ONE OF THESE PEOPLE SAID THIS. Know what else makes you sick, MORNING SICKNESS.
LOL.

@Half of AIDs comes from people not caring.  Not not knowing.

Sad, but probably true.
That ties in with why teenage preganacy is so prevalent.

Btw: Are we only talking about America?

 

[Venetia]

Well no, teenage pregnancy happens everywhere. It just seems like people complain more about it in America.

About condoms, luckily, most are pre-packaged WITH spermacide, so this has become less of an issue nowadays. Most studies DO suggest that condoms are 97% effective against pregnancy, but only if they are used 100% properly! Sperm are excited little guys, and will gladly slip through any (even miniscule) tear, or come up and over the top (in case the thing slips down, which it does, roughly 5% of the time). Also, what happens for that extra 3%? 100 people do the horizontal mambo, and 3 get knocked up. Who's to say you won't be one of those 3?

What does that mean? Well, if you pair condoms with another form of control, such as an IntraUterine System, a Female Condom, or Birth Control Pills, your risk is even further reduced. Modern IntraUterine Systems are nearly the best defense against pregancy, however there is a risk of infection, uterine damage (with heavy activity), or Ectopic or irregular pregnancy. Female condoms are risky because they can be "jammed" up into the cervix, creating infection. Birth Control Pills are extremely effective, especially when paired with condoms, and that's what doctors recommend most. However, the chemicals they use to start progesterone manufacture in the body can cause "allergic" reactions in some women (not that it's an "allergy" but rather just a negative side effect), so there is an alternative that is little advertised:

http://www.birth-control-comparison.info/bcdepo.htm
It's called the Depo Provera: an injection of a birth-control drug a woman can get every 3 months. On average it is more effective than pills (primarily because you cannot skip or lag a pill), and most women report that it severely reduces the "sick" feeling of birth control. There are some serious complications a woman can get if they are allergic to the chemicals however, so it's something to discuss with a doc.

ANYWAY,

aside from providing birth control, I'd like to reiterate my point about alternative sex. There's more than one hole in the body--and those other holes won't lead to pregnancy! I think boosting awareness of alternative sex and personal "exploration" is a boon to the anti-teen-pregnancy cause.

Really, all most of us are going for here is an orgasm. You can incite one with more than vaginal sex--(and often, it's better). People seem to have a negative stigma about it but I'll never really understand why ...