Dear Christine,
As a secondary school teacher, I am always shocked by the sight of pregnant teenagers.
It is so sad, because often these young women are bright, talented girls who could have a future that would eventually give them happiness and fulfillment.
It’s not that I am against motherhood, but I am bitterly opposed to children having children. You wouldn’t believe that I see pregnant teenage girls who still suck their thumbs.
Most have no concept of what it means to raise a child. In our society many of these teenagers are pressured to have and keep their children. Why, in an age of sexual enlightenment, does this despair continue?
– S.P.E
Dear S.P.E:
Many in various fields are still trying to answer this question, and they find there’s no single reason for the epidemic of teenage pregnancy. In fact, some are of the view that even in cases where rape is the cause of pregnancy, the child must be born. In the end, I guess the one who is pregnant needs to make that choice.
In any case, answers will vary. For some teenagers, having a baby is a way of moving into the grown-up world. Some use it as a kind of status symbol to prove to themselves and others that at least they were attractive and wanted by someone.
Studies indicate there is a great deal of emotional deprivation in the lives of youngsters who become pregnant. Unfortunately, sometimes these unloved teenagers feel that if they have a baby, for the first time in their lives they will have something exclusively their own.
They expect the baby to fill an emotional gap in their lives, and when they are disappointed, some turn on the helpless infant. Others believe that by getting pregnant, they stand the chance of keeping the one who is the object of their affection. Sooner, rather than later, they wake up from this fantasy and face some hard, cruel facts. They realise that in many cases, these young men want no responsibility, and simply move on to their next conquest.
I agree it is a tragedy for all concerned; more so for the young child.
More and better education on sex and moral and spiritual values must be given to teenage males, as well as females. We drill our daughters about the uselessness of getting pregnant too soon, but we allow our young sons to live as they please, never even teaching them to avoid becoming fathers at too young an age.
At the end of the day, there’s no single cause and no single solution to teenage pregnancy.
– CHRISTINE
