Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years

[agzg]

I'm watching Tyra right now and they're talking about teens actively trying to get pregnant.

The one girl thought her boyfriend could support her and the kid because he makes $7,000/year.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

I'm watching Tyra right now and they're talking about teens actively trying to get pregnant.

The one girl thought her boyfriend could support her and the kid because he makes $7,000/year.

Where, in Tautapoau, Himalayas with Alpacas?

Guess there ain't much to do in Mississippi or all those other states? IDK?

It is like those "have you ever read" jokes...

[jojapeach]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Guess there ain't much to do in Mississippi or all those other states? IDK?

That's the angle I took. I'm also going to blame the economy. With all of the adults being forced to take the fast food, etc. jobs that teens normally take, the teens can't find jobs and find other ways to be (re)productive. I'm sure things are even worse in the smaller towns.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by jojapeach

That's the angle I took. I'm also going to blame the economy. With all of the adults being forced to take the fast food, etc. jobs that teens normally take, the teens can't find jobs and find other ways to be (re)productive. I'm sure things are even worse in the smaller towns.

What gets me though, is that if you do have have some level of contraception and/or safer sex protection, you have a public health problem like a wild fire...

So, not just the babies, but the infections... HIV/AIDS did not suddenly end in this country... Mississippi as a state has the worst rate of new HIV/AIDS cases without that much HAART drugs. AND Mississippi's HIV/AIDS cases rival those seen in the poorest 3rd world countries in Africa... Meaning you are safer to catch HIV in some African countries than you are in Mississippi--at least you might get seen and have some form of treatment in some African countries...

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by jojapeach

That's the angle I took. I'm also going to blame the economy. With all of the adults being forced to take the fast food, etc. jobs that teens normally take, the teens can't find jobs and find other ways to be (re)productive. I'm sure things are even worse in the smaller towns.

I'm not going to blame the economy because Mississippi, New Mexico, and other states are ALWAYS scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to this sort of thing. Even 3-4 years ago, when the economy was doing really well--teens in Mississippi were reproducing at a faster rate than NYC subway rats. Perhaps in their communities, single parenthood is seen as "okay." Maybe poverty isn't that big a deal. Maybe they don't read condom boxes, BCP instructions, or they don't listen to their teachers.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Perhaps in their communities, single parenthood is seen as "okay."

This is very true. In some communities, every girl on the block has a kid (sometimes 2) that they had before before age 19. If you're a young girl growing up in that community, you don't think anything of it. It's normal.

Same with poverty. If you've lived on this block all your life, where every girl is a HS drop out with a baby and on public assistance, you don't look at them as people in poverty because this is what you perceive as normal.

[AGDee]

There is nothing that says that these teens are single parents. I would be interested to see statistics on how many of them are married. In Mississippi, female teens can get married at 15 with parental consent. That's shockingly low to me. These statistics also include 18 and 19 year olds. I would really want to see it more detailed by specific age and marital status.

[madmax]

Originally Posted by AGDee

There is nothing that says that these teens are single parents. I would be interested to see statistics on how many of them are married. In Mississippi, female teens can get married at 15 with parental consent. That's shockingly low to me. These statistics also include 18 and 19 year olds. I would really want to see it more detailed by specific age and marital status.

Do you know many married teenagers?

[madmax]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

This is very true. In some communities, every girl on the block has a kid (sometimes 2) that they had before before age 19. If you're a young girl growing up in that community, you don't think anything of it. It's normal.

Same with poverty. If you've lived on this block all your life, where every girl is a HS drop out with a baby and on public assistance, you don't look at them as people in poverty because this is what you perceive as normal.

You mean the inner cities where the Dems live?

[aephi alum]

Let's hear it for abstinence-only sex education.

The reality is, teenagers are going to have sex, no matter how often you tell them not to. So they need to be educated that, while abstinence is arguably best, if you do not choose abstinence, you should be using a condom. (Or a diaphragm, or the pill, or something. A condom is best because it also protects against STDs.)

It's also worth noting that seven of these ten states require parental consent, and an eighth (Georgia) requires parental notification, for a minor to get an abortion. If I had been unlucky enough to become pregnant at age 15 (unlikely as I wasn't sexually active back then, and if I had been, I would have insisted on a condom), I could have walked into any abortion clinic in New York and said, "I want an abortion." But if I had lived in Mississippi, where the consent of BOTH parents is required, my uber-religious pro-life parents would have prevented me from getting an abortion. I would have had to carry the pregnancy to term and then either place the child for adoption or wave bye-bye to a college education and a career.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

It's also worth noting that seven of these ten states require parental consent, and an eighth (Georgia) requires parental notification, for a minor to get an abortion. If I had been unlucky enough to become pregnant at age 15 (unlikely as I wasn't sexually active back then, and if I had been, I would have insisted on a condom), I could have walked into any abortion clinic in New York and said, "I want an abortion." But if I had lived in Mississippi, where the consent of BOTH parents is required, my uber-religious pro-life parents would have prevented me from getting an abortion. I would have had to carry the pregnancy to term and then either place the child for adoption or wave bye-bye to a college education and a career.

I think differences in culture may influence this decision even more that the law itself. I think if you look at abortion rates by states, you don't see a big spike in the rates of abortion of women right over the age at which they can get abortions without parent consent. To me this suggest that the attitude about abortion (or maybe easy availability of abortion) may be different period, rather than the just the parent notification laws.

And going by personal experience with the couple of pregnant teens I've known, they knew where to get condoms or other forms of birth control, and they knew how people got pregnant. Some even knew from close friends exactly how difficult parenting was. That knowledge didn't information their behavior though. The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

This is a BIG part of it. When you talk to kids about getting pregnant, they always say "Well, I'm smarter than Susie, it won't happen to me."

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I think differences in culture may influence this decision even more that the law itself. I think if you look at abortion rates by states, you don't see a big spike in the rates of abortion of women right over the age at which they can get abortions without parent consent.

That depends on what data you're looking at. I'm interested to see your sources. Mine say differently.

Stanley Henshaw studied the impacts of Mississippi's parental consent law when it went into effect in 1993. What he found was that fewer 17-year-olds were having abortions, but more 18-year-olds were having late-term abortions: the state's second-trimester abortion rate increased by 19%. This study was published in the May-June edition of Family Planning Perspectives journal.

Ted Joyce, Robert Kaestner and Silvie Coleman studied Texas's parental notification law after it went into effect in 2000 and came to a similar conclusion. Quoting the article, the parental notification law was "associated with increased birth rates and rates of abortion during the second trimester among a subgroup of minors who were 17.50 to 17.74 years of age at the time of conception." This article was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2006.

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And going by personal experience with the couple of pregnant teens I've known, they knew where to get condoms or other forms of birth control, and they knew how people got pregnant. Some even knew from close friends exactly how difficult parenting was. That knowledge didn't information their behavior though. The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

I TOTALLY agree with this!

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And going by personal experience with the couple of pregnant teens I've known, they knew where to get condoms or other forms of birth control, and they knew how people got pregnant. Some even knew from close friends exactly how difficult parenting was. That knowledge didn't information their behavior though. The fun of sex and the "it won't happen to me" thinking (as well as "it might be fun to have a kid" thinking in a couple of cases) override the formal instruction they've been giving.

I wish it was true of just pregnant teens! I have a friend who's going to give birth in the next few weeks. She's my age, and her boyfriend is still in college. Ewwww! It's just a big mess...I don't get it. In college, my boyfriend and I were acutely aware of how much my getting pregnant would screw things up for both of us, so I wonder why they took that risk knowing that her career is temporarily derailed (she's in the same field as I, where you have to garner a certain number of work HOURS in order to be licensed), and his last months of college/first months of a career are not going to be as smooth as they would have been if they had just used a damn condom! I think she sees how much harder it's going to be for her than it is for our married friends who, while still got pregnant by accident, have the back-up of a larger apartment, more savings, and more work history to cushion the setback.

Totally off-topic, but I'm still skeeved out by it--and still kinda wasted from last night. I feel like this situation has made me a million times more vigilant about not getting pregnant!

[OneTimeSBX]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

I would have had to carry the pregnancy to term and then either place the child for adoption or wave bye-bye to a college education and a career.

not true at all...

i have had several classmates who had children at 14-16. (i live in richmond, what can i say?) ALL of them have gone to college, gotten married, and had a career. now, some states have programs that allow these mothers to take their kids to high school with them, and ours was a test school for that program. maybe thats why they succeeded, and maybe the lack of that program is why a lot of girls dont have the chance to succeed, but by no means is a baby at 15 a definate college/career killer...