So I decided to start off with our Blog title as this is a play on an image of what teenage pregnancy is viewed as, mostly from adults. What do you think of when you read the words “Babies having Babies”? For the most part this term raises alarm in many because it implies that young parent’s do not have the ability to care for their children. As discussed by Luker, historically speaking, age was not a factor of good parenting skills. The concept of an in between time between childhood and adulthood called adolescents wasn’t created until after the turn of the century. Even now with a firm establishment of what teenage life is all about most teen parents are legal adults, they can vote, enlist in the army, smoke, and all the jazz. For the few that do have children in their earlier teen years have children hardly any higher than individuals from many decades ago. So what’s the big deal? I would say Luker does a good job explaining how pregnancies out-of-wedlock were a moral issue then the tables turned to argue against age because of course these newly identified teens could not possibly be smart enough to take care of a child. The idea of parental fitness spread to all feebleminded people, not just young individuals. Along with this came the eugenics movement trying to reproduce a better, smarter, more superior population. The only way to do that is by sterilizing people. So truly the idea of young-pregnancy and parenting is not truly about age it is about social issues of perfection almost.
Even now there are arguments that look down upon teen-mothers for keeping their child because they will reproduce another teen-parent in their child, or they won’t be able to give their child the necessary tools to succeed, or the family will not be stable, etc. Are these arguments truly about the individual or is it about wanting more economically savvy people who don’t need help from the government, are making great salaries, contributing to society, etc. A huge argument about today’s youth who have children young is about their dependence on welfare. There was so much hype about this that Clinton restructured welfare and renamed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (1996). Similarly to our blog title, what is your reaction to even this title? To me It comes off as the “pull yourself from your bootstraps” mentality which is not always possible. With this bill it encouraged those who have government assistance to find work so that they may no longer be on welfare. Yet, forcing someone to go to work may not solve the issue of poverty, welfare, parental fitness, etc.
Take a young mother for instance. She became pregnant at 17, has no support from her family, decided to keep her child, graduated high school and wants to go to college, is from a lower class background, has no support from the father, and has to pay for living and daycare expenses. Well as is the case for most high school graduates one is hired in a remedial minimum wage job that is not secure, not understanding of her needs as a parent (sick child), and demands sometimes over 40 hrs. a week for her. The problem is without state assistance daycare costs almost as much as what she gets paid and so she has to scrimp and save and sometimes ask for her family to loan her money when the bills are due and her paycheck isn’t coming in for a few more days. Even with state assistance she spends a bulk of her income on daycare. If nothing changes for this girl how is she supposed to have economic mobility and give her child all the things I am sure she wants to give but can’t because of how hard it is to make ends meet.
Now, I know this is just a hypothetical situation, but it isn’t that far from the truth for many individuals. But I am curious do you think that because she was young and did not have much financial support that she should have chosen adoption or abortion instead? Will that solve the issue of un-planned pregnancies? Or do you think that policies and laws should change so that there is more assistance in furthering education, trades, and other options that improve economic mobility? Or do you not even think that economic mobility is the issue? Has your ideas around teenage pregnancy changed after reading any of the articles? Do you think more about how the issues are being represented instead of just believing what politicians and researchers say, such as the term “babies having babies”?
By: Maegen Hahn
By: Maegen Hahn
I once read an article on the reasons why people are against gay marriage and it sort of was brought back to me when you asked the question "do you think that because she was young and did not have much financial support that she should have chosen adoption or abortion instead?". The whole idea of the article was that if gay people couldn't have children then they shouldn't waste their time being married then goes on to make fun of this statement saying infertile people should also be banned from marriage. So to answer you question I must say I am rather torn. I realize that babies need more than just the love of a parent to get by but does that necessarily make them HAVE to give up the baby? Perhaps not. There are many children born into families scraping to get by. Should they too be told to give their baby up for adoption or even choose to abort? I for one would much rather have a family that could barely support me but know I'm loved than have a rich family and doubt the love I'm receiving. It all depend on the person.
ReplyDeleteThis brings to me to my second response to this blog post. Babies having babies.... Some teen mothers can pull it off as we saw with Kailyn's tour guide who was kicked out of her home. And some simply can't as we've seen with Janelle. Their age may qualify them as "babies" in old farts eyes but some of them are more mature than 45 year old parents. I don't know if the show gives us the full spectrum. After all what type of person CHOOSES to go on an MTV show after getting pregnant?
Jean Carr
Victoria Harrison
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the words “Babies having Babies” the thought of individuals trying to care for another individual may not be as prosper and fulfilling forwards to someone else who is very well off that can give a baby everything it needs and tools necessary for life. My response for this particular title for this blog I can say it fits the issue that we are discussing and trying to get at. The majority of young teens having babies face all sorts of issues whether economically and or financially that ties back to having a baby within their age range. The society today view teen mothers as babies and view them as individuals who haven’t experienced life long enough are learned/ been taught all the essential skills to try and establish a well life for a new born. However, I feel like some teen mothers take on the responsibility role well when they made the decision to keep their baby while some are not so successful in motherhood. In response to the hypothetical situation, I feel as though there are many teen mothers in the world that asked themselves adoption or abortion but decided to keep their child whether or not because of their financial support but just didn’t have the strength to let their baby go. I feel like it is a personal choice for that matter. I think teen mothers know before the child comes into the world that regardless of the financial support raising a child will be difficult and so they make the decision anyway to keep the child and make it work setting the child’s life up to be not as well as others. My ideas about teen pregnancy have changed I can say but my response may be different depending on that particular situation at hand.
Adoption is an issue that i am very passionate about for many different reasons. Children who are put up for adoption need a loving family to support them, and people who desire to adopt children should be able to as well. In response to the question "do you think that because she was young and did not have much financial support that she should have chosen adoption or abortion instead"? i personally think that the decision of adoption should be left totally up to the mother based on whatever reasons she deems necessary. In my opinion adoption is an extremely selfless act. For the most part when parents give their child up for adoption, its because they want their child to be afforded better opportunities that they may not able to provide.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to abortion, although i am not an advocate of abortion,i believe it should not be determined by any other person and especially not by the reasons of others. This reminds me of the story of Caitlyn and Tyler on 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom. They decided to give their child up for adoption due to financial constraints and the lack of financial support. With this example and from my common knowledge, financial mobility definitely plays an important role when deciding whether or not adoption should be considered.
As mentioned in the post, Luker describes pregnancy out of wedlock as a moral issue. in many of the episodes, for example macey's story, after she got pregnant Ryan decided to propose to her. In my opinion this comes off as the right thing to do to make up for the fact that the were not married when the child was conceived. For me this is not the right thing to do. Marriage should be a covenant between two people and taken seriously not just because a child will be linking to people together forever. Marriage just for the sake of appeasing people in society is not the answer. True dedication and commitment to the family is the answer. Then marriage if you love the person.
J'Quana Brown