Teenage Pregnancy

[Venetia]

@Gearpunk: It's no different here in the U.S. We got the same lessons.

18 or 19? No big deal. Atleast she got to graduate high school. Most of my friends have been knocked up already, most of them at 16-21.

My step sister got knocked up at 16, I had a friend who was knocked up at 16, another at 17.

The girl who was knocked up at 17: She had a second kid at 19--her boyfriend conceived both kids but actually left BOTH times, she just kept taking him back, but he eventually permanently left anyway. Now she lives with her mom and is struggling to get by.

My step sister had a baby with a gang member who abused her terribly, then tried to kidnap the baby after he was born. He's in the pen now on that and some other charges. So she was fine for a while but her taste in men is awful, and she got knocked up by some other dude with no job, who left. She's living with her grandmother and mother now and is struggling to get by.

My friend who was knocked up at 16's boyfriend left her, but she was a looker and she married a crib-robbing 42-year-old attorney at 18, and has since had two more kids with him, but she says she's pretty happy. He's pretty well-off, so she lucked out I guess.

A couple other people I was close to in highschool have since had kids, but they married early and're still together. Not doing too well obviously, but better than my step sister, for sure.

I'm now in that age range where it's more acceptable to have kids, but I just doubt I ever will. They cost too damn much. Luckily, I have a choice.

It just seems to me like the girls who get knocked up are dumb. I mean, all teens are a little dumb, but it's just not a good idea to mess around with fertility at such a young age. I wish I could preach abstinence to kids but they won't listen. Hell, I didn't either. Teens just think they're invincible most of the time.

Also, @samboy: You'd tell her to put it up for adoption or get an abortion? Yeah, good luck with that. Sadly, you really have no say in what she decides to do.

 

[Samboy]

You'd tell her to put it up for adoption or get an abortion? Yeah, good luck with that. Sadly, you really have no say in what she decides to do.

I have no say in what happens to my child? Then I guess it isn't my child.

 

[mawk]

You'd tell her to put it up for adoption or get an abortion? Yeah, good luck with that. Sadly, you really have no say in what she decides to do.

I have no say in what happens to my child? Then I guess it isn't my child.

If you're planning on disowning it anyway, then it might as well not be. You can run for the hills with your tail between your legs, but if she wants to keep it, she will.

Besides, you're not the one going through labour. I think she'd deserve a little more say in the matter, considering.

 

[master game maker]

Seeing that many of you say that they should go for abortion, I think abortion is pretty wrong to do. At least put it for adoption, instead of killing it when it isn't born...

Anyways, I do have an excuse for getting a teenager pregnant. The condom broke! D:

No, they wouldn't sell any...*huff*

 

[Samboy]

I think even teens can buy condoms anyways, whether they're legal or not. At least they can in Australia...

If you're planning on disowning it anyway, then it might as well not be. You can run for the hills with your tail between your legs, but if she wants to keep it, she will.

Well, of course she has her say. But so should I, considering it is both her and my child. If I don't have any say, then it really isn't my child. It's hers.

 

[zenrdy]

@Gearpunk: It's no different here in the U.S. We got the same lessons.

18 or 19? No big deal. Atleast she got to graduate high school. Most of my friends have been knocked up already, most of them at 16-21.

My step sister got knocked up at 16, I had a friend who was knocked up at 16, another at 17.

The girl who was knocked up at 17: She had a second kid at 19--her boyfriend conceived both kids but actually left BOTH times, she just kept taking him back, but he eventually permanently left anyway. Now she lives with her mom and is struggling to get by.

My step sister had a baby with a gang member who abused her terribly, then tried to kidnap the baby after he was born. He's in the pen now on that and some other charges. So she was fine for a while but her taste in men is awful, and she got knocked up by some other dude with no job, who left. She's living with her grandmother and mother now and is struggling to get by.

My friend who was knocked up at 16's boyfriend left her, but she was a looker and she married a crib-robbing 42-year-old attorney at 18, and has since had two more kids with him, but she says she's pretty happy. He's pretty well-off, so she lucked out I guess.

A couple other people I was close to in highschool have since had kids, but they married early and're still together. Not doing too well obviously, but better than my step sister, for sure.

I'm now in that age range where it's more acceptable to have kids, but I just doubt I ever will. They cost too damn much. Luckily, I have a choice.

It just seems to me like the girls who get knocked up are dumb. I mean, all teens are a little dumb, but it's just not a good idea to mess around with fertility at such a young age. I wish I could preach abstinence to kids but they won't listen. Hell, I didn't either. Teens just think they're invincible most of the time.

Also, @samboy: You'd tell her to put it up for adoption or get an abortion? Yeah, good luck with that. Sadly, you really have no say in what she decides to do.

Well my mom had me when she was 16. She's fine now shes a nurse and my dads a psychiatric technician. So I think I turned out fine and my parents.

 

[mawk]

If you're planning on disowning it anyway, then it might as well not be. You can run for the hills with your tail between your legs, but if she wants to keep it, she will.

Well, of course she has her say. But so should I, considering it is both her and my child. If I don't have any say, then it really isn't my child. It's hers.

You seem to think that "having a say" means having the veto. If someone wanted you to move away from home and you didn't want to, would you like it if you were forced to move out anyway?

You "have a say." You can try to convince her, and if she doesn't agree you can run with your tail between your legs. No one's making you stay in the relationship. But if, IF, she doesn't want to give up her child, what makes you think you're entitled to force her?

 

[master game maker]

Well, I went and they said that they can't. They probably could, but just they didn't want anything to happen if a 13 year old was caught in the act with condoms bought at Walgreens..:P

 

[mawk]

That reminds me. Are there really laws in some places against underage sex? It seems like a strangely pointless thing to have, unless you live in the Orwellian '80s and have agents doing bunk checks.

(I still find thirteen to be disgustingly young, though. Nothing personal, dude.)

 

[Venetia]

I remember that all sex between anyone under 18 in California is statutory rape, atleast when I was growing up. Here in FL, it's illegal to either do the "do" when you're a.) under 13 b.) over 23 and are doing someone under 18. I moved here when I was 19, though.

And yeah, 13-yr-old secks is ... Just not right. Why can't people enjoy innocence

 

[___]

What's funny about that is that if it's pursued, the guy is always the one put in prison (unless the woman is over 18).  I know a kid that had sex with his 17 year old girlfriend when he was 18, scrawny little boy, came back 6 months later from jail, couldn't look anyone in the eye anymore, shook when he talked.  Well, I don't think he'll be having sex any time soon, anyway.  Knew another guy who got in a relationship with a 14 year old girl when he was 12, he still would have been the one in trouble if they had prosecuted.  Strange world we live in.

Anyway, the one nice thing about California is that they have public clinics where teenage girls can get birth control, condoms, education, etc.  without anyone but her, the nurses and doctors on staff knowing.  It was effective.  Kept my wife and I safe for a long time (obviously, we were not married when we were teenagers! ).  Some of the real backwater states though are just factories for churning out burger flippers and prostitutes these days it seems. 

There is a demand for ignorant, desperate laborers in our country to do monotonous and dehumanizing tasks, and our society is more than happy to turn a blind eye or posit "moral" justifications for allowing them to find themselves in those situations.  If everyone went to college, there'd still be millions of people working at Wal-Mart and Mc.Donalds as long as people were still interested in the products offered there; you think they'd be getting payed more if they all had BAs?  I don't.  You don't think poverty and hopelessness contributes to problems like drug abuse and irresponsible sex, perhaps?  I disagree.

Maybe I'm just ranting, or maybe my point is that the issue of teen pregnancy is only a small portion of a larger, systemic problem in our society.  Where there is a market, nature and economic forces will produce.  The only way you can stop this ultimately is to eliminate the market, and the only way to do that is to choose the products of skilled labor and fair and honest business over your own convenience, something we forgot to do a long, long time ago in this country.  We're all raised in a disposable society, we need disposable people too.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

Odd.
Where I live you can have sex with a 16 year old if you are 16 or 17.  If you are 17 you can have sex with an 18 year old.  Shit, you could have sex with a 22 year old - BUT if you do the 22 year old, they could be brought to court if your parents feel they have preyed on you in a sort of pedophile kind of way.

 

[Samboy]

Yeah, this is the way I think it is in Australia:

Girl 16, Boy 16.
Girl 16, Boy 14
Boy 16, Girl 14
Boy 14, Girl 14

The legal age for sex with protection is 16, for boys and girls. 18 is the legal age for "baby making".

EDIT: It's kind of hard thinking of going to jail for having sex with your girlfriend, who happens to be 17 when you're 18. Not that I'm saying you're wrong; just that it's hard to put ones head around.

 

[iceplosion]

Yeah, this is the way I think it is in Australia:

Girl 16, Boy 16.
Girl 16, Boy 14
Boy 16, Girl 14
Boy 14, Girl 14

The legal age for sex with protection is 16, for boys and girls. 18 is the legal age for "baby making".

EDIT: It's kind of hard thinking of going to jail for having sex with your girlfriend, who happens to be 17 when you're 18. Not that I'm saying you're wrong; just that it's hard to put ones head around.

Yeah that's made up, there are laws that protect people from that, if you're within a certain age range (a year or two, can't remember at the moment) and even in the countries where those laws don't exist human rights groups are usually all over the case to cite civil liberties and human rights that prevent that. (sort of like the constitution in America there is a EU constitution on human rights, one of those covers this very situation and IIRC there is a similar law in Australia)

I should be able to remember this better I just had a test on these laws a few hours ago (My brain is too tired now though...)

EDIT: I meant to quote Nphynx when he was talking about the guy that got arrested, that quote from Samboy is for the most part correct. (told you my brain was tired)

 

[Samboy]

Yeah, I think so as well. There'd be a bit of counseling or something similar. If she enjoyed it, and you enjoyed it, then I guess you'd be fine. By the way, how did the cops find out? They heard from someone, and they busted in right in the middle of a root? I don't think so.

 

[master game maker]

Erm, well, it was only 13 year old sex for me. For her, uh, 16 year old..heh.

 

[Xilef]

England it's:
16 for straight boy and girl
18 for gays and lesbians
it you are pregnant under 18 you can have an abortion at any point, but if you are over then you can only have one in the first 2-4 months, at least I think it's 2-4.
You can buy condoms at any age, but if you are under 18 you can get them, and pregnancy tests, for free at special clinics.

I remember something about a 10 year old girl being pregnant near where I live and her parents were proud of her for not aborting. It is entirely up to the parents, but I don't think young people have the experience or knowledge for this and don't take it seriously enough. Though I admit, I'd love to be a daddy even though I am like, 15. ♪♪♪

(Master Game Maker, what did you feel when you found out? If you don't mind me asking. And any issues with parents?)

 

[Venetia]

You know I've seen that number before. Why is it more okay to have straight sex at 16 but not gay sex until 18? I mean ... gay sex is safer.

This, coming from a chick who lives in a state where sodomy and fallatio are illegal, for anyone. 9_9

 

[Xilef]

Now I think about it, over here we don't have very good sex education. We learn were to stick it and the consequences and the inner workings of the mysterious female bodies, but I am the only one who knows how to put on a condom in my year without it breaking and I was complaining a few months ago that in school we don't learn about penis' at all (Not saying I need to learn, a male friend of mine was a bit confused about some stuff and asked me) most school's in England use sex education as a tool to get more students and a higher reputation, they don't really teach it very well.

 

[Dissonance]

Let them have sex and squirt out babies at 13 or 14.

All that means is their little ball and chains made of flesh will drag them down to the lower classes, leaving more room for middle-upper class people (like me) to get ahead.

Despite the American mantra of freedom and equality always chanted in everybody's face, the USA, like every other country, operates on a class system where the majority of the people must be in the lower classes so the higher-class minority can enjoy a good lifestyle.  So every retarded kid who decides not to use a condom, or get knocked up and keep it, is one less obstacle in my way to having a better life.  ;D