It’s a story repeated all too frequently–high school pregnancy–especially among those involved in sports.
Imagine this. You are the star quarterback on your high school football team, and you are on the way to the state playoffs! All you can think about is winning and getting a college scholarship. Who knows? Perhaps the NFL is in your future.
Sad and scared teen holding a pregnancy test and giving the news to her best friend (from GirlsLife)
Then your girlfriend, the cheer captain, asks to talk. “I think I’m late,” she says. You hope she’s talking about class. But that’s not the deal. Those words mean “I think I’m pregnant.”
According to the CDC, nearly 195,0000 children were born in 2017 to women between 15-19 years of age. About 60% of teenage women who get pregnant go to term. The others miscarry (about 15%) or get abortions (about 25%).
Sadly, teenage pregnancy isn’t always portrayed well in film and music. One example is the hit show, Glee. Finn Hudson is the star quarterback, and Quinn Fabray is the cheer captain. In Season 1, we follow Quinn, Finn, and Puck Puckerman, another football player, who are involved in a love triangle. Quinn gets impregnated by Puck while she’s in a relationship with Finn.
In music, Tupac Shakur’s song, Brenda’s Got A Baby, is about a 12-year-old girl who was impregnated by her cousin. Distraught, she throws away the baby after he leaves her. Tupac makes light of the matter, “That’s not our problem. That’s up to Brenda’s family.”
Getting involved in school activities, like clubs and sports, can help teenagers devote attention to other matters. But, of course, no alternative is better than using common sense. Otherwise, lives get altered. Some are ruined.
The good news is that the teen pregnancy rate in America is falling–big time. Just last week Pew Research reported that in 2018 there were 17.4 live births per 1000 women age 15-19. That’s a record low. In 1955, the rate was 96.3. It was 61.8 in 1990. “Less sex, use of more effective contraception, and more information about pregnancy prevention,” are the reasons Pew gives for the decline.
While the downtrend is encouraging, Pew also reports that the rate for Black and Hispanic women is about double what it is for Caucasian women.
Statistics are just that–numbers. In the real world, pregnancy is an utterly personal experience. Bottom line: think before you act!
