CURRENT AGE: 21
CURRENT AGE: 20
CURRENT AGE: 20
TEEN PREGNANCY
RADIO
Teen pregnancy on the rise
Brittany
Reshawn
Ashley
Jessica
Everywhere you look, you see pregnant teens – in schools, at the mall, on TV, in the movies.
The fact is, teen pregnancy is on the rise in the United States for the first time in 14 years. The Centers for Disease Control report that from 2005 to 2006, teen pregnancy increased 3 percent.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy estimated that about 750,000 teens will become pregnant this year. Paula Parker-Sawyers, the campaign’s director of outreach and partnership, cites many reasons for this, including lack of education and a decrease of contraception use.
Most young mothers elect to raise their babies, though about 17 percent of them choose to have an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to reproductive health education. Less then 3 percent give their babies up for adoption.
Life is difficult for most teenage mothers and their children. According to the campaign, they are less likely to finish high school and more likely to end up on public assistance. Teen fathers are unlikely to be involved in their children’s lives, and children without a stable father present are twice as likely to drop out of school and earn lower incomes.
Y-Press recently talked to several teens faced with a pregnancy. Each one has a unique perspective on the issue and the challenges it presents.
* * * * *
Brittany Webb, 17, has a 2-year-old daughter, LaNiyah. She participated in the Young Parent’s Skills & Support class offered by the Urban Mission YMCA and will graduate from Broad Ripple High School in May.
“The day I found out, that was scary. It was probably the scariest day of my life. I went to my friend’s house, and she was like, ‘OK, I got the test,’ and I took the test and it showed up positive. I’m like, ‘What? No, this can’t be right. I’m only 14.’
“My mom was upset, very. I had to move away from her. My aunt and uncle, they are like my whole support system. I came here and they helped me grow a lot.
“I had her when I was 15. I didn’t even start my sophomore year. It was extremely hard for me to come back to school and get caught up on work ’cause in all my classes I either had Fs or Is, which is incomplete.
“Most of the kids in my freshman year who were pregnant, they dropped out. I’m the only one who actually stayed in school to my senior year.
“All through middle school I didn’t make horrible grades, but my grades weren’t the best. But raising her, I learned that I can multitask. I learned that I was smart, really. I get good grades.
“LaNiyah and I, we spend a lot of time together. In the morning we spend two hours together, and when I get out of school, from 4:00 to 8:00, we’re together. And then on weekends, when she’s not with her father or my mom.
“Me and my best friend, when we were little we used to look at (pregnant) teenagers and be like, ‘Oh my God, they’re stupid.’ Now we both have kids.
“There are pregnant girls in my school now. Freshman year there was only maybe three, four of us in the school. Now in my senior year it’s like 10 of us. It’s outrageous.
“They just think it’s so cute and they’re thinking, ’cause they’re 18, “I’m grown, I can handle this. I could just get on welfare.” No! Is that all you want for yourself? I mean, you have to want more.
“It’s more than just a baby. They’re thinking it’s just someone who’s gonna love them back, basically ’cause that’s what I hear a lot from them. That’s not even the half of it. They don’t get the teething part. They don’t get that when a baby’s sick, you have to be there to care for it. They don’t know about the tantrums.
“(Sometimes) it just overwhelms me. But you know, you gotta deal with it. I mean, you can’t give her back.
“I work at State Farm Insurance. I only work on Fridays. I’m working on becoming an agent. I planned on going out of state to college before I had her, but now since she’s here I need the help and support, so I’m not going nowhere no time soon.”
* * * * *
Ashley Wilkins, 18, chose adoption after finding out she was pregnant. She has no regrets.
“I got pregnant at 16. I was kind of new to the area at the time, and so I really didn’t have a lot of close friends. My parents and I didn’t really have a good relationship. And then just the pregnancy was like the icing on the cake.
“There was no way, I realized, that I would be able to stay pregnant and keep this baby. Well obviously I had no choice but to stay pregnant, but to have this baby in this home that is just not stable enough for a 16-year-old to have a child with no support from my parents.
“I moved out by myself and I got my own apartment, and that’s when I was able to think clearly and to sit down, without the pressure of friends or family or anybody saying, ‘Oh, I think you should do this,’ ‘Oh, this is great.’ I was able to sit down and think about what I wanted with the rest of my life. I had this innocent child that I had no choice but to bring into this world, so I knew I had to decide what was best for not only myself, but for this child.
“I just figured that being a mom wasn’t something that I was ready for. I really had no set direction in life. The father wasn’t really there, and I figured that there would be no better way than to bless a family, a couple, with this child.
“I called around to a lot of different places and I found Kirsh & Kirsh, they’re a private adoption agency. And they were really, really helpful. Nothing was decided until after the child was born. I didn’t sign any paperwork or any kind of binding document until after the child was born. It was a really comfortable thing.
“They give you packets about the families that are wanting to adopt. I went through like eight or 10 of them and the one that I found, they were just perfect. This couple had been married and they could not have a child. Reading their packet, it was like, ‘This is it.’ It was the last one that I read.
“I had him on March 28th. I think it was the next morning when I signed all the paperwork.
“It’s an open (adoption). I get pictures and letters. I get updates all the time so I can have peace of mind as to how he’s doing and how they’re doing. He’s really happy. I’m really proud of my decision.
“I just don’t think that there is a lot of information given to teenage girls about adoption. I think that a lot of women get scared, especially being so young and not having a lot of support from their family. They get scared, and then the child’s father more often than not walks away from the situation and then they don’t know what to do with themselves.
“I’m doing really good with myself -- I still got my own place and I plan on starting school sometime very soon. I want to go to school for journalism and photography maybe.
“I don’t regret my decision in any way. I think that it’s the best thing I have ever done in my entire life.”
* * * * *
ReShawn Powell, 19, says the nonprofit group Fathers and Families makes young men “be the male role model that you will want your child to look up to.”
“I have a little girl, Justice. She’s 1. She lives with her mother. We’re not together or anything like that, but I can talk to her. I pay child support.
“I was kind of scared (about the pregnancy), but at the same time, I knew that I had to get ready and prepare for it. So I was ready, but at the same time I was scared of the ‘what if’s’ and what could happen, you know, all the things people go through becoming parents. So it was a scary feeling, but at the same time I was looking forward to it.
“I was present (at the birth). I was very joyful, happy inside. I just couldn’t stop holding her. I stayed there the whole three days that we were in the hospital.
“In my neighborhood, it’s like everyone’s pregnant, everyone is having kids, no role models and a lot of drugs, gunshots.
“You got kids raising kids. Some people have kids just for the attention, I guess I would say, or because they think it’s cute, or ’cause everybody else is doing it, their friend is doing it, or they want to trap this guy or trap this girl, whatever the case is.
“And it makes it hard as a community really. You got young parents who are in a young mind, and they raise their kids to cuss. They raise them to fight. I mean, you got a 5-year-old son who ain’t even been potty-trained.
“I went to Lawrence Central. After high school I wanted to play football or basketball, go ahead and go to college, and that was just a dream for me. After having the little girl, I had to work. I had to decide either to take care of her or to stay in school.
“I live with my grandmother. Basically I just work, wake up, work. If it’s not the weekend, just work, come home, relax, call my daughter, see what she’s doing. On the weekends it’s spend time with my daughter every chance that I get.
“I just got my GED recently.
“I don’t regret the decision I made, but I feel like I could be doing so much better. Like I said earlier, there’s some consequences you got to deal with and take care of responsibilities.”
_________________________________________________________
The Young Parent’s Skills & Support program is offered by the Urban Mission YMCA. For more information, contact Lauren Freeman, 713-8572
The Fathers and Families Center is a nonprofit organization at 2835 N. Illinois St. It provides an array of support services for families and can be reached at 921-5935.