Time for an "Anti-Juno" Movie...........

Over the last few months I have thought many times about teenage pregnancy. First of all, you know that I personally couldn't identify with the understanding and supportive parents in the movie Juno, nor did I really believe that the problems facing the young girl in the movie would be so easily and painlessly resolved. Sojourning in Kansas I encountered active anti-abortion sentiment - including a young girl I love and respect who traveled with her school to the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington (something I don't respect or understand). I also marveled at how the characters in the movie Knocked Up dealt with a surprise pregancy - how they matured and accepted responsibility for each other - and lived happily ever after. And don't forget the teenage pregnancies of the rich and famous - Britney Spears' younger sister having a baby at age 17 and other young women who probably aren't ready to be mothers (hmmm...like Britney Spears?).....


Now Time Magazine reports that 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. It appears that nearly half of the students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. The article outlines all some of the issues facing the community that might have led to this baby boom - a failing community economy, lack of access to birth control, community doesn't want to provide easier access to birth control, easy acceptance of young mothers in the school system, the religious nature of the community - but there probably isn't just one reason for all these pregnancies. What makes young women believe that raising a baby is easy or effortless? It may be easier to be unwed and pregnant in today's world, but the long-term responsibility for raising a child is not glamourous or fun - it isn't like the movies. If you don't believe in abortion, then use birth control (really use it).....