Hmmm … my experience has been that teen pregnancy is usually a symptom of a bigger issue – self esteem. Should we live in a world where teens make choices because they are the right thing to do? Sure, but we don’t! If this program is working working, let it work.

I agree with Dana that the bigger issue is self-esteem. In that vein, I am not happy that this program is just for girls. I mean, they do realize that in order to get pregnant there has to be a guy involved, right? We’re setting ourselves up for long-term failure if the boys are not also involved. But going back to the self-esteem issue, it should be education in a more broad sense about self-esteem and respecting others. You can teach a girl about contraception and hopefully condom negotiation but that does nothing if the boy isn’t going along with it.

I like the program. While I see the logic in some of the complaints against it, there seems to be a pretty good return on investment, compared to if any of these girls got pregnant. NY Diva makes a great point about guys being involved too.

No disrespect but I think some are reading into this too much. I believe that the girls that take part in this program likely want to reach the intended goal and perhaps do not have issues with self esteem because they are focused on their goals. It works for them because it goes along with their personal goals and educating on the proper use on contraceptives is a plus. I think it is a good program for those with the particular goal of avoiding pregnancy and going to college. Maybe they need to look at additional programs for other social groups.

I have always believed that information is power, and that is a healthy thing. There are indeed many variables which play a role in this problem (as mentioned in comments above) self-esteem and troubles at home among them.

But it just ‘feels’ icky to me, a state grant intended to reward these girls for not getting pregnant, like they are lab rats in a social experiment or something. It would be interesting to see if the study makes the intended imapct…

Dana- hmm. While I think self esteem can be a factor/play a role in teen pregnancy, I personally know of numerous girls who got pregnant even while I was in h.s. and home life nor self esteem played into those pregnancies.

I think almost everyone can get excited about incentives. And that is what I think this program does. And as you pointed out, if it works GREAT. :)

NY Diva- I do agree somewhat. It’s one of the complaints of the program by others. Although I wouldn’t be near as supportive of paying them $1/day to not get pregnant. ;)

Viemoira- Good point, looking into a program similar to this one for other social groups.

Southerngirl- I see your point, but at the same time look at the fact that these girls sign up for the program- by choice. They aren’t forced to do it and they are being compensated, which I think makes them a lot less like lab rats.

Thanks for stopping by with your input!

It’s an excellent program, considering that the teen birth rate (TBR) is tied to the economy and the adult birth rate (ABR). In fact, we can predict the TBR in ten years from now just by knowing today’s poverty rate and today’s ABR.

Teen pregnancy is not a teen problem, and it never was. It’s an adult problem. Pushing the teen’s to “get it”, to become more “mature”, “responsible”,”abstinent” doesn’t work becuase they aren’t part of the root dynamics that push a teen girl to choose pregnancy over another type of future.

The real causes of the high TBR in the US are-

The ABR, poverty, sex abuse and early sexualization, economic/social attraction to older males, violent and chaotic households, lack of reproductive health care as an un-pregnant female, educational failure, lack of competing choices, male abandonment, and the uncomfortable but true fact that having a child as a teen is sometimnes a good idea.

These are adult-created, adult-perpetuated, and adult-driven dynamics. Only adults can control, fix, or change these dynamics. Not teens.

A teen pregnancy represents a vision of the future that is limited by her choices, and her view of what could be. Teens are “forced” into social corners, and pregnancy is one of the responses.

Rick Machado
Public Speaker on Teen Pregnancy

I think this is an excellent start. I’d much rather pay a few bucks to pay teenagers not to get pregnant than foot the bill for their pregnancy and health care after that.

Bribing? Maybe, but since our current programs aren’t doing much to curtail it, and since the people who SHOULD be doing the most to curtail teen pregnancies (the parents of the teens in question) aren’t doing their job properly, why not start here? The program seems to be pretty successful, from what this says.

Personally, I’m rather in favor of a universal contraceptive in the water supply, to be disabled for individuals only upon passing of a battery of tests and interviews designed to find out whether the people involved would be good parents. But that opens another whole can of worms, I’m afraid.

– PB

Whatever it takes for someone to have a discussion about sex and contraception. Many of the people I know who got pregnant as teens lacked info and access to contraception. In a couple of cases, self-esteem was at play, but the missing facts is what did it in for them. That and the lack of ability to see beyond tomorrow. In several cases, that inability to see beyond tomorrow had less to do with self-esteem and more to do with the poverty of their family. Hard to think about college when you know your parents can’t pay the bills and buy food.

It’s sort of Apples and Oranges. This is an extremely small program aimed at a narrowly targeted group (younger sisters of teen moms) in one small area of one State funded partially by a small grant from that State.

It costs me NOTHING.

Whereas your Federalized Proposal would be paid by ME and every other taxpayer. It would cost Hundreds of Billions of Dollars and there’s no doubt a large percentage of that would be siphoned off by grafting politicians pushing programs run by corrupt cronies that DO NOT WORK.

And it would further destroy the important tenet that Education Spending priorities should be decided locally.

And since the Government Schools do a HORRIFIC JOB teaching Language Skills, Mathematics and Science Etc… why would anyone think they’d be GOOD and EFFECTIVE in Teaching Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs?

As for a similar program being partially by the State in Troll County, I would vote NO because it isn’t a big problem here.

If I lived in an area with a high teenage-pregnancy rate, I’d consider voting Yes if and only if the program is graft-free and proven to work.

It’s no secret I had my son as a teenager. Trust me when I say it had absolutely NOTHING to do with my self esteem. *snort* I am now, and have always been, confident and secure in who I am. What it had to do with was birth control that failed. And yes, failure does happen! Please spare me the lecture that the pill is 99% effective if taken correctly. Not everyone is a good candidate for hormone based birth control.

Poverty, abandonment, attraction to older males, etc. had nothing to do with it either. I made an educated choice to be sexually active when I did. I was not pushed into it. I enjoyed sex then, and still do!

I have never felt for one minute that choosing to have my child, instead of terminating the pregnancy, as many advised me to do, in any way limited my choices for the future. I continued my education, and graduated from college. I did it alone, without help from my parents or my child’s father. Was it hard work. Absolutely, but it made me the strong and independent woman I am today.

Should we pay girls to NOT get pregnant? Considering all the insane and stupid things our government spends money on, why the hell not. If it works, let’s use it. I would much rather see my tax dollars going to help young women as opposed to some cop getting over time on a seat belt jurisdiction grant.

Hmmmmm how are all these girls getting pregnant without male partners.What…there were male partners?!! Seems to me half of the equation has been ignored here…just sayin

Vixen kitten’s situation is indeed rare, as less than 2% of pregnant teens finish college.

Her admission of birth control failure is also rare, with about 1-3% of cases that are similiar to her, that is, using oral contraceptives on a regular basis that fail.

The word “failure” in contraception also needs defining, as it can mean many thing. Failure to take it? Failure to take it regularly? Or, with comdoms especially, failure to use it properly.

This is how Educational Failure fits in our model. A french study showed about 17% failure rate using condoms amongst the general population. A stat like this is often used in the abstinence crowd to prove they are unreliable.

But when french prostitutes were studied, failure rate dropped to .07%, as good or better than oral contraceptives, which shows how important education is to everyone, not just teens.