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Shocking teen pregnancies in 2008
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2008 bore witness to some very high-profile teenage pregnancies. The most notable stories were that of 18-year old Bristol Palin, 17-year old Jamie-Lynn Spears (sister of Britney Spears) and the infamous Gloucester baby pact amongst 16-year old high school students to all get pregnant at the same time. Each was controversial for its own reason. Whether stoking the fire within an already heated political campaign or revealing a shocking agreement between girls in a small Massachusetts town, teen pregnancy took center stage this year as both a concerning and glorified topic of discussion.
According to a report released this past summer by the National Institutes of Health, teen pregnancy rates are up for the first time since 1991. What can this rise be attributed to? There are so many factors that come into play, but the images and messages that young teenage girls are getting from the media are certainly part of the equation.
When the movie Juno was released earlier this year, there was a great deal of controversy over the message that the movie was portraying. A young high school girl gets pregnant, decides to keep the baby and shows strength and fortitude throughout the process. Does that represent a young woman’s conviction or does it glorify and simplify what teen pregnancy is actually about? As adults, we are able to make the distinction for ourselves, but for younger girls, that may not be as easy.
Jamie-Lynn Spears was given $1 million by British tabloid OK! Magazine for exclusive photos of her baby. It is reported that Bristol Palin is courting offers around the $300,000 mark for shots of her baby, Tripp. Photos of these young girls, now moms, lovingly gazing into their baby’s eyes, can certainly have an impact on impressionable young girls who are in need of that kind of bond.
According to a recent study, girls are on average, losing their virginity at the age of 15 and 52 percent of those girls don’t use protection when they have sex. Certainly shocking. There is no panacea to the trend in the rise of teen pregnancy, but education starts at home and I believe that parents have a huge responsibility and also carry a lot of weight in impacting the decisions that their kids make. But if the media continues to propel the notion that little girls should be young women, it could be an uphill battle in reversing this trend.
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