Shaming a pregnant (older) woman isn’t okay, so why should it be okay to shame a pregnant teen? I’m not promoting teen pregnancy, I’m speaking on behalf of the respect that girls deserve when it happens.
You can’t say a teenager “doesn’t have any morals” for getting pregnant, I’m sure they aren’t jumping with joy because they’re going to be a mother at such a young age. When you shame a girl for being pregnant, you’re disrespecting her decision on keeping her child and you’re shaming their sex life. I can’t imagine how a teen girl must feel like when she can’t go out in public because she’ll get glared at for being pregnant. Having a kid OBVIOUSLY isn’t an easy decision, (as you should know) many struggle financially and emotionally based off of the support they get at home, and of course it’s harder on teens that wish to graduate high school or even college.
MTV’s 2009 TV shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen mom, portrayed the hardships a teen mom endures (maybe with a dramatic twist,) but it still shouldn’t be something we see as entertainment or something we shouldn’t acknowledge. A majority of the time people are criticizing girls for having sex or being pregnant instead of taking notice of their struggles and what they’re going through.
According to about.com/dosometihng.org, out of all teen pregnancies, 82% are unintended and 8 out of 10 teen dads don’t marry the mother of their child. If teen moms are already struggling, why should we make it harder on them? Lots of teen moms don’t have a say on whether they can keep their baby or not because of where they live. In the US 38 states require parental involvement at abortion clinics and 21 require parental consent.
More in depth of teens that do try to prevent it, condoms and birth control pills should be their priority to use when having sex. But sometimes they don’t get the resultsthey wanted. When a female plans to use birth control, she’s expected to use it and figure it out herself, so using it correctly isn’t always easy. It’s a complicating process of constantly having to take pills and still being careful during sex, because if the pills aren’t taken properly then there’s an even larger risk of being pregnant. Condoms aren’t always effective if not put on properly (yes! They CAN break!)
Another main cause of teen pregnancy that not many people know of is lack of supervision before teens are ready for independence. Often times teens that are neglected by their parents or ones that lack self-esteem tend to seek affection differently outside of home. Teens will also feel more pressured into having sex at younger age, so there’s more vulnerability if someone isn’t getting the love and attention they deserve.
Many teen moms can say they’ve been discriminated/made fun of for being pregnant, many have also confessed that other people, (such as students, teachers, staff members, even COUNCILORS) have made their pregnancy harder on the student because others were “disappointed in them” or unaccepting.
It’s okay to be able to do what you want as long as it’s safe, but what about the girls that can’t necessarily have protected sex? What about the teens that don’t have a choice on aborting? I don’t believe that teens always plan an early pregnancy, it’s just something that got out of their hands. We must look beyond that and continue to treat one another with the same respect you’d treat anyone else.
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