Bonnie Erbe

Study Shows Alarming Teen Views on Pregnancy, Contraception

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June 4, 2010 RSS Feed Print
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By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

It's a sad day in America when almost 20 percent of teens tell government researchers they rely on the rhythm method to prevent pregnancy. But it's what Centers for Disease Control researchers found in a report released earlier this week.

The precise percentage is 17 percent, up from 11 percent eight years ago. The rhythm method results in pregnancy 25 percent of the time, according to the study.

My heart aches for teen girls these days. They're growing up in an Alice-in-Wonderland mirror-image age. Much that was considered taboo in my day is par for the course in theirs. According to the Associated Press:

…more teens also think it's OK for an unmarried female to have a baby, according to a government survey released Wednesday. The report may help explain why the teen pregnancy rate is no longer dropping like it was.

It is certainly not OK for teens to bear children out of wedlock. The data all point to less education, more poverty, and an endless cycle of it, when teens have babies.

Today's culture is certainly part of the reason why more teen girls think unwed motherhood is OK. But churches that lobby teens heavily not to have abortions are also giving the ones who do get pregnant no choice other than to bring those pregnancies to term. The churches benefit by increasing the number of followers. The teens do not. Their lives would have been much more rewarding if they postponed parenthood until after they were educated and married.

Tags:
sex,
abortion,
teen pregnancy

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What is wrong with you? You are so closed-minded. I am 17 and I am 4 1/2 months pregnant with my first baby. It's difficult, yes, but it's still equally as rewarding as it would have been if I were a college graduate and already married. I'm getting married tomorrow, the baby's father has a full-time job, I have a car, and I'm about to graduate. I'd say life is pretty well put together. And just because I'm having a baby does not mean I won't go to college. I thrived in school and I plan to do just the same in college while still taking care of my baby. Life was never meant to be easy; and those of us who do have our babies and aren't so cowardly as to abort/or kill them, are only stronger. If you can go through school, have a baby, continue to go through school after the baby's born, maintain a job, pursue a career, and in the process watch your little one grow and teach them all that your challenging life has taught you, you're a way better person than someone who just kills their baby to resolve their problems. God does not promote abortions, and churches don't do it to get more followers. I'm not a church-goer myself, but I do know they do it because abortion is wrong in every way. Unless you were raped, you have no business killing your baby. Adoption is another alternative you know? Some women are even braver than us who keep our babies. They are strong enough to let their baby be taken care of by someone who can give them more than they can as their biological parents. I was adopted, but I chose not to put my baby up for adoption because I love her to death, so much that I would never be strong enough to let her go. She is my pride and joy and people like you, who only see the dark side of premarital babies, are truly sad. It does not matter when a baby is born or made. He or she is still a human being. He or she is still meant to be loved; and their parents, who are irresponsible teenagers, barely getting a grasp on life sure as hell do grow up fast. I was mature for my age before but now... it's a whole different story. Everything changes and I wouldn't give it up for the world. I love my fiance and I love my baby to death. If I could go back in time and not have gotten pregnant, I wouldn't... And it's been no easy road. My mom was pissed when she found out and it's still an ongoing struggle with her. She's forever disappointed in me...and that was the hardest thing for me to deal with because we've always been very close. My husband and I have to move in with his parents until the baby is born and we can save enough money to move out. But overall, as I've said, having a baby this young can only make you stronger. You don't have to be married or be a certain age or have completed college... You just have to be willing to give that little baby all you've got and more. You can still complete college and have a job and do everything you've always wanted to do; you just get to do it with your baby. It's not easy, but it's worth it.

Lacey of MI 12:24AM August 10, 2012

Your commentary speaks volumes, especially considering Gov. Christie's recent 7.5 million dollar funding veto against Planned Parenthood in New Jersey-- an organization funded since the early 1970s!

Slashing funding to NJ public schools was not enough, apparently. As schools now struggle to "do more with less"-- (read: learn to do without), now women and men who seek healthcare must now learn to do without, as well.

Last year, family planning centers in NJ provided: preventive reproductive healthcare to 126,903 women and 9,461 men; more than 70,000 breast exams; more than 65,000 Pap tests; HIV tests to more than 27,000 people; services to 97,129 men and women without health insurance.

If New Jersey lawmakers eliminate state funding to Family Planning clinics, thousands of people will have less affordable access to the health care they need.

Let's see.... slashing of funds for our public education system..... slashing of funds to Family Planning health care faciliites.... I shudder to think what's next.

For those teenagers who will now have limited access to reproductive education, health care, and related services, the future looks bleak.

I am reminded of the scene in The Christmas Carol, where Scrooge says, referring to the needy, "Are there no prisions? Are there no workhouses?" Oh, wait. Isn't that Gov. Christie's line of thinking?

Food for thought.

Sheila

Sheila of NJ 11:45AM August 06, 2010

We as parents are held responsible for our children. They need the proper education on these subject matters. Parents need to more accountable for talking with their children in order for them to understand all the consequences that follows.T here are too many teens getting pregnant and can not take care of the child. Some rely on their parents to help them with their child and you have others who go out in the world to try and make it the best way they know how. Teens should not have to struggle so hard in life if they were taught to make the right decision. I talk every day to teens that I know and I tell them how hard it is to make it in today,s society.

Synthie Anderson of SC 8:20PM June 10, 2010

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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