Teen Pregnancy Reaches Its Peak

Teen pregnancy is at highest since 1980s, is media to blame?

Despite continuous efforts to promote abstinence amongst adolescents, more teens are becoming parents.

Teen pregnancy is now on the rise; this according to the Guttmacher Institute. The non-profit organization released their annual reports early last week, concluded that the rise of teen pregnancies in the nation are at is peak since the 1980s.

This comes nearly two years since the infamous “pregnancy pact” scandal in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The “pact” garnered national attention after it was discovered that a group of high school from Gloucester High School tried to intentionally become pregnant in efforts to raise children together.

Just last week, the L.A. Times published a story revealing that the nationwide percentage of teen pregnancies increased by about 3%, resulting in an estimate of 72 pregnancies per 1,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19. Just four years ago, it was about 68 per 1,000. It also reported that this rise comes as a surprise since teen pregnancy hit a major decline in the 1990s. Anna Anderson, a 19 year old mother to a 2 month old baby boy in Boston reveals that teen pregnancy isn’t a big issue like it once used to be. “Nobody really makes a big deal about teen mom’s anymore cause so many girls are mothers and are teens.”

In fact the Guttmacher study blames the federal funding of abstinence only sex Ed for the recent climbs of teenage pregnancy. These programs which are rewarded about $165 million a year, fail to mention the use of birth control; which also declined in teenage use. “Not having sex until marriage is good, but what happens if you make that one mistake and have sex.” says 19 year old mom Alejandra Velázquez in Boston. “They don’t ever talk about birth control, people forget it exists.”

The media’s infatuation with pregnancy also seems to play a factor in the rise of teen pregnancy. With the success of the MTV shows “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom”, teens may be rejecting the abstinence only lifestyle for a shot at fame. “We all do watch those shows but it hasn’t made an affect on me, maybe my on friends it has” says Anderson. “I think they’re trying to teach abstinence but some girls might think its cool because they might get a chance to be on T.V.” She continues. Velázquez also agrees “When Britney Spear’s sister [Jamie-Lynn Spears] became pregnant everybody kept talking about it. And let’s not forget about Sarah Palin’s daughter.” In 2008, the obsession with Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin was unavoidable from weekly updates in The National Enquirer to daily updates in The Metro.


-Ariel Kennebrew