What causes teen girls to ignore a pregnancy until the birth?
I’m talking about the occasional case of a young woman who somehow ignores a pregnancy until a baby suddenly arrives. This often ends in tragedy when the girl panics and abandons the child. What influences could lead to this behavior?
1) On a small scale – what sort of family dynamics might she have, what sort of personality, etc. What might pre-dispose a young woman to ignoring a pregnancy?
2) On a larger scale, is our society somehow leading to this problem? Is there such shame involved with teen pregnancy? Is it a lack of resources for mothers? Is it an emphasis on career over motherhood? Or, could it be an emphasis on avoiding abortion? Any and all ideas are welcome.
A pregnancy is often not seen as a blessing, even for women with adequate resources. Even a surprise pregnancy in a 25 year old with a job is greeted with "oh no!" by friends and family. That’s what I mean by "an emphasis on career over motherhood".
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speaking as a person who was pregnant I can answer the reasons that I did not tell anyone. Yes I knew I was pregnant. Did I try to ignore it? yes I did. My reason (although I know how stupid they are now) was mainly fear. Fear my mother would disown me, fear my boyfriend would leave me, fear that my friends would no longer want to be around me. Fear that my older sister would kill me. Shame that I had let myself get this way. Fear that people at school would find out.
I waited so long to tell an "adult" that a doctor would not see me as I was to far along and had not seen a doctor. The only doctor who would take me was the local health department. Now 17 years later and my daughter I gave birth to is now the age I was when she got pregnant. I make sure she is informed and aware of what can happen. I knew she had a steady b/f for a year, I took her down and had her put on birth control. Want to break the cycle.