I don't personally know any pregnant teenagers, but then again, I don't know too many teenaged girls....
However, I have a friend in the military who has a teen daughter who is now pregnant. I took a look at her Myspace page, and it was like every one of her friends was also pregnant...girls 16, 17, 18....they all seemed so happy about it.

What is up with that? Is it the whole Jamie Spears and/or Bristol Pali pregnancy that make it seem glamorous? How do these girls and their babies make a living and survive? Many of these girls were located in or around Ft Polk, Ft Shelby, etc....is this more common in military communities than other places?

There seem to be sooooo many of these girls that it really worries me for the future of this country....

cj/

Found this article that indicates a slight rise.....


Teen Pregnancy Rates Edge Higher
National Institutes of Health Report Also Shows Rise in Low-Birth-Weight Deliveries
By Todd Zwillich
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MDJuly 11, 2008 -- A long trend of falling teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. could be at an end, according to a government report released Friday.

The report shows that teen pregnancy rates edged upward from 21 births per 1,000 teenage girls in 2005 to 22 per 1,000 in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Though small, it's the first increase in teen pregnancy rates since they began dropping from a peak in 1991.

Researchers say they're not sure why the rates went up. "It's only one year. And it might be, to use a very technical term, a blip in the data," says Edward J. Sondik, PhD, director of the National Center for Health Statistics, a CDC division that compiles national data on children's health and well-being each year.

"We feel strongly that it bears watching," Sondik says of the teen pregnancy rate.

Low Birth Weight on the Rise
The report also shows a rise in low-birth-weight deliveries in the U.S. Babies born below 5 pounds 8 ounces are at higher risk for developmental delays and many health problems.

The rate rose to 8.3% in 2006 from 8.2% the year before, according to the report.

"This means that 320,000 babies were born at a weight that jeopardizes their survival and long-term good health," Sondik says.

"This trend reflects an increase in the number of infants born prematurely, the largest category of low-birth-weight infants," Duane Alexander, MD, head of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, says in a news release.

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

I actually read an article on the internet (believe it was last week)

It was about this very subject, and it was discussing whether or not the shows teens are watching on television have anything to do with it...

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MyCoupons Is #1 for Holiday Shopping

The kids worship no to low talent celebrities. It looks great and they want to be the same. As far as supporting, you and I are doing a lot of it. Many high schools now have child care on-site. Social workers love to give, give, give the information about free medical care, free childcare, WIC, state sponsored insurance, etc, etc.

Then they can file taxes and get money back that they didn't even earn as far as earned income, or head of household. No reason to get married, the benefits would be less.

I do not believe it happens any more frequently in military communities vs. non military communities. I had read something similar about six months ago where these kids (and they are kids, babies having babies) were forming pacts to all get pregnant.

My disclaimer is that I know some families do support their daughters financially, however, so many do not or are more than happy to reap whatever they can financially. We've accepted this behaviour and now it has become accepted.

dl

I feel the 'give, give, give, take, take, take" mentality will only get worse under Obama and the liberals in control. We will find out if the benefits and the rates go up under his administration.

When you have a nation that believes that anything is ok and there is no right or wrong, that no one has the 'right' to judge what another person does, what do you expect of our young girls and guys? They see their parents screwing around, they see men/women/men/men/women/women living together, they watch all this crap on TV and see these young actresses (or at least that's what they 'think' they are) (really they're losers) getting pregnant, sleeping around and everything looks so fun.

I have a feeling we're just seeing the beginning of a national downfall.

in answer to mom2twins so all what you just wrote above me , only democrats act this way. Seriously all Republicans are angels, us Left Winged Liberals only made these mistakes....Correct me if I am wrong while Sarah Palin is a Republican and pro-life is her dd whom is 17 not a teenager and is she not pregnant. Stop putting the blame only on us liberal democrats , sadly teenage pregnancy runs rampart in all parties. If you are going to place blame on only liberals, your are sadly mistaken and wrong... Catherine

Get real. Babies are created the same way at all ages. The article does not say that all low birth weight babies are born to teenage mothers.
There have ALWAYS been teenage mothers and fathers and there always will be. What I don't understand is the statement that they all seem happy, is there a problem with that? Are they to wear sack cloth and ashes and cry woe is me?
We all know that these girls have a hard time and would have had an easier time of it if they started their families under different circumstances but who has a trouble free life? For every pregnant girl there is a guy involved. Some times the guy has multiple girls pregnant at the same time. Where are the articles on that?
These are human beings in a human situation and while maybe not to your liking for them it is a reality. If you can help them, help them, if they repulse you just walk around them and keep going. Don't kick people when they are down. We have done that long enough.

I haven't noticed an increase in teen pregnancy in our area. I have worked at a local High School for eight years and I would say the average is one, or two girls a year. Of course, those are the girls that actually keep the babies, I have no idea how many have abortions.

Last year DD's high school had 6 pregnant girls ~ double the number for the 2 years before. And of the 6 girls, 3 of them were freshman! According to DD, only 1 of the girls from last year came back this year - don't know about the rest or the fathers of the babies. I know that here the babies are usually raised by the grandmothers in a multi-generational family situation. It seems to be an accepted part of the culture.

Can you read? I did not say a single thing about the democrats and republicans. Don't try to turn this into a liberal/conservative issue. This happens on both sides. Seriously, do you even read what people actually write?

Wow - I don't think that my post really deserved that response. I never said that anything repulsed me - where in the heck did you get that?

As for myself, when I was a teenager, I would not have been at all happy to be pregnant or having a baby. I would be "woe is me" because it would mean that it would have been extremely difficult to meet the goals I had for myself and also that my parents, extended family, teachers, and family friends would have been quite disappointed in me. We would have made choices and made the best of them, but it would not have been a cake walk.

My personal opinion is that many, not all, but many, of these girls get pregnant on purpose as they are looking for love any way that they can get it - and sometimes that's in the form of a baby. And yes, I believe that's a tragedy.....and that teenage pregnancy is on the rise, after many years of falling, is troubling to me.

cj/

P.S. for Catherine the lucylover, missing the "n" in Palin was a typo.....which I make every now and then. I have a really high incidence of flipping my n and g when I type too fast also. But I think that, by and large, my posts are readable by the majority of the audience here. That's to say that I don't have a lot of people expressing grief over them. Sometimes when many people point out the same thing, it's time to step back and realize that there might be some truth to what they're saying. The choice is yours as to what to do with it.....but I would be taking a long hard look at myself if I were you.

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

I don't think Bristol Palin has anything at all to do with it - she was in the spotlight for what - 9 weeks? Jamie Lyn Spears, on the other hand...I don't know.

My daughter has over 1600 in her high school. I am not aware of any preganancies. But then, my dd is a freshman...but then again...I guess that doesn't matter, freshmen get pregnant, too. I know a lot of teenaged girls and have yet to hear of one of them or their friends being pregnant.

However, my 20 year old nephew just got his 19 year old girlfriend pregnant. They are not planning to get married any time soon as they've only dated 3-4 months. And my dd's 5th grade teacher from last year (probably 35 years old) got pregnant over the summer. They're planning to get married in February. Both of them make me mad - both are old enough to know to use protection! When you're 19 and living on your own, supporting yourself, you can buy birth control. And, when you are an elementary teacher... I know you have a life outside of school, but, as an adult and a REAL role model (versus sports figures and the like)...act responsibly!

I went to a high school of roughly 400 and I remember about 5-6 during my 4 years. I knew of a couple abortions, too.

I'd be curious about the data and what they find as to WHO are the ones getting pregnant and causing the slight rise. Is it just in general over the whole population or something like rural versus suburban? city? lower, middle, upper class?

Interesting.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

? WHAT ? This rant has nothing to do with any post on this thread!

dl

Well, I personally know a teen mom, my 17 year old niece. I can tell you for a fact she didn't get pregnant because of anybody else influencing her. I doubt she ever watched Zoey 101(more my daughters kind of show and she is 7). As for the number of pregnant teens in her school she says there were 25 last year when she was pregnant. This is a school of 1200(10th through 12th). Now my 20 year old niece is pregnant as well. Both of them knew the consequences of having sex and they did it anyway. I know teens are going to have sex(we can kid ourselves and think they aren't)but they should be responsible enough to use birth control. I just hope that when my daughter is older and wants to have sex she will be wise enough to get birth control. I hope she will talk to me first but as I know(because I didn't talk to my Mom about sex)that doesn't always happen. I just hope she has the common sense to protect herself.

I think there are many factors that contribute to the rise in teen pregnancy.

1. Lack of parental involvement. If parents don't teach their kids about sex and birth control the kids aren't going to know because there is a...

2. Lack of sex education in public school. If parents won't teach their kids and don't allow the schools to teach it either then the kids aren't going to know.

3. Making teen pregnancy acceptable or cool. Back when I was in high school(late 80's), getting pregnant wasn't something to be proud of. Nobody gave a pregnant teen a baby shower and other teens didn't think having a baby was cool. If you got pregnant you dealt with it but it wasn't a cause for celebration like so often it seems to be today.

When I was in school there were 4 girls that got pregnant that I can clearly recall and I think 1 or 2 others(one girl got pregnant the summer before 8th grade, now THAT was a scandal)and that was from 7th-12th grade. One or two kept them and the rest opted for adoption except for the girl who was pregnant in 8th grade, she dropped out in 10th grade when she got pregnant again and then married the father of the kids.
The girls were from all different backgrounds and this was a suburban/rural school.

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Jesus SAVES by shopping smartly and using double coupons!

As the economy got worse, teens were left alone in body and spirit by parents trying to just put food on the table. This left a void in their lives they try to fill with each other and by having a baby is having someone who will "always love me, always will be there, never leave, will always be the cute little thing I see on TV, etc.

The way out has nothing to do with Republican/Democrat parties because I don't think that teens think before they have unprotected sex, "Wow, now I can get XX amount of dollars to have a baby and with the Dems in control, I can get even more". That is the silliest thing I ever heard and having worked with teens and had teens of my own, know that money is the last thing they think of.....how to support themselves. They are just thinking about having something of their very own to love.

To fix it, we need to build in each child a sense that they are most important and so is their future and nothing should derail that plan. Unprotected sex is the way to ruin that goal. We have to let them know that their future is so important that they can't take the chance of ruining their future. It isn't worth it. We need to give them something else that is worth it in their life. Obviously, teaching sex education in school will not work without the other components taught at home. JMO

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GO NAVY WRESTLING!!BEAT ARMY!!!
RJB 3/18/60 - 5/22/04
We miss you, sweet brother
God Bless the USA!!!!! Praying for my Youngster son at United States Naval Academy, class of 2014!!

mom2twins then kindly explain what you mean't when you wrote a national downfall, If I took if for something else and went off topic as always I admit I was wrong and will say sorry. So plmk what you were saying when you mentioned a national downfall.. Btw my dd Cailtin who is 16 just had a friend who will turn 16 on 12/27 , the girl dropped out of school last year and gave birth a baby boy on 10/7/08.. The father is 24 years old so at the time the girl was only barely 15 and the girls parents had him arrested in he is in jail... Truly a sad story for all concerned....Catherine

Good topic. I asked DS if there are any pregnant girls at school....he said he has only "seen" one. I know when I am out and about, I do see what appear to be very young girls pushing babies in strollers.

Also, there was a Happy 18th Birthday announcement in the paper, from a baby to his mommy. There is just no shame anymore. I am not saying that to be mean, I just think it has become "accepted". Personally, I know someone who has three children, all three of those kids have had children out of wed-lock. One is expecting another.

I think it has a lot to do with the parenting of these children. I know you can be the best parent possible, and this can still happen, but, the situation I'm referring to, that is NOT the case, sadly.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Again, you do not get it. The op wondered if this trend was "more common in military communities than other places". I am not going to quote it for you, YOU go back and read it. Just scroll back up, or, back out and reopen the thread. It's the first post. It's there. Several, including mom2twins, mentioned a national situation and YOU decided to make it political. National means nationwide, all over, not restricted to one geographic area.

Politics have nothing to do with this, and yet YOU can't keep politics out of your posts, much less your repetitive pleas for what YOU want everyone else to do.

I had simply thought you slept through much of your formative years of education by the way you post. Now I will say it, YOU don't get so many things. You can't follow a thought process and you can't move on from what you have ingrained in your brain for the time being. You owe many a sincere apology, not the repetitive slapping of the keyboard you've been doing.

dl

As someone suffering infertility, it bothers me tremendously.

It was Kathytheshopper who brought politics into the discussion in the first place.

So now back to the regular sniping.

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GO NAVY WRESTLING!!BEAT ARMY!!!
RJB 3/18/60 - 5/22/04
We miss you, sweet brother
God Bless the USA!!!!! Praying for my Youngster son at United States Naval Academy, class of 2014!!

Yes, however she spoke generally, whereas this poster singled out and pushed:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

in answer to mom2twins so all what you just wrote above me , only democrats act this way. Seriously all Republicans are angels, us Left Winged Liberals only made these mistakes....Correct me if I am wrong while Sarah Palin is a Republican and pro-life is her dd whom is 17 not a teenager and is she not pregnant. Stop putting the blame only on us liberal democrats , sadly teenage pregnancy runs rampart in all parties. If you are going to place blame on only liberals, your are sadly mistaken and wrong... Catherine

Posting facts is not sniping. You can be her ally. She only has a handful and apparently needs all she can get. She has alienated so many many who are sadly mistaken and wrong...., and yes, I know, I know, this is just a message board, not rl.

dl

Waaahhhhh......leave my topic alone! This is not the election/politics board! I am worried about these teen girls.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Actually, when I asked whether this was more common in military communities, my thought was along the lines of whether this is fallout from so many parents, particularly the men, being deployed several times over the past few years....i.e. the absense of the role model and/or disciplinarian in the home. Teens long for their parents guidance and discipline whether they admit it or not.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

oh, woops, I didn't catch the military part, I thought you were speaking about teens in general.

As for military, I have not seen an increase in teen pregnancy in my area. I will say, you mention the lack of men in the home, due to deployment. I just wanted to add that often the spouse that is there most often, usually the Mom, becomes the disciplinarian, since they are there. Except for the lame parents that use the "wait 'til your Father gets home" That line doesn't work even when a parent isn't in the military.

I agree, it's a sad situation all the way around.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

You know, I have stayed out of the mess on the Election Board recently when it concerns you but you have to come on this board and single ME out??? I don't have to explain anything to you. You should be able to read my post and figure it out. It's quite simple. Now if you want to bring politics into this, go ahead but leave my name out of it and quit referring to me. Yes, you DID go off topic. No, I didn't bring politics into it. Someone else may have but it wasn't me. If you can't see how it will affect our nation when we have so many babies having babies, then you truly need to get out of la-la land and get into the real world.

(SIGH)

I haven't seen a lot of teen girls around here pregnant but I don't see a lot of teens since my kids are smaller. I do think a lot of what kids are doing with sex and not using protection has to do with their parenting. I don't think a lot of families preach about the dangers of having sex. It's just "don't do it". But then a lot of them have their girlfriends/boyfriends sleep over and are having a good ol' time. I have a friend who tells her girls to not have sex, etc but then she's out having sex with her new BF and he stays over, etc. what kind of example is that? We have to practice what we preach and we don't. My DH and I discuss when/if her oldest DD will get pregnant. We figure it's just a matter of time. I've shared my concern with my friend but it's blown off with a wave of the hand. No one wants to hear that and no one wants to believe there is a risk of anything happening like that.

I also think the glamorization of the Spear's girls and how getting pregnant is "all the rage" in Hollywood now. What these girls don't realize is that those babies are often tossed over to a nanny so the teen mom can still party/live her life as previously. That's not real life. I don't think it's any one celeb...so many are doing it. There are not a lot of good examples as what a relationship is and how it should function out there in the spotlight...that is so sad.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

It *is* sad, and it often becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. The stigma that perhaps used to stave off some of those behaviors has been largely removed by the 'don't judge anyone, ever' mindset, and the fact that we've created systems that serve as safety nets, while well intentioned, probably contributes to the lessened 'fear factor' that girls used to feel.

I think there is also a mindset among many families that teens can't be stopped, anyway, so there is no use in making moral judgments about teen sex. I really think a mindset has to be put into play for kids when they are very young so that in their very subconscience, there is a mindset that says, "That's not something I'll do"... just as we do regarding drugs, stealing, being violent with others, etc..

At the heart of it all is the fact that there is a baby who likely won't be receiving all the influences a child needs to develop well emotionally. Little girls who grow up without strong fathers around are more likely to look for male attention in sexual ways as they hit puberty, and boys who grow up without strong fathers are apt to struggle, as well. We don't do our society any favors when we treat this issue like it's no big deal.

It's a parental issue. Nothing more.

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I'm the kind of woman when my feet hit the floor in each morning, the devil says "Oh crap, she's up."

Back when I was in highschool there was only 1 girl that got pregnant and she was very mature for her age.
I don't think the problem lies with the girls not knowing about birthcontrol.I think that they just don't want to use it or don't have anyway to get it.Talking about birthcontrol with their mother is too difficult and wearing a condom is too uncomfortable so they just take their chances instead.
If they made a cheap ,safe birthcontrol pill that any teenage girl could just walk in the store and buy,it might help.Too bad it has to be so complicated.

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mom2twins I only asked you a question plain and simple nothing more. So sorry to have offened you I did not mean any harm. I jsut wanted to know what you mean't by your statement am I not allowed to ask another poster a question, again no bad will intended, yes this is not the election board and politics does not belong here so If I did I always admit and say sorry, so sorry to you.. Now lets get back to the op's orginal thread and sujbect... Peace ... Catherine

Then again, if there was such a pill they would probably be too embarrassed to be seen buying it in the store.
So what can a mother do? Sneak a birth control pill into her daughters food everyday at dinner time?

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I was at Dollar Tree last week and in the check-out line are $1.00 pregnancy tests. A lady in front of me saw them before I did and made the comment that 'who in the world would trust a dollar pregnancy test.' The clerk responded that you would be shocked at how many young girls come in and buy them all the time. She said it was one of their best-selling items.

That is so sad. Can you imagine being 14, 15, 16 and having to go to Dollar Tree and pick up a pregnancy test? I just think it's really sad for these girls.

mom2twins buying a pregnancy test at a dollar store is truly scary , while I do love shopping there I would not think that those tests which only costed 1.00 would actually give the teenager the right answer. Again teenage pregnancy is seriously no joke, not when you have a teenager daughter or son who could become a father at 16 way too scary.... Peace.. Catherine

"when you are an elementary teacher... I know you have a life outside of school, but, as an adult and a REAL role model (versus sports figures and the like)...act responsibly!" I take offense to that! I was 21 when I got pregnant with my son and not married... GUESS WHAT?? I was on the pill, I was taking precautions, things happen. I was also with his father for 5 years before that and another 11 after that. We built a life together, or at least tried to. DOes that make me any less of a person because I did not marry him?? No not at all...
I think it is really sad that people judge others and have not walked in their shoes. Just because she is 35, pregnant and not married does NOT make her a bad role model! Who knows the circumstances behind it all...