What's wrong with teenage pregnancy?

I've been thinking if teenagers are biologically ready and able to reproduce, why shouldn't they have children? After all, that's only natural, isn't it? If nature had meant teenagers not to get pregnant, they wouldn't be able to get pregnant in the first place.
So, what's wrong with teenage pregnancy? We often hear that teenagers should finish school and maybe study for a degree first...But given the high incidence of teenage pregnancies e.g. in the UK, isn't it time for a more flexible model of education? Wouldn't it make sense to help teenage mothers and fathers complete their education or training by making free child care available? Yeah, I can hear the good law-abiding tax-payers groaning already :) But in the long term, wouldn't it make more sense to support teenage parents in getting qualified and finding a job rather than forcing them to cut short their education and then stigmatizing them for being unskilled or unemployed apart from having children at a young age?

I read an article once that said young, single mothers were more likely to work hard and become successful because of their child... I can't remember where, or what the statistics were. It might have been hogwash, like a lot of articles.

Not that I support teenagers having babies. People are capable of all sorts of things, it doesn't mean they should do it. And handouts? Now what good does that do, personally I think it makes people lazier. The vast majority (as with all things done with good intentions) would abuse the system.

Yes, I am bitter. I'm jealous that I couldn't get any assistance from the government when I was studying full time and working at least 25 hours a week. Nobody wants to help the proactive, they just want to support those that don't seem to want to help themselves.

P.S. I had a friend that got pregnant at sixteen, she's done well for herself ;)

That's my two cents worth.

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Originally Posted by SleepyWitch

If nature had meant teenagers not to get pregnant, they wouldn't be able to get pregnant in the first place.

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I'll have to agree (in spite of having a teenage daughter in the house): Homo Sapiens is a stone age design, and it makes perfect sense for a stone age population that teenage girls should get pregnant pronto in order to ensure survival of the race...

...and there is the rub: In a stone age society a girl would be more or less done with her training and education once she is able to reproduce. She would also have a life expectancy of maybe 40 years, not to mention an even shorter reproductive period. The requirements of todays society however, are a bit different, but the basic design remains unchanged.

/Claes

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If nature had meant teenagers not to get pregnant, they wouldn't be able to get pregnant in the first place.

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Just because it's physically possible to have a child at a certain age (hell, females as young as five have given birth) doesn't mean someone is emotionally ready to take care of that child.
I'm 19 years old and I think it's fair to say (though admittedly a little presumptuous) that I'm more mature than most people my age. If I got pregnant now, there is absolutely no way that I would be able to take care of that child the way that it deserves, even if I had the full support of my family, let alone if I had gotten pregnant at 16.
The government and (in the US) states should have more programs to support young mothers in completing their education, but it's more important to prevent these pregnancies in the first place by having proper sex ed. A teenager is essentially still a child, they really have no business raising a child themselves.

I totally agree about sex ed, Hurricane, but I was wondering about how to deal with teenage parents when it's "too late". There seems no point in discriminating against them or making life more difficult for them once the child is born.

I think part of the problem is that even when stuff is available to them (I don't know about in the UK, but in the US night classes to get high school equivalency, etc. are pretty easy to find), it isn't feasible on their end.
This is making sweeping generalizations, but most girls who get pregnant early don't come from the best situations. They can keep the guy with them for a while, but eventually he's going to get tired and frustrated and want to do the things he did before the girl got pregnant and possibly leave her.
The girl's parents are most likely going to help take up the burden, but they just finished raising one child and aren't looking to raise another one, another source of potential tension. If the family qualifies, they can go on welfare, or if the girl gets a job, that's a source of income, but no job available to a high school dropout is going to pay enough to keep a kid in daycare and support a family.

It's a really tough situation, one that really only seems to work if:
A: the father stays with the girl and is supportive.
B: the child's grandparents help out watch it during the day if they aren't working.
C: the girl gets a job while attending night school.

The only way I really see any state intervention helping is if they provide day care either free of charge or very cheaply to children of young mothers, or really anyone living below the poverty line.
At the end of the day though, an ounce of prevention...

Many good points made here.

I think that teens who get pregnant bear a stigma of irresponsibility (rightly or wrongly, I do not know) because most people assume that the pregnancy was unwanted. Of course, we should do everything we can to make life easy for the girl, but even more importantly, to the infant who will be a part of her world for the rest of her life.

As Hurricane noted, in the US there are many vehicles for a teenage mother to succeed. But it's just harder to do so than when you don't have to take care of a child. Proper child care takes massive amounts of time, energy, and money. So does school. So does work. As a result, I think most people are wise to advise teens to hold off on starting a family until they have the educations and careers on track. Doing so gives the parents more opportunities to take care of their family.

I have two young children -- my wife and I both have professional careers, and it's still hard to get our acts together, and our lives are much easier when compared to a teenage mother. I also work in a community college where I see many single mothers working on their educations, working full-time jobs, and trying to give their kid or kids they best life they can. And, at least in the US, most colleges and universities have child care available for working parents at a reduced rate (free would be a little too far, I think) to childcare that isn't associated with a college.

As IJustMadeThatUp pointed out, most are the hardest working people that I have ever seen. But they hardly sleep, they worry all the time, and they're often motivated by trying to keep their child from the difficult life choices that they made.

So, in summary: Yes, help the teenage and single mothers -- they're some of the best most diligent people in any community. But I don't think we should encourage the habit of teen pregnancy.

In Quebec we have universal subsidized daycare with a 5 dollar a day user fee. These kinds of public programs provide a great outlet for supporting parents that want to get involved in work and education, but simply don't have the benefit of grandparents or the like helping out. It does no good to simply let teenage mothers fall along the wayside.

I agree with Comedian that we shouldn't be promoting teen pregnancy though. (Even though most of the Western world is desperate for children, the USA is the only country with a replenishing natural growth rate)

One of our relatives is in just this position. It would have been better to have delayed pregnancy, with better education etc, but after the fact there's no point in being negative. Supporting the mother - particularly the single mother, supports the child.

In the past there has been a lot of terrible stigmatism of teen mothers in the UK - not fathers I hasten to add - particularly by the more right wing parties, which just hardens attitudes to vulnerable young mothers with vulnerable children. I don't believe that any mother got pregnant for the money, or to get theri own house. It's a poor rate of pay for a huge sacrifice if they did.

I'm glad to see so many supportive viewpoints about a vulnerable and poorly supported section of the community who were really picked on in the past by the holier than thou crowd. I too work in community education, and I have to agree that the young mothers I have seen really do focus to improve their lot for their kids.

I am really torn in this issue:

I do believe that we should offer all the support we can so that teen-mothers are good parents but I also believe that teenage years (especially early teens) should not be spent by worrying about bringing up a baby.

As far as I am aware there is a support system in the UK so that they can carry on with their education while still bringing up their baby. Is it enough? Not sure.

Those teen-mothers who carry on with their education indeed work hard to complete their studies and get a job but I cannot help wondering what percentage of teen-mothers is actually making use of the opportunities available to them.

As an almost teenage mother I will give you my thoughts. but keep this in mind, think about how things use to be it was normal to get married and have kids at 15... some intersting facts.

1. every 2 years after age 17 you wait to have a child it increases the chances of defects.
2. during your teenage years you are more fertile, and Having a child balances hormones and things and reduces the risk of certain female problems
3. Name something that makes you grow up faster than knowing you are responsible for the life of someone else. the sole provider
4. I don't think we should be given handouts, it shouldnt be encouraged, but for those who do it for the fact they want a family they should have help.... Honestly no one is ever ready for a child, but some people want a family at a younger age, the younger you are the younger you will be for the grandkids... :)
5. Just because we are young, does not mean that we are dumb. true some of us have been raised with blinders but why is it that familys want to throw us out, churches disown us, and everyone look down and say slut becuase we decide we want a family rather it was planned or not?

America has lots of programs, government funding, (foodstamps, wellfare, college) most colleges have programs especialy if you go to teaching, or something with children, and many professors will tolerate young children in the room as long as they are quiet. Churches will sometimes offer daycare for younger mothers who routinly attend church...

just my two cents...

Biologically no problem, culturally though, it ends up killing the girl most times, restricting possible employment opportunities and such.

Generally, the way I see it - when teenage pregnancy happens, the bulk of the time the father isn't likely to be around, and the mother not likely to be self-supporting, which makes the children themselves dependent on income outside of their immediate family. It's enough having to bother one's own parents for money, but when it comes to extended family, things can be drastic.

To be honest, I would rather teenage girls just get abortions and avoid the responsibilities - as it is there are enough screwed up kids in the world, there is no point to moralize and suggest some 15 year old girl is capable of raising one who isn't a screw up - perhaps in the very odd case, but in most cases, the mother, I would think, is either naive, in the sense that she became pregnant, or from a rather difficult background herself.

If the whole teenage pregnancy were the norm though, we would have tons of other problems, notably the fact that women, as women, would more likely be restricted more into the role of "mother" which is a particularly Atwoodian diagram that I wish not to delve into too much.

Is this a serious question, honestly? It doesn't matter when females are naturally ready to have a child, this isn't the stone ages, this is 2010.

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Originally Posted by stephofthenight

As an almost teenage mother I will give you my thoughts. but keep this in mind, think about how things use to be it was normal to get married and have kids at 15... some intersting facts.

1. every 2 years after age 17 you wait to have a child it increases the chances of defects.
2. during your teenage years you are more fertile, and Having a child balances hormones and things and reduces the risk of certain female problems
3. Name something that makes you grow up faster than knowing you are responsible for the life of someone else. the sole provider
4. I don't think we should be given handouts, it shouldnt be encouraged, but for those who do it for the fact they want a family they should have help.... Honestly no one is ever ready for a child, but some people want a family at a younger age, the younger you are the younger you will be for the grandkids... :)
5. Just because we are young, does not mean that we are dumb. true some of us have been raised with blinders but why is it that familys want to throw us out, churches disown us, and everyone look down and say slut becuase we decide we want a family rather it was planned or not?

America has lots of programs, government funding, (foodstamps, wellfare, college) most colleges have programs especialy if you go to teaching, or something with children, and many professors will tolerate young children in the room as long as they are quiet. Churches will sometimes offer daycare for younger mothers who routinly attend church...

just my two cents...

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Exactly what is it that the teenager wants:
Do they want to leave their mothers home and can't make it without public assistance?
Do they want a family; if so, isn't it a good idea to find a husband that can support you while you eat your way through 4 big macs the last few months of your pregancy?
Do you want to quit school; but don't want to be considered a loafer?
I married at 18 and had a child at 21, it was very difficult then and it is much more difficult now to "make it" in the world. You need an education, you often need two people working to make rent...and personally, I have raised my children and paid for them...
I'm tired of paying for other peoples....

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Originally Posted by Hurricane

Just because it's physically possible to have a child at a certain age (hell, females as young as five have given birth) doesn't mean someone is emotionally ready to take care of that child.
I'm 19 years old and I think it's fair to say (though admittedly a little presumptuous) that I'm more mature than most people my age. If I got pregnant now, there is absolutely no way that I would be able to take care of that child the way that it deserves, even if I had the full support of my family, let alone if I had gotten pregnant at 16.
The government and (in the US) states should have more programs to support young mothers in completing their education, but it's more important to prevent these pregnancies in the first place by having proper sex ed. A teenager is essentially still a child, they really have no business raising a child themselves.

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I absolutely disagree with this. The person who gives birth to that child should be fully responsible for taking care of their own child. We already have too many mommies popping out lots of children, not taking care of them, and then receiving checks from the government. If someone has a child, take care of them, not the government. That way, everyone else doesn't have to pay for someones mistake with endless of amounts of taxation.

I do agree on the sex ed however. Abstinence only sex ed is horrible, and most people that receive that type of education end up with more STDs and more pregnancies than those who receive safe sex education.