Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Finally! Mississippi tops a list for SOMETHING!

Didn't Brandi Rae contribute to that statistic, or was sweet little DartmouthCornellYale born when she was 20?

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

BITCHES WANNA BANG!

MOSTLY IN THE DEEP SOUTH APPARENTLY

LOL.

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Finally! Mississippi tops a list for SOMETHING!

LOL!

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

Didn't Brandi Rae contribute to that statistic, or was sweet little DartmouthCornellYale born when she was 20?

LOLOLOLOL!

[Benzgirl]

Wait a minute...
Didn't we have a smack-down with an Ole Miss alum that had to quit school when she was 19 for getting pregnant?
Numbers don't lie.

[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.

[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.

[KSUViolet06]

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.

I've seen that, it was quite disturbing. I believe this was the same girl who was like 14 or 15 and stole her mom's credit card to buy fertility drugs on the internet. She also thought she was qualified to be a mom because "she babysits her little brothers all the time."

Right.

[jojapeach]

I was psuedo-joking with my rationale. At the same time, I see your concern. HIV/AIDS and other STDs are a problem in the Atlanta area and the state of Georgia, too, but probably not as high as Mississippi. But that is truly a shame if there's a better chance for treatment in some African countries? This is still America right? ...But does that mean much of anything these days?

[SWTXBelle]

I'd like to know the percentage of teen mothers who give the baby up for adoption vs. those who decide to keep him/her.