What are your opinions on teen pregnancy?

[Shyanne]

Im just wondering. I wanna see what you think about the situation.
Its for a school paper im writing.

[RoRo Resiness]

It's a waste of your youth that's for sure.
Having sex may be fun when your just starting out but a child being responsible for a child is sad.
Use protection to avoid pregnancy always!
When your young, live for yourself and stay away from pregnancy like it's the plague!

[8 week old bump]

Best to always use protection so that the teens aren't in the situation but this would go for adults too if they didn't want a child.

[Ilove]

I think you're just looking for a debate.. but anyways:


I am technically a "teen mother" I am 19 now and was 17 when he was born. My pregnancy was not intentional but I had already been with my boyfriend for 2 years and we have now been together 4 years, gotten married and still going strong. Our son, in comparison to other children his age, is very advanced. My husband has held down a great job making decent money and I'm currently attending college. Our life is GREAT! I guess success stories like ours don't make good TV because nobody like us is on "Teen Mom" I do NOT suggest for teens to go out and get pregnant and preach to all teens to please please use protection. It is very annoying though the stereotype that teen moms are not good parents. My husband and I did everything on our own,lived on our own, handled getting up every 2 hours ON OUR OWN! Honestly, I think the reason teen parents make better parents is because in a way, they are still kids themselves and can actually run around a play. Example, My husband(20 now, was 18 when my son was born) crawls around on the floor with toy cars saying Vroom Vroom! We are excellent parents and wish the stereotype didn't hang over our head. That's why we stress to our friends not to follow in our footsteps because not everyone is ready for such a commitment.

[Juniper]

I think it's a good way to set your plan for life back at least a decade. I also think it is 100% preventable and the majority of teen pregnancies are due to either carelessness or naivety.

For the answerer above me, while I commend you for being a good parent, there is a reason you don't hear stories like yours that often. Plain and simple, it's because they don't happen that often. I was a teen a decade ago, and throughout high school I knew quite a few girls to get pregnant, including two very close friends. I can tell you this: I can remember at least 8 girls who ended up pregnant throughout high school. Though all of those girls stayed with the father for a period of time, only one of them is still with the father today (ten years later). Most of those relationships failed within a year or two. All of the girls now have multiple children, the majority with different fathers. Several of them are constantly posting drama about custody and the like on Facebook. Of the two I was closest with, both have needed to rely on welfare at some point, and both have or currently live in very meager housing. Both of these girls were in advanced classes, and one was even in our school's gifted student program. This girl - who could have gotten a scholarship to just about anywhere - doesn't even have a GED to this day. She's had to work three jobs at a time, and at places like Waffle House and gas stations because those are the only places you CAN work without a diploma or GED. It's a far cry from the "white picket fence" life that she admitted to imagining when she stopped using birth control at 17.

So, from what I have seen, Teen Mom (entertainment though it is) does give a pretty realistic view of what life is really like to be a teen parent. Also, the numbers you hear about it are true - less than half of teen moms under 18 will get a GED or diploma. 80% of teen moms will need welfare before their first child's 5th birthday. Only 20% of teen moms marry the father of the child, and the majority don't stay together at all. Less than 2% of teen moms will have a college degree by the age of 30. Children of teen parents are more likely to live in poverty; the sons are more likely to end up in jail and the daughters are more likely to be teen moms themselves.