Anyone would think there’s an epidemic…
… of teenage pregnancy in this country. Rather than taking your information from the Daily Mail, you might actually like to look at the facts, available here from National Statistics (opens a large pdf file, the tables of relevance are 3.1 and 4.1)
The tables shows that eight girls in 1000 under 16 get pregnant, which has fallen from a peak of 9.5 per thousand in 1996, and that 42.3 girls per thousand under 18 get pregnant every year, fallen from 47.1 in 1998.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d prefer that no young women were getting pregnant under 16 and fewer under 18, but the answers to that problem aren’t just about sex education, as some of my fellow bloggers seem to think. It’s about ensuring that our young women have a sense of their potential future, aspirations for a career and a family, and opportunities to develop an adult identity in ways other than by becoming a mother, so they actively take steps to prevent themselves becoming pregnant.
The government has reached the limits of its ability to contain the UK’s high rate of teenage pregnancy and can go no further without the help of parents
said Bev Hughes in an interview in today’s Guardian.
Fair enough, parents do need to do far more. But, given that you can’t legislate to make them talk to their kids and given that you know that teenage mums are more likely to have no qualifications and a lower-paying job in later life, are you just going to give up, Bev? Are you sure you’re doing everything you can? How about making sex and relationships education compulsory in every school - no opt-outs for governors or parents? How about opening a sexual health clinic in every secondary school in every hotspot area? And how about sending a clear message to schools that they have a role to play in preventing teeange pregnancy - becasue the girls most likely to get pregnant are those who are disaffected from school, not achieving, maybe not attending - and effective schools are about more than A-C at GCSE.
Hi Antonia
I don’t think it’s just a question of sex education, hence my comment:
…if I create an environment for my children where either of them has nothing else in their lives at age 12…then I’ve clearly failed as a father.
I want to make my daughters’ lives rich and varied so thoughts of going out and getting knocked up at 12 are waaaaaaayyyyy down the list. The question is, without blowing my own trumpet, how to get more - in what is politely called - the D and E social classes to think in a similar way. It used to be said that birth rates declined in the West as a result of materialism and general contentment - some it seems are missing out.
(Nice place, BTW, and a West Wing fan to boot - excellent. Series 5 sucked though. Paging Mr Sorkin.)
I think in all this talk of young girls getting pregnant the media and politicians must also focus on the boys/men who are equally responsible for the pregnancy.
These girls are not getting pregnant alone and the focus on the girls in my view seems to reinforce those stereotypes that place child-birth/child rearing as a ‘burden’ to be borne soley by females.
I am a teenage mother and I am trying to do a research paper on social work with an emphasis in teen parenting. I find it rather disappointing that all I find is, “preventing drug use, AIDS, alcoholism, and oh yeah…teen pregnancy.” It upsets me even more that people assume that because I have a daughter at the age of 17, that I somehow do not have brains and am automatically labeled an “unfit mother.” It makes me cry sometimes knowing that the world looks down upon me. I agree with you when you say that schools and clinics should… literally hand out condoms. But, what I have found, when talking to other girls with children, is that the male intentially tried to inpregnant them. Maybe if we as a society just tried to help teenagers gain a better outlook on life,that they would go to college, get good jobs, regardless as to if they had a child as a teenager or not.
Parents, keep the liberals away from your kids. You know how they are. They want to knock your kid up, murder the baby, run for the hills, and blame their problems on other people.
Oi, Bill - who you calling a liberal?
Everyone talks about teenage pregnancy as if it were some sort of plague! My God these girls are not dying from some sort of danegrous disease. I must admit that the cost for teenage mothers in terms of costs for the goverment are big,but yet again it is only a hair in their soup. I am a teenage mother and I can tell you right now that it does not have to do so much with media has to who you are hanging out with. What your peers are doing and how they influence you. MOre importantly it is the person alone who makes certain decisions. I love how people stereotype pregnant teenagers. OOOHHH she isn’t going anywhere. Aside from labeling pregnancy for younge mothers what all these politics need to do is come up with a solution for those girls who are already part of the stastic. I think many politics fail to see this situation as a whole. HELLO!!! Young teenage mothers and young mothers still have dreams. If you want them off of feeding from the taxes help them to get an education and fend for themselves. Help them get to college and go beyond. I am trying to do just that and while I know I have the tools to handle both parenthood, a part-time job, and being a full time student, I don’t see enough help and inspiration for people classified under this stereotype. Can we just remember that teenage pregnancy is not uncontrolable. Good parenting can keep many youngsters away from this “epedemic.” Another thing stop labeling this as some sort of disease, for those girls who do become pregnant offer them some hope and light in their life. There are ways of having these girls get a good start for a better life with couceling and some help for their babies first years. Then maybe people will stop looking at these girls are some sort of stupid thing who got pregnant because she is an idiot and nothing but a burden in society. Solution to this problem is very practical and not so difficult. Its not a dieases it is an obstacle!
Thanks for lending an ear.
Sincerly,
Jessica, future registered nurse, present 20 year old mother of two!!!!!!!!!!
As a 17 year old girl, currently pregnant, with my first child. I would like to point out that teenage pregnancy is not the end of the world. Instead of tackling teenagers before they get pregnant, why not concentrate firstly on the teenage mums who have got children or who are pregnant? Maybe then, with more support and help, teenage mothers would have more of a chance with aspiring to their future careers, doing well at school, going to college and possibly, even university. As a future teeange mum, I will tell you, I left school with 14 GCSE’s grades A*-C. I am also at one of the top colleges in the country doing my A-levels. They have been a tremendous support to me and are helping me to stay on at college and do my exams to the best of my ability. They are also very encouraging about me still going to university, which I do plan to still do after a year out. So, maybe, if us teenage mothers stopped being ridiculed and looked down upon and had a lot more support, we may all do well in life and become succussful women, with a great career. But, we need that support! I also have a friend who has an 8month old son. She is still in full time college and still plans to follow her dreams of a great career! It should be about helping to bring the amount of teenage pregnancies down but also bringing in more support for those of us who are already in that situation!!!