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Teen Parent Rights

© Trula Breckenridge

In the mid-eighties when I was growing up there was an onslaught in the media about teen moms, how horrible they were and how messed up their kids would be. Teen moms (and dads) were practically cast as the harbingers of the end of society as we know it. There were predictions that their children would be nothing but school drop-outs, criminals, and go on to breed another generation of the under-class. The whole war against teen moms was based on the fact that so many young women were keeping their babies, choosing to raise them despite the odds, often as single mothers. The world considered them selfish and greedy for not wanting to abandon their children, for loving and wanting to cherish their children in the same way that older moms do. No, it was not a war against teen pregnancy, but against teen parenthood. Had the bulk of these young moms given their children up for adoption, which by default means abandoning them up to older people, there would have nary been a ripple of news.

By the time I had by daughter in 1989, the media had backed off a bit and teen pregnancy was not spotlighted so frequently in the news. By the end of the 1990's, politicians, educators, and more were discussing the "success" of programs designed to curtail teen pregnancy and teen sexual behavior. They felt these programs were successful because the number of teens giving birth had dropped considerably since the eighties. I have no issues with any of these programs, and certainly would never encourage any teen to become pregnant on purpose or engage in sex. But I think the success of these programs depends more on teens being more consistent with condom use to avoid sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV than out of avoidance of pregnancy.

Now that we are firmly into the new century, I see the pendulum swinging back the other way. The media has stepped up once again to wage war on teen moms. Now that welfare has been reformed, no one can argue that they are leeches on society's coffers, that is, if they are, it won't be for long. The main argument today is that teens are automatically unfit to parent and should not be given any encouragement or support. They should be counseled into either abortion or adoption, depending on your political/personal view. I think this is a shame.