Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSBX

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...

I guess it depends on where you live. AFAIK, there were no such programs in the area back then, so a HS student who was pregnant or had a small child was... well, stuck. Besides, I can't imagine carrying the course load I carried during high school and college (not to mention paying for college) while also caring for an infant or small child with no help from my parents (who would have kicked me out of the house, probably).

But I believe the best option of all is to try to keep teenagers from getting pregnant in the first place. That means teaching them that (a) abstinence is best, (b) if you do choose to have sex, use a condom, and (c) there are a number of other birth control methods out there, but they don't protect against STDs. And if worse comes to worst and a girl does get pregnant, she needs support (whether that is access to a safe abortion, an alternative high school program that lets her earn her diploma while caring for her child, the ability to go off and give birth and place the baby for adoption and return to high school... whatever). It does NOT mean teaching them that abstinence is the only acceptable alternative, and then turning our backs on girls who do get pregnant because they've never been taught how to use a condom.

[AKA_Monet]

Giving some data as published... Although this is coming from the Washington Times... AND THIS SAYS NOTHING about what I think on the subject...

The costs of nonmarital sex and family breakdown equal the bailouts of mortgage-finance giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Unwed childbearing and divorce cost taxpayers $112 billion a year (Institute for American Values), "father absence" costs taxpayers $100 billion a year (National Fatherhood Initiative), teen pregnancy costs $9 billion a year (National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy), and sexually transmitted diseases cost $15 billion a year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Certainly these costs overlap, but the bottom line won't be too far away from the $200 billion bailout of Freddie and Fannie.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

I guess it depends on where you live. AFAIK, there were no such programs in the area back then, so a HS student who was pregnant or had a small child was... well, stuck. Besides, I can't imagine carrying the course load I carried during high school and college (not to mention paying for college) while also caring for an infant or small child with no help from my parents (who would have kicked me out of the house, probably).

There aren't any in mine either. If you get pregnant, there's no daycare in schools. Either you get childcare and go to school normally during the day, go to night school, or possibly get approved to go to the online program (but that's reserved for students with severe medical issues that keep them from attending school such as kids with kidney issues that need dialysis everyday).

Originally Posted by aephi alum

But I believe the best option of all is to try to keep teenagers from getting pregnant in the first place. That means teaching them that (a) abstinence is best, (b) if you do choose to have sex, use a condom, and (c) there are a number of other birth control methods out there, but they don't protect against STDs.

AMEN.

[DSTRen13]

I may have mentioned this on here before, but we had the coolest daycare program at our high school - it was a class, and if you were interested in pursuing a career in childcare, you took Childcare and worked in the daycare looking after teachers' kids, students' kids, etc. Everybody benefited