Postponing Pregnancy May Have its Own Costs

The society has shaped the idea of teenage pregnancy as being a irresponsible act that young girls commit. Teenage pregnancy is looked down upon as a mistake that has many consequences. Consequences that mostly follows teenage pregnancy appear to be mothers being the caretaker for the most part, fathers not taking on any responsibility, financial issues, chances of not graduating from high school, and etc. Do you believe having a child at an early age is such a bad thing to do? Do you believe all teenage girls who become pregnant experience a struggle or just teenagers that come from a poor background? Have you ever thought about women at an older age may experience fertility issues that could possibly prevent them having children?

In chapter five of Luker’s book “The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy”, it shares information on how postponing pregnancy having its own costs. Older women face a greater risk of infertility. So what age do you consider to be too old and or too young for a woman to produce a child? Are you analyzing this age in more of what age is a woman fit enough to have a child or at what age a woman could be a good provider for her child? What is the ideal age you feel would be right for you to have a child? If you got pregnant at a young age would you keep your child despite your well-being at the time? If you were older and couldn’t produce children would you view teenage pregnancy as a bad choice considering teenage mothers makeup a proportion of women who put their babies up for adoption? What would you do if you postponed pregnancy for so long and became infertile? Adopt?

Victoria Harrison 

To Birth or Not to Birth? Naturally is the question.

This week we discussed in part the film "The Business of Being Born".  The film discussed the dangers of cesarean sections, pitocin and epidurals on the baby.  When I saw it I was honestly scared for my unborn- unconcieved child.  The marketing student in me started to wonder if this was a scheme to sway more women towards home births.  Then again the film pointed out that doctors had a similar ploy in the early 1900's to persuade mothers to birth in the hospital rather than at home.  Did the film persuade you to want a home birth or are you stubborn like me and want to stick to the hospitals?   Why do you think it is that we have so many cases of maternal and fetal deaths in the US?  Do you think that, as the movie stated it is because of our reliance on doctors interventions and tendency to lean away from natural births?  Or do you think that its because of the unnecessary drugs we take during pregnancy and the birth itself?  Whatever it is you must agree babies are cute and should not be dying.


For the Wednesday class we were asked to read an article entitled: 'Scarlet' or adoption for unwed mothers.  It talked about a law in Florida that makes unwed mothers advertise in a magazine for the possible fathers and state their name and address.  Personally I find this ridiculous, however the fathers deserve a chance to claim their child.  So where should the line be drawn?  How many rights should fathers have?  They can't stop the woman from aborting the child but should they be allowed to stop the mother from giving the child up for adoption?  What punishment would be inflicted on a mother who doesn't notify the father of her pregnancy?   The article points out that if the father has been away long enough to notice the pregnant mother than he must not love the mother or child.  Do you agree?  Would willingly let the father of your child raise your child on his own if you want to give the child up for adoption?


Jean Carr
(Sorry this was up so late my computer wouldn't let me log onto google)

Decision Making and Bad Parenting

As an adolescent many girls feel like once they've messed up they don't have many options. As supported by the Bender article it speaks about 3 girls who were faced with the decision of abortion or child-bearing. The article stated that adoption never even crossed their minds.  This made me ask myself, "would adoption be an option for me"? Honestly i cant say that it would, although i respect people who consider adoption and follow through with it, i don't feel as though it would be a decision i could make. It is one of the most selfless acts any mother or father could agree to. How do you feel about adoption? Is it a method that you would consider? If you know people who are adopted, how has this affected their lives? Speaking as a foster child, i would actually consider myself as an adoptee. In my situation the only difference between the two is paper work. I have been apart of the same family since i was six months old and they are the greatest gift that God could have given me. But the fact of the matter is that my life has been greatly affected by the situation i was put in by my parents for many different reasons.

In the Bender reading the girls discussed different pros and cons to what having a baby would bring to their lives. in my opinion personally i feel as though when it comes to having a child, although you cant tell a woman what to do with her body, i dont think that the decision should be made off of things like what other people will think about you if you did become pregnant. Many of teen moms and women in general feel as though having a child will allow them to become closer with the child's father. Also outside influences play a major role in decision making, such as peer input and family input. what do you think is the biggest contributing factor when dealing with decision making in regards to pregnancy?

To shift thought a little, in class we discussed the idea of bad parenting. What do you think makes a person a bad parent? What do you think makes an individual a good parent? Although parenting is subjective, there are certain things that a parent is required to do to ensure safety and responsibility for a child. The things we discussed in class had to do with health, safety, and discipline mainly and there seemed to be mixed opinions about these different topics from students in the class. I believe situations involving safety are primary when it comes to parenting, and although i currently don't have children, safety will be primary when it comes to my child. The child did not ask to be here but it still is the role of the parent to protect the child's life and avoid any situations that would cause danger. Another issue is discipline. On one of the slides spanking was mentioned and i happened to be a strong advocate of spanking. I do realize that this form of negative reinforcement does not work for every child, but it instills in them morals and helps them identify between right and wrong. Although they are the ones who ultimately have to chose between the two, they are still cognizant of the consequences of their decisions. How do you feel about spankings? How will you correct your child's repetitive wrong behavior? Were you spanked growing up? what ways were you punished? What forms of disciplined worked best for you as a child? And which forms do you feel are most effective overall?

J'Quana Brown