Teen Pregncies at Gloucester High School

The story about 17 teenagers at Gloucester High School becoming pregnant
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html has many people wondering why.

I suspect some maternal instinct is at work here. Teenagers have gotten pregnant throughout human history. They had tribes and large families to support them. This tribal thinking had the teens at Gloucester High say, "We will raise our babies together". They had a need for a tribal support group. Actually, the rest of society will help raise the babies.

Now we suddenly think it is wrong for teens to become pregnant. The reason we think it is wrong is because we know we will have to bare the brunt of teenagers having babies. We are their tribe. We also think there are too many humans in the world.

The only thing wrong about this is the government's involvement. The government schools will provide day care for the teens' babies. The government will demand the fathers pay for babies they did not want. If the fathers cannot pay, the rest of us will.

The government will provide free counseling for the teens. The counselors will tell the teens they are victims of the men who are the babies' fathers.

The tabloids will pay for interviews with the girls. They will get their appearances on talk shows. Along with their ovum, their self love and overrated importance will also be fertilized.

When reality sets in the teens will likely be disappointed at being a parent. Like most of our choices, they will second guess theirs.

The whole message is that we reward negative behavior. We send a message that we will take care of those who make selfish decisions, or foolish decisions. There are little negative consequences, and learning, from making bad choices.

The government has become the father/provider for these teens. Because of divorce and single moms, I suspect most of the pregnant teens do not have a biological father in their lives. The government father/provider, like a father kicked out of the house, does not form an attachment and affection for its offspring. The government has failed at being a father/husband, and will continue to fail, like most government programs fail.

And Barrack Obama has the audaticity to lecture to fathers on Fathers Day about responsibility when women are chosing to have babies without fathers around.


Charles Tolleson