Teenage pregnancy in Pueblo (Durango: condo, unemployment, school)

[Let's Go Here]

I spent part of the weekend in Pueblo and went to the state fair one day. While walking around the fairgrounds, I was amazed by the number of teenage girls I saw pushing around baby strollers and the number of others who looked like they were about ready to pop. The sad thing is that most of these girls had no shame on their faces.

Teenage pregnancy has always been a problem for Pueblo, but in recent years, it has gotten out of control. There are a number of factors that lead to teenage pregnancy (drugs, alcohol, etc.), but responsibility for this problem needs to fall with parents. This is an embarrassing problem for the city, and something needs to be done.

[Sobe Itsavized]

When I saw this thread, it was like watching an accident happen.

"I tried to help."


Dane Cook - Car Crash And Pear - YouTube

I brought my fire extinguisher though!

But anyways, are you the kind that advocates for free condoms and Plan B then? Because you're calling it an embarrassing problem for the city and want something to be done but you give no resolution of your own besides blaming the parents. ;D It's a two way street asking feedback. But then again, you telling someone how to raise a child is going to make some hormones rage with fists of fury. Just saying.

[Juliemac]

NEWSFLASH: Teenagers have been getting pregnant everywhere, since the dawn of time. The difference is now they are not hidden away like they were back in the day. They simply aren't 'shamed' anymore. I guess we figured out that wasn't a very effective contraceptive, lol.

[davidv]

Originally Posted by Juliemac

NEWSFLASH: Teenagers have been getting pregnant everywhere, since the dawn of time. The difference is now they are not hidden away like they were back in the day. They simply aren't 'shamed' anymore. I guess we figured out that wasn't a very effective contraceptive, lol.

In fact, for most of history, women were married by age 15 so teenage pregnancy back then was called "motherhood."

Poverty is a major indicator of teen pregnancy, and educational attainment is a major predictor of women having children later in life. If these young women believed that had a chance of going to college (ie, they have enough money or attained better grades, etc.) and making a better life they would hold off on having kids.

[McGowdog]

Just don't go blaming me.

Srsly though... if the Catholics spent less time on condemning birth control and more time instilling independence and furthering education... and maybe mandatory drug testing for welfare and unemployment recipients... and for food stamps and gubmint cheese, maybe they would get off their arses, get jobs, and not sit around and party and get pregnant.

That's what I think.

[Agnapostate]

Originally Posted by Durango Bound

I spent part of the weekend in Pueblo and went to the state fair one day. While walking around the fairgrounds, I was amazed by the number of teenage girls I saw pushing around baby strollers and the number of others who looked like they were about ready to pop. The sad thing is that most of these girls had no shame on their faces.

Teenage pregnancy has always been a problem for Pueblo, but in recent years, it has gotten out of control. There are a number of factors that lead to teenage pregnancy (drugs, alcohol, etc.), but responsibility for this problem needs to fall with parents. This is an embarrassing problem for the city, and something needs to be done.

As I initially stated in another thread, the dialogue concerning teenage childbearing is largely based on an instance of question begging: the initial premise that it is universally negative, which is not justified by argument or evidence.

There is empirical research that indicates that teenage childbearing is a beneficial reproductive strategy for lower-income (and often ethnic minority) women in terms of labor market consequences, namely Hotz et al.'s Teenage Childbearing and its Life Cycle Consequences: Exploiting a Natural Experiment: "We exploit a 'natural experiment' associated with human reproduction to identify the causal effect of teen childbearing on the socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers. We exploit the fact that some women who become pregnant experience a miscarriage and do not have a live birth. Using miscarriages an instrumental variable, we estimate the effect of teen mothers not delaying their childbearing on their subsequent attainment. We find that many of the negative consequences of teenage childbearing are much smaller than those found in previous studies. For most outcomes, the adverse consequences of early childbearing are short-lived. Finally, for annual hours of work and earnings, we find that a teen mother would have lower levels of each at older ages if they had delayed their childbearing."

This explanation is provided in a discussion of earnings and incidence of living in poverty: "Our evidence, and that of others, documents that women who begin motherhood as teens come from less advantaged backgrounds, are less likely to be successful in school, and, as such, are less likely to end up in occupations that require higher education compared with women who postpone motherhood. Our evidence further suggests that these women are more likely to acquire their skills on the job (rather than in school) and work in jobs where educational credentials are less important than continuity and job-specific experience. For such women, concentrating their childbearing at early ages may prove to be more compatible with their labor market career options than postponing their childbearing to older ages would be. If this characterization is accurate, forcing teen mothers to postpone their childbearing, as miscarriages do, may 'explain' why they both appear to acquire no more formal education and actually end up doing less well in the labor market than if they had been able to follow their preferred life cycle plan."

These results are supported by Geronimus and Korenman's The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teen Childbearing Reconsidered and Grogger and Bronars's The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teenage Childbearing: Findings from a Natural Experiment.

However, it cannot necessarily be concluded that teenage childbearing among lower-income women is positive overall based on this research, since there are other adverse consequences that may result, such as physical and mental health reductions, as evidenced in Teen Motherhood and Long-Term Health Consequences.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by McGowdog

Just don't go blaming me.....

Okay, and I won't blame Josseppie either....

[Sobe Itsavized]

I've never really been in tune with what they believe their future to be when they realize college can actually be beneficial. But then again, there are a ton of single parents attending college who are NOT teenagers but in their 20's, 30's, and even 40's. They work part time or even full time. I work full time and go to school full time and I barely have enough time for myself. Being a PARENT is a full time job to begin with too.

As long as those children grow up in a positive environment that doesn't impede their mental and physical health, it's better than giving them up for adoption. The orphanages are already full of children who need loving families including single or two parents. Being able to be there with a child as a young parent is very different when a child has an older parent(s) in their 50's who can't really be that active.

[davidv]

Originally Posted by McGowdog

Just don't go blaming me.

Srsly though... if the Catholics spent less time on condemning birth control and more time instilling independence and furthering education... and maybe mandatory drug testing for welfare and unemployment recipients... and for food stamps and gubmint cheese, maybe they would get off their arses, get jobs, and not sit around and party and get pregnant.

That's what I think.

Poverty, not religion, is a better indicator of whether a couple uses birth control. The poorest countries in the world have the highest total fertility rate (the avg # of children a woman is expected to bear in her lifetime). While the wealthy countries of the world have the lowest total fertility rates -- often below the replacement rate of 2.1.

Within the Catholic world, the same is true. Poorer Catholic countries have high TFRs, while richer Catholic countries have very low TFRs.

Here are some stats:

TFRs of wealthy Catholic countries: Poland 1.3, Italy 1.4, Spain 1.5, Portugal 1.5, and France 1.9.

TFRs this low can only be achieved through the use of birth control.

Contrast those countries with poor Catholic countries like: Philippines 3.2, Timor-Leste 3.1, Honduras 3.1, Haiti 3.1 and Bolivia 3.0.

All of these countries have a majority Catholic population above 80%, yet their TFRs vary substantially. The conclusion: wealth, not religion, plays the largest role in the number of children a woman has.

[Sobe Itsavized]

Abortions are costly, raising one child is expensive enough, the act of having a child might varies in cost. Condoms are cheap over here. They have vending machines with condoms in Japan. I don't think the same is in China though. But over there it's not their religion, it's just the social oppression of females in general. Kind of like India where some parents in certain parts are aborting female fetuses after seeking methods to determine gender. Male to female ration is so disproportionate. NPR was talking about it a couple of months ago.