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Imagine your daughter and her seven friends came over and you knew that one of them would definitely be pregnant. If your daughter went to Robeson High School in Chicago, this would be the case: of 800 girls, 115 of them are pregnant or have had a child. The one in seven rate is astounding, and there are hundreds of factors that may contribute to the school's pregnancy numbers.
These factors include a lack of access to sexual health education and pregnancy prevention and a lack of access to reproductive health resources. The school's students are largely from poor communities of color where teenage pregnancies can be high. The Principal of Robeson adds that absentee fathers may also be a factor.
At least Robeson is a school in which young women are not being thrown out or transferred to other schools. Principal Morrow notes, "We're looking at how we can get them to the next phase, how can we still get them thinking about graduation?"
So often we may be quick to blame or judge the pregnant girls in the situation, their parents, or other individuals. But Robeson's numbers are a product of a much larger institutional problem - poor reproductive health education in low-income communities. Educational classes and centers need to be set up that normalize and encourage the use of birth control methods and distribute condoms. A teen health center is being built across the street, which is a step in the right direction. But funding needs to be poured into the creation and maintenance of centers such as these so that teenage pregnancy rates go down. The health of young women of color need to be addressed directly so that they aren't struggling to raise children or give birth while trying to graduate from high school.
Add a Comment128 Comments
the boys are partially to blame but the girls are stupid. all girls should know that if you have sex you might get pregnant that is the point of sex after all and they should know that they are the ones that are going to carry that baby for nine months which gives the guys plenty of time to leave them. so yes the girls are stupid.
December 13, 2009 - 11:54amThis Comment
these girls need to just keep their legs closed.
December 9, 2009 - 12:00pmThis Comment
And the boys need to keep it in their pants.
December 9, 2009 - 3:17pmThis Comment
well its their own lives their ruining. they'll never get to enjoy graduation or anything. they'll never have even a small chance at college. and their kids will end up having kids at 16 just like them. they'll all just keep ruining their lives. so it doesnt even really matter they can ruin their own lives all their doing is hurting themself and their children and granchildren.
December 8, 2009 - 5:51pmThis Comment
This is such a completely untrue and ridiculously narrow assessment of teen pregnancy. There are many young mothers out there who graduate high school and go to college and are very successful at it. While having a child may make things far more difficult, it can be done with determination. And there is absolutely no reason to assume that the children resulting from teen pregnancies will only do the same thing themselves. All people are different and many, many people do things differently than their parents.
July 10, 2010 - 8:27amThis Comment
Please don't mess with statistics. Your daughter could still get 684 female friends over, with every single one still being neither pregnant nor mom.
And if you wanna stick to your daughter and her 7 friends, than you still have a 30% chance of not having to worry.
I'm serious, your statistics caught me totally by surprise, just to find out it's not that bad after all.
December 8, 2009 - 7:03amThis Comment
The kids are getting pregnant its not because of their family or community its because they wanted to. You can't tell me they didn't know sex = pregnancy.
December 7, 2009 - 5:29pmThis Comment
The kids are getting pregnant its not because of their family or community its because they wanted to. You can't tell me they didn't know sex = pregnancy.
December 7, 2009 - 5:29pmThis Comment
you cant blame all teenagers for the stupid ones
December 7, 2009 - 5:23pmThis Comment
It hardly matters where they are if they are dumb enough to think they are ready for commitment that big at that age. I guess they learned the hard way now didn't they?
December 4, 2009 - 7:40pmAnother thing is who the hell are these people friends? one thing kids don't realize is that your friends are a BIG part of your rep and that the crowd you hang with is important not because of status but because of morals.
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