Teen's Choice

I was wanting to talk about the issue of teenagers and abortions in this weeks blog.  I found this article about how Ohio passed laws to keep minors from getting abortions with out parental consent.  I have mixed feelings about this issue.  I think that it is a good idea that teenagers, especially minors, should have parental consent to get an abortion.  I think that this will allow the teen to have the support from her family that she will need after going through such a traumatic event. On the other hand I feel as if the reasoning Ohio is trying to get this law passed is completely wrong.  In the article it talks about how the only reason they want to pass this law is because they are more of a Pro-life state.  I think that if they want to have this law they need to have it for the right reasons.  This law does not allow girls who might get pregnant to be able to get an abortion even if they know they can not tell their parents because of maybe abusive parents or not understanding.
My questions for you are:  What is your take on this law?  Do you think it is fair to take away the present law just to "save" lives?

-Sam F.

Midwives vs. Hospitals

After watch the movie "The Business of Being Born" it really got me thinking about my future for when I have kids. Do I want give birth at home or at a hospital? From what I got from the movie is if you go to the hospital most likely it will end up as a C-section. Which to this day has become very common now. Heck you can pick a date now as to when you want to have a baby and it would be a C-section. Hospital just want to get you in and out and the quickest way is a C-Section. But once you have your first C-section if you have any more it could cause problems. Also at hospital they give you alot of drugs which could effect the baby with a Midwife they use very minimal drugs and tyr to keep you as comfortable as possible. Well I read an article in the Time magazine and it was about midwives vs. doctors. About 99% of all births int the US take place in hospitals and the US is ranked 29th in the world for infant mortality. The home births infant mortatliy rate in the US is roughly 1.7 per 1,000 which is the about the same if it was born in a hospital. Midwives thinks that having a midwife is not less safe than a hospital births. In some areas there was not an increase mortatlity risk with low risk home births. Even though with having a midwife there can always be a high risk of problems, and that is when they will decided to go to the hospital. Then getting to the hospital thats when they doctors judge you and wonder why you wanted so long to come in. Now the doctor my take care of someone else's case, but someone else' problem. Thats enough to sour them on the entire profession.
My Question for you:
What is your opinion on midwives vs. hospital?
Do you think its more risky to have a midwife and a birth at home instead of going to the hospital?
Do you think that C-sections are becoming more common these days?
After watching the movies, did it make you question hospitals and they way they run thing?

-Jamie B.

When Drug Use and Motherhood Intersect

Teen Mom has shown us various difficult situations that these young mothers must deal with; there's the usual financial, relationship, and educational struggles, but some of these young women have to deal with more on top of these things.
I want to focus on the recent arrest of Janelle, a mother featured in the second season. (You can see the article here). She has had troubles with her son, and gave up custody of him to her mother. In January, she and her boyfriend were arrested on charges of marijuana possession. This brings up a couple of questions for me that I'd like to ask: 
Does doing drugs make one a 'bad' mother?
If so, what constitutes a drug that is too much? Is weed okay, but coke is not, etc.?
Why does doing drugs makes one a bad or good parent?
What about those parents who are addicted to drugs, e.g, what if Janelle had been discovered to be addicted to heroin?
Are there extenuating circumstances to drug use, e.g, do we more easily excuse and forgive drug use when it's done by richer, more privileged people than those who are poorer, come from broken households, etc.?

Love Is...

This week I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the programs in our society that aim to prevent teen dating violence, as our guest speaker, Jenny Dills,  discussed today. She showed us videos from the Love is Respect campaign. It seems to be one of the very few programs that exist that aim to prevent, not just assist victims of, teen dating violence. At this point in society, one would think we are at a point where the issue has been acknowledged for long enough that prevention should be a huge priority for resource centers.
The Love is Respect campaign does have a lot of positive messages to encourage teens to not allow dating violence to become an acceptable part of their relationships. For example, the "My Time to Shine" project has teamed up with Martina McBride to "get the word out about teen dating abuse and educate both teens and parents on ways to safe." The website even has a quiz you can take to see if your relationship would be deemed healthy. They are doing their best to send messages to teens that are positive, and encourage them to believe they deserve a healthy relationship filled with love.
Similarly, the Green Dot campaign targets college campuses to stop sexually violent situations at they are happening or as they are about to happen. As we discussed in class, this can take a lot of focus off the victim and place it all on the perpetrator and the people stepping in. Is this fair/unfair? Is it the best way to succeed in prevention of teen dating violence? If not, what do you think would be the best?

-Ami J.

What about the Baby?

I decided that we have talked about the mother and the father enough.  What about the actual Baby?  In the show 16 & Pregnant I feel as if they do not do a great job of actually highlighting the baby.  Most episodes you do not even remember what the babies name is.  I also think that the show deals more with portraying the issues and the effects it has on the teen parents and even their parents and does not show the complete effects that the arguing has on the baby itself.  In the article The Children of Teen Parents it talks about how the baby can actually be effected by having teen parents.  The article talks about how there is a higher rate of low weight pregnancies to teen moms and how the baby has a chance of not being able to succeed as well as babies born by mothers age 20 or older.  It mentions that only 77% of children of teen parents graduate high school compared to 89% of the comparison group.
The one episode that I think of that kind of deals more then the baby and I think should deal even more with the baby is Janelle's episode.  I felt as if she was not a very good mom and her own mother saw that she was abandoning her little boy and the mom and her boyfriend had to step in and take care of the baby boy.
These are the questions I would like to ask then:
Do you think 16 & Pregnant shows the effects of the actions the parents have one the babies?
Do you think babies born to teen mothers have an even start to life?

-Sam F.

Boyfriends of Pregnant Teenage Girls

I want to change things up and talk about the boyfriends of these pregnant teenage girls. Here is an article from The New York Times which talks about the relationship between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin. Basically Levi left Bristol and I don't know the story behind why he left her and now he is fighting for custody of son Tripp. He didn't like Bristol family much and talked bad about them. After he left her he was unhappy and angry. He wanted to make thing right so he apologizes to the family and he hoped that the Palins would “forgive my youthful indiscretion." is what he said.
After reading this article it made me think about all the media and tv shows about teenage pregnany and how most of the guys leave their girlfriends and don't come back. But there are a few that do come back and want to be part of the babys life. Those guys either grew up or realized that its time to be responsible. I want to know what was going through Levi head when his son was born because guys don't talk about there feelings becuase they want to act tough.
My Question: Why do you think some boyfriends leave there girlfriends and don't come back. If the boyfriend leaves then decides to come back later what changed their mind? Should he even get another chance to be part of the babys life again? Could is sometimes be better for the baby to grow up without a father? why or why not?

-Jamie B.

Teen Pregnancy: Different Experiences

Going with Ami's theme of reading articles and such, I'm going to discuss this one from Star Magazine. 

Oprah was recently interviewed by Piers Morgan about her formative years. In the interview, she reveals quite a bit; she talks about her sexual abuse, her broken family, and her teen pregnancy. She became pregnant when she was 14, and (it's mentioned elsewhere in the interview) she tried drinking detergent and thought about committing suicide. She attempted to hide the pregnancy, but stress made her prematurely deliver the baby, and the baby died.

Oprah was relieved, and saw it as a second chance. She says of loosing the baby, "I wouldn't have been able to be head of the student council. I wouldn't have been able to be speaking champion in forensics. I wouldn't have been able to be Miss fire prevention. I wouldn't have been chosen as one of the two teenagers in the state of Tennessee to go to the White House conference on youth. None of those things would have happened. The entire trajectory of my life would have been different." 

What I think is notable about the interview is Oprah being completely open and honest about her experience. She doesn't try and say, I was happy about this. She doesn't say, With hard work and determination, I could've had the baby and been successful like I am now. There isn't much discussion about these feelings in shows like 16 and pregnant; that is, the feelings of wanting to get rid of a pregnancy so bad, you would risk your life. Babies/pregnancy, I think at least, are always cast in a happy light; women might not expect to have them, but they end up being happy anyways.

The questions I want to ask are: Why do you think shows/media in general ignore these very real, raw emotions about pregnancy? Do you think it really is a matter of hard work and determination to overcome something so big as a child when you aren't ready? What would be the benefits of more people, especially prominent figures, telling stories such as these? Feel free to add any other reactions. 

The Secret's Out: Teen Pregnancy in the Media

An interesting article from the Huffington Post addresses the topic of teen pregnancy and media in a very realistic way. The author, Dr. Peggy Drexler, discusses a friend she had growing up who disappeared when she became pregnant and reappeared after the birth of her child. During Dr. Drexler's generation, this was how teen pregnancy was handled. It was swept under the rug and kept as a secret that very few outside of the young woman's immediate family would know about.

Recently, teen sexuality, including pregnancy, have surfaced in media in a whole new way. Movies like Juno and shows like MTV's 16 & Pregnant have presented pregnant teens in very different ways. Juno had a happy ending with the baby mom and dad happily in love, and the baby was adopted by a "nice" family. Meanwhile, 16 & Pregnant has been much more realistic in its representations. An NPR clip describes the show as a form of birth control in a sense, and Dr. Drexler from the Huff Post article agrees. Teenagers see the real life consequences of pregnancy because of the show and realize that contraception is important. Simply preaching abstinence in schools and media is not effective, and Dr. Drexler realizes this. Teen sexuality has surfaced and will not be going away any time soon. Still, some researchers say that shows like 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom glamorize sex.
Question that this article raises for me: Does MTV and other media's representations of teen pregnancy encourage or discourage most teens to have sex and use contraception?

-Ami J.

Hello Group 5

Welcome to group 5. Hope your enjoying the class 16 and pregnant. Do you guys like the show 16 and pregnant and Teen Moms?

Signing out,
Jamie