[Synnen]

Xrayman--I'm NOT a very nice person.

I'm a person that thinks that people should take responsibility for their own actions--which means that I, as a taxpayer, don't pay for their stupidity when they become pregnant as a teen, or get AIDS and end up on public assistance for medical bills, whatever.

No, I don't have much charity in my heart for people who do stupid things and KNOW they are stupid--such as having sex, getting pregnant, and not having the money to raise the child.

So, NO, frankly, I don't support them. Rape and incest are incredibly different matters, as is any form of abuse. I fully support and would help in ANY way someone who makes up their mind to get away from their abuser/rapist. But--the second they run back to the jerk, the support stops. There's a limit to my compassion for idiots.

So--I agree that there are a lot of grey areas. But I also am not a very nice person, and I'm happy to admit it. I'm also not Christian, so I don't have that religious commitment to charity, either. But--whatever. Teen pregnancy is going to happen--I wasn't an idiot, and I still got pregnant at 16--and we're all going to frown on it, and it's just going to perpetuate itself until we get rid of the attitude in society that SOMEONE will take care of us if the worst happens, and that it's always circumstances that put people in a bad spot. Phooey on that! It's personal decisions 99% of the time that put people in bad situations. Take responsibility!

But--I won't see that happen any time soon, so I'll just sit on my porch with my cat, look crabby, and yell at the kids to get off the dang lawn.

[Xrayman]

So the correct poll question should have been

"Do you support teenagers TRYING to become pregnant, with no way of supporting their babies or themselves?"

BE CLEAR when you ask these sorts of questions. They are very contentious.

[Synnen]

Erm... I'm just really crabby at people who don't take responsibility for their actions today.

My apologies, Xrayman. Didn't mean to attack you.

I'm just sort of fed up with society in general today.

[Xrayman]

SYN: I understand, I know what you were alluding to, but I don't think the OP really framed the question unambiguously, or thought about the big picture.

Cheers!

[sallyasdf]

Im against it 100%. It is CRAZY! The problem is that girls just seem to not care, they know what can happen to them, they know they shouldn't but they just don't care. I am against sex before marriage, I know that everybody doesen't think that way, but I really don't care what they think about my beleifs. I think that teens don't know how to say NO. So they are stupid and say I don't care, yes, or sure. Thank you for posting this, I am glad that someone has the same ideas as me.

[ScottGem]

See--> this post isn't ridiculous! Someone here supports teenage pregnancies, and although he/she didn't write anything about it, maybe others believe the same thing. I think some people are just afraid to say they support that because of the responses he/she would get from "opposers" like me.

That some idiot pressed the support choice doesn't mean much. Either they pressed the wrong button, or they just wanted to be contrary. I don't believe anyone in their right mind can be in favor of teenage pregnancies.

[templelane]

I'm going to add another layer of grey...

I think after 18 then the person is an adult and if they can support the baby then they should be able to have one if they want. So in that way I would support 'teen' pregnancy.

Not a choice I would have made but it's not my life either. If their partner can support them and the baby and they want to be a full time parent more than anything in the world who am I to judge or stop them?

I don't think this is really an issue of supporting or not supporting as much as it is an issue of why does it happen, how can we effectively educate to prevent it and how can we support those how have children too young whilst not completely alleviating any personal responsibility.

[Sonador101]

Its hard your right, personally I thinkk we should prmote adoption as a more friendlt idea, that way the child is given to a loving hom, and the teens can be teens a little longer. Also we need to crackk down on sex in middle school, because that's when they're starting then again in high school. But the truth is the schools can only convey the danger, the parents can convey the right the wrong, the black the white AND the grey, and make the children fully understand the consquences.

[Alty]

If only we could make the kids fully understand the consequences, that's the problem. I have talked to so many teens on this site, many of them are "in love", they are under 16 and they want to have a baby. Oh they'll be fine, they make $50/week delivering newspapers and their parents will help out, well, they hope. And the guy, well, even though he's not on board yet, he will be once the pregnancy is confirmed, because they're "in love". I can talk until I'm blue in the face, be kind, understanding, rude and demanding, motherly, sisterly, try to talk to them at their level, nothing works, they know it all, we know nothing!

Bring on the sex ed, watch it fall on deaf ears, pass out contraceptives in school, it's cool to have a condom in your wallet, and that's were it will likely stay.

Were can we make a difference? Talk to your kids, start young, this is not a one time "talk" it is continuous, never ending, ongoing, and will likely make you want to pull out your hair. It's up to every one of us to prepare our kids for what's out there waiting for them. I'd love to help all the teens, but by the time they come to this site with their "questions" it's too late to get through to them.

That's my take. Feel free to disagree.

[NeedKarma]

I voted yes. I'll support my teen if she is pregnant.

The question is silly to begin with and I didn't take it seriously.

[Alty]

I would support my teen as well, but I'm hoping that I'll never have to because I'll have set a good foundation and given her enough information that she won't put herself into a situation where she could get pregnant. Wishful thinking, maybe, but I'm hoping it works. My kids are 9(boy) and 5(girl), hopefully I have a bit of time left before I have to worry about a possible pregnancy. We are already talking about sex, where babies come from etc. The other day my son said "Mommy, how come your friend has kids, she's not married and only married people should have babies." I asked him why, he said "because, a kid really needs a mom and a dad, and if they aren't married then the dad can walk away whenever he wants, that's not fair to the kid." He's seen it happen time and time again with friends of his.

Sad thing, my son is in the minority at school, his parents are married, got married before they had him, are still married today, that's no longer the norm. What happened to values, where did they go? I think that's the question we should be answering.

[NeedKarma]

Here's my poll which is similar in style to this one:

I Support getting hit by a truck
I Oppose getting hit by a truck

Please vote.

[templelane]

How much insurance money do I get vs the severity of the injuries when I get hit by this truck? ;)

[Alty]

Will I die if I get hit by the truck, is there a good side to getting hit by the truck, what kind of truck? I'm going to have to say that I'd rather not, I think I'll stay on the sidewalk where it's safe. ;)

[Synnen]

its hard your right, personally i thinkk we should prmote adoption as a more friendlt idea, that way the child is given to a loving hom, and the teens can be teens a little longer. .

Yes and no.

I'm a birthmom--I know that in some instances adoption is the best and most loving choice a person can make.

I also know it takes an incredibly strong person to MAKE that choice to begin with.

And promoting adoption over the OTHER options (abortion, parenting, and not getting pregnant in the first place) smacks to me of baby selling and coercion. I will not be any part of that.

Granted, I'm extremely sensitive about the subject, but I feel too many girls are pressured into choosing adoption as it is, and the full consequences of it are not explanable--any more than the full consequences of parenting are readily explainable.

Should adoption be an option? Absolutely. Should it be pushed over any other option? Absolutely not. Frankly--how would you feel if we pushed abortion over the other options--if we made that a better choice for everyone? I mean, it's keeping the population down, it keeps one more unwanted child from being in the world, it prevents problems with Welfare and the economy--why SHOULDN'T it be a great option for everyone?

It's the morals of the thing.

So... I choose to push at "don't get pregnant in the first place" rather than focusing on the options AFTER that happens.

[Sonador101]

Well your kind of right, I think we should make adoption EASY, and make the option avalible, and tell people about it. Yoiur right we shouldn't say "this is the best option, and all others suck, and you suck if you coose any other.
and i do think we should enforce "don't get preganant in the first pplace" but i i;'m am trying to reach out to ppl who are already preganant in the "now what?" stage,

[softbalgrl1331]

Okay, okay enough already!!

FINE I guess this poll is ridiculous, sure whatever lets move on.

I was just trying to see people's opinions; I didn't want to be attacked! :(

[j_troubadour]

I don't know. The truck sounds pretty nice. Tempting really. But... welllll... everyone else is going for the NOT getting hit by a truck. I'll do THAT!

[godsbabygirl267]

Honestly, I think any young girl should wait until they find the right person and are able to support a child, even if the husband walks. And, usually, girls aren't married at 13 so it would be the boyfriend walking. Its very easy to do, so be careful.