Babies Makin’ Babies: Teen Birth Rates Through the Roof
- Posted by: Siobhan O'Connor
- on January 7, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Ruh-roh. Let the finger-pointing begin. New data has just been released showing teenagers are having more and more babies, with “significant increases” in 26 states. Last year, preliminary reports from the Centers for Disease Control showed the early data on the trend: For the first time in 15 years, there was an increase showing in teen birth rates nationwide. Now that the state-by-state numbers have been released (Mississippi takes the cake!), we have, what, a couple hours before the blame game takes off?
No, actually, it’s already begun! The pro-choicers are blaming anti-contraception/abstinence-only education, and the pro-lifers are blaming Hollywood.
Before anyone gets too worked up, though, let us get a little historical perspective, care of this Time magazine cover here, which is from 1985: the teen pregnancy “crisis” is nothing new. (Heck, even Time redid the story in 2005.) But how large will the baby-boom numbers grow? We’ll see. Expect the debate to get hairier later this year, when abortion data is released for 2006, the same year the teen birth rate blew up.
DISCUSSION: 7 Comments
I don’t think this is a problem.Think about who’s most qualified to take care of a baby—who is most in touch with babies’ needs. That’s right, babies. They’re closer to the lived experience of other babies and can therefore make better decisions, especially those crucial choices about their babies’ well-being. And nowadays, with the internet, they’re better informed than ever.
lol. I love sarcasm. The problem with writing sarcasm is that you never get the inflection. So its hard to tell when someone is joking sometimes. Which is why I hope to God this first commenter was joking.The problem is as described in the article. It is a combination of poor education based on ignorance (and its tantamount to blatant negligence) and of our sick culture and the images and sounds we allow our children to be exposed to. It certainly was not that way when I grew up, though that was in a small town and sanz “teh interwebs.”
yeah, and at the same time lets pair up blind people instead of the guide dogs!
Perhaps sarcasm is at work in Anonymous/12:38pm’s comments…but if not, are you kidding!??! The internet can inform those who are already informed, those who have the ability to think critically and independently. Otherwise the internet is more confusing than the Palestinian/Israeli war. Can you google “how to raise a healthy baby when you are in school, living with your parents, don’t make any money, and
just want to hang at the mall with your friends?” Yes, you can google it and maybe find a wikihow, but it certainly won’t give you the answer.
Regardless, this situation has been around for a long time, probably for as long as penises and vaginas have been around. The problem is not necessarily teens using their penises and vaginas but, doing so without protection. If a female doesn’t use protection, she has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year. If teens knew how to use protection and actually used it, teen pregnancy rates simply would not be shooting through the roof! So yes, you can blame education. You can also blame the media’s attention to all of the glorified celebrity births (hello Brangelina’s 10th child) and blame films about happy-go-lucky pregnant teens (hello Juno). But, many people forget to blame parents. Yes parents! They should have the same level of responsibility as the schools they send their kids too. Think about it… parents preventing parenthood. Now that would be something.
The way I see it, not only is teen prenancies up, but more kids are being brought into this world, with only one parent. I am seeing more and more girls in high school, pregnant. Most of the time the daddy runs out on her or can not support the girl and her baby. We have lost our family values and got away from what the bible teaches. What we have in a normal home is kids raising themselves. Parents working two jobs each to make ends meet and leaving kids to care for themselves. I think we need to start pointing the finger where is belongs, the parents. We have lost the word of God, and lost our family value and it is only going to get worse. With all the communcations (email, texting, cell phones) these parents give their kids, it’s out of control and if you can see it, then you need to hit yourself up side the head.
So Obama’s executive order makes good economic sense.
The solution is pretty straightforward. As the commenter at 7:27pm notes, if we just went back to biblical teachings, this problem would be solved. The girls would be stoned for adultery and disobedience, along with their beaus. Problem solved! No squalling baby, no further transgressions from those crazy kids, and God nicely placated.