There seems to be some kind of huge uproar over a story about some bitches in high school that got pregnant. Here is a link to the story: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1817272,00.html

Whats the big deal, honestly? So maybe they had a pact or maybe they didn’t. Maybe they banged some creep dudes and got pregnant too early. Maybe they are just stupid broads that made some bad choices.

No matter the event, the answer is clear: this story is way to stupid to continue wasting real resources on.

A “not-so-feel-good” story

I can appreciate the media’s need for a dramatic story of overly complex nature that they can blow up into a huge social mass-hysteria, but this is stretching it a bit far. Let’s examine the course of events leading up this over-hyped piece of trash news:

1. School is fine for, like, 600 years(or whatever)
2. One year, four times the normal amount of chicks end up pregnant(like 18 as opposed to the normal 4 or 5 – boy doesn’t it sound a lot less lame once you know the real numbers)
3. Many of them happen to be friends
4. There is the suggestion by two former officials that the school give out contraceptives and birth control without the permission or notification of the parent(best idea ever)
5. A principle says something stupid about it being a pact
6. News outlets from around the globe show up
7. Parents and officials everywhere think teen pregnancy is a sudden epidemic

Did I cover everything adequately? Okay, cool.

So, maybe some people always had an idea that teen pregnancy was an issue. I don’t think its the best move, for the baby’s sake, to get pregnant before you can provide for it. But, at the same time, shit happens and people make bad choices. You will never stop teens from getting pregnant whether its intentional or accidental. As long as these baby-nazis refuse to accept that, there can be no ground for discussion. For the sake of this argument, I will assume those people don’t matter(they don’t anyway – their unrealistic expectations are archaic and stupid – I hope I have said enough on that).

Teen pregnancy as a fact

So, we assume teen pregnancy happens. Girls in my high school got pregnant and from that some chose to keep their babies. Some chose abortion. Some chose to give them up for adoption. Each choice has its pros and cons and no answer is the correct one.

Lets get back into the context of this “big” news story. A subset of the pregnant girls happen to be friends or grouped in some fashion. The principle attributes it to a pact. People freak.

People: stop being ignorant. Contrary to popular belief, teen pregnancy happened before this story and its not the first time a group of girls ended up pregnant together. Look to inner city schools and you will see this type of problem in multiple schools. Why is it that some middle class suburb school is the one that sparks a sudden interest in the issue?

The whole thing comes back to the numbers. A few stories printed that the whole school had amassed a total of FOUR times the normal number of pregnancies. Let me rephrase that: the school had amassed a total of 18 pregnancies. Which one sounds more over-sensationalized? Would we even care if we had only ever heard the number was something like 18?

Kids aren’t stupid

I would like to also touch on a couple of key points raised by two separate school officials:

1. That giving out contraceptives or birth control would not have helped these kids because they, in fact, wanted to be pregnant and,
2. that certain officials believed that giving out contraceptives or birth control is a good idea.

I will start with point one. Perhaps they wanted to be pregnant all along, and perhaps there was absolutely nothing that could have been done to change that. Maybe I will go as far as to say that no one or nothing ever in the world of anything could have ever convinced these girls otherwise. If we assume this, why the fuck would we use this as a case for not helping out the other cases of teen pregnancy that were NOT intentional? (BTW, this argument is like saying, “Well, people are going to eat too much and get fat if they want to so we should just stop offering diet plans.” What the fuck kind of argument is this guy making?)

Which brings me to point two. Schools need to take a two-fold approach to sex education. The need to educate the kids about the dangers of sex(STDs, unwanted children, etc), but embrace the idea that kids WILL have sex before “they are ready”(I quote this because everyone cites religious or ethical reasons for not having sex – the main one being that you are supposed to wait until you are married). Kids are not stupid and, if given the right tools and right nurturing, will make the right choices.

Parents, now-a-days, seem to always subscribe to the 1940s and 1950s approach to everything. When it comes to sex, drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes; there is only one answer: NO!!! Many of them are so scared to discuss the possibilities of these things that they approach it from an angle that (attempts) to invoke fear or guilt into the kid. However, in as much as I can tell, this approach backfires.

Think about when you were a little kid. When your mother told you not to do something, maybe you didn’t do it right away, but you were always curious about what would happen if you did do it. What might happen to me from the angle of doing it or from the angle of “what might my mother do to me?” You weigh the risks and benefits and make a choice on whether or not to partake in the act.

For teens, sex is nothing different at all. They weigh in on the pros, cons, risks, and benefits. Many of them will make the choice to NOT partake in sex. The remainder become a divided group. Group A decides to partake in safe sex using any form of contraceptive or birth control. Group B decides to practice safe sex, but accidents happen(they become that .1% where the contraceptive didn’t work. And finally, Group C, will practice sex without a form of birth control or contraceptive.

Providing the tools

I won’t say that all the cases of Group C are because they didn’t have access to a contraceptive or to birth control. Perhaps, as we stated, girls in C actually had a want to be pregnant. But if we factor those girls out, then ALL groups A, B, and C can benefit from the school providing contraceptives or birth control. Buying those things at a store is embarrassing(especially in a close-knit community), expensive, and (at first time) scary.

Sure, maybe it violates a parents right to know what their kids are up to. But, if your kid was never going to tell you anyway, the choices seem to be simple: have an inkling that they might be practicing safe sex by taking contraceptives from the school, fear at every turn that they are practicing UNSAFE sex, or delude yourself into believing that they are not practicing sex at all and wait for the baby to come home.

There is NO harm to be had in a school offering safe-sex alternatives to kids. Like I said, once they make the concious choice to engage in sex, the only thing left to do is offer them the oppertunity to make the safe choice by providing them the tools to do it in a confidential and fearless environment.

As for the media

Stop over-sensationalizing a stupid story about some stupid girls that don’t know what they want in life. Chances are that these girls simply made some poor choices and (possibly) have some psychological issues that need to be diagnosed. Maybe they are the girls that get picked on in school and never get any love and a baby is just one way for them to try and recoup some love in this world.

In any event; if you want a good story, travel to an inner-city school and talk to some kids there about race issues, rape, drugs, and the complete lack of opportunities they have in this world.