20% of all females in Memphis H.S. are pregnant.

[Soral]

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - As Memphis City Schools leaders discuss the best way to deal with the crisis at Frayser High School, one young student is dealing with parenthood.

The Action News 5 Investigators recently discovered 90 girls who attend Frayser High School are now pregnant or have already had a baby this school year.

Roughly 20 percent of the female student population at Frayser High is already experiencing the trials of parenthood.

"It's a shame that all these girls at Frayser are pregnant, but it ain't nothing new," said Sutton. "Some girls just try to do it because they think it's cute. For some, it's an accident."

Sutton said educators need to do more to try to help prevent teen pregnancies.

"They need a class where they can teach the girls before they get pregnant to use protection and stuff," said Sutton. "And don't try to get pregnant."

http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13833438

[Kolesar]

1. You've done too much, much too young

Now you're busy with a kid when you could be having fun with ME!
--The Specials

[SidDithers]

42. Great song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxHcx7FO8nI

Sid

[TwilightGardener]

2. Sad. We're going backwards, when young girls think this is the way to be a success.

[NMDemDist2]

3. another victim of abstinence only n/t

[Rage for Order]

54. Uh, no

If you bothered to read the article and/or watch the video in the OP you would notice:

"It's a shame that all these girls at Frayser are pregnant, but it ain't nothing new," said Sutton. "Some girls just try to do it because they think it's cute. For some, it's an accident."

Sutton said she believes some girls are making agreements with each other to get pregnant.

"They probably plan it," she said. "Plan what they're going to do to get pregnant. No telling."

[hlthe2b]

4. But, if they have a baby, they'll all be offered a reality show...

become celebrities and get rich? Finish high school? Go to college? Get a job? That's for suckers, don't you know that? Grizzly Palin and her "famous" daughter, Bristol told us so. And they are both on tv!


:sarcasm:

[hamsterjill]

53. +1!!!

n/t

[elehhhhna]

57. 280K per year to lose custody and smack your BF on camera.

nice work if you can get it.

[Cleita]

5. Lemme guess, the majority of them are from Christian

homes that preach abstinence only. When I graduated from a Catholic girl's high school eight of my classmates were preggers out of a graduating class of 49. What are the odds of that? We were also preached to about no birth control and abstinence until we married. Needless to say, there were eight shot gun marriages right after graduation and eight divorces the following year.

[d_r]

12. actually

I think this is an inner city school with a lot of poverty, a lot of kids whose mom's are single parents and were teen moms themselves, a lot of community violence/drugs a lot of the usual things that go with lots of poverty.

[Edweird]

13. Frayser isn't 'inner city'.

[d_r]

15. ok inner city isn't the right word

poverty. Its an area of high poverty.

ETA wikipedia - "As factories in the area began to close, the population of Frayser began to markedly dwindle in the 1970s and 80s, and it stands at 51,068 today. With a large majority of its residents earning incomes below the poverty line, only 6% holding college degrees, and a continued lack of business and industrial investment, the neighborhood is now one of the most economically depressed & highest crime-rated areas of Memphis."

[Edweird]

19. The whole region is an area of 'high poverty'.

'Sugar ditch', in Tunica Mississippi, is 30 minutes south.
I remember there being a DuPont factory (in addition to others) and the paint peeling off everyone's cars. And there was usually a foul odor that vaguely reminded me of green beans or rancid boiled cabbage. I moved away 20 years ago, so my info is dated, but I did grow up there (Memphis, not Frayser specifically)- I spent plenty of time in Frayser.

[reflection]

45. I'm still in Memphis.

And yeah, it still smells like ass and cat food in Frayser. Don't know what that smell is.

[Cleita]

14. I see. But the class on not getting pregnant and maybe

some free birth control for both boys and girls could reduce this statistic a lot I believe. Frankly, I still think there is religion there in the mix giving these girls the wrong message.

[gratuitous]

6. A class . . .

What a concept! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? That's brilliant.

[Brickbat]

7. I just had a discussion about condoms with my 8-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son.

Separately and age-appropriately. It's never to early to tell them the truth, IMO.

[Dappleganger]

35. Good sex education...

is an ongoing conversation.

[DCKit]

8. "...a class where they can teach the girls before they get pregnant to use protection and stuff,"

Pray tell, what could we possibly call such a class, and wouldn't it be too inflammatory a subject for young minds?

[EOTE]

40. Protection and Stuff 101.

It's the prerequisite for "Don't Try to Get Pregnant 201".

[TorchTheWitch]

41. why just teach the girls?

Boys need this information, too. Birth control is not just for females.

[DCKit]

46. That was the quote I had to work with Witch.

But I agree with you, it's only the girl's problem, 'cause only the girls get knocked up.

Additionally, it's been my experience in areas and situations like this (in 9th grade, I looked around the school bus and realized that most of the girls were either pregnant or had been pregnant within the past six months, then moved in with my other parent, to a different school district) that the "boys" who get these girls pregnant are NOT the boys they go to school with. They are older predators with a collection of baby mamas.

In too many cases, Johnny Law isn't doing his job.

[KamaAina]

9. Well, 10% of the entire high school is pregnant

assuming none of the males are, but still, :wtf:

[Soral]

10. FTFY :)

[Codeine]

11. Stupid, stupid kids.

My current girlfriend had a kid at 16 (unrelated to me -- this was years ago). It fucked her life up badly, and she's really only just coming out of the hole she dug herself. I blame the idiots who have made abortion such a heated issue.

[Cleita]

23. There really is no good outcome for this.

I have had acquaintances, who (1) kept the child and raised it themselves. (2) Married the reluctant father. (3) Gave the child up for adoption or (4) had an abortion. Those who gave the child up or had an abortion were haunted for years afterwards about it especially those who had brought the child to term and gave it up. The marriage usually ended in divorce with the mother becoming a single mother, which leads up to number one, a woman who raises a child in poverty because she can't earn what a man does and doesn't have the help she needs. Also, many found it hard to date because of her obligation as a mother. It was hard on the child too, who missed out on a lot of the things the other kids got. To me the only non-traumatic solution is available birth control and information, with a safe abortion as a secondary measure if BC doesn't work.

But you don't agree with me anyway, so just consider this my opinion formed from personal experience. :-)

[XemaSab]

37. I think we should have supportive societies

with appropriate child care and educational opportunities for the young mother.

There's really no reason other than being mean and cheap why having a baby should be an anchor on a young life.

[Cleita]

39. I agree. But so far nothing has been done in

the seventy years I have been on this planet.

[Codeine]

50. I think we need the moral courage to stand up and tell a pregnant

14-year-old she needs to get a goddamned abortion.

[LuckyLib]

16. Among African Americans, out of wedlock births is the norm -- 70 percent.

It's too bad these young women are starting so early.

[Edweird]

17. Frayser had a 'rep' when I was growing up in Memphis.

In reality, I found girls all over the south to be 'hospitable'.

[old mark]

18. One of our neighbor's girls had a baby at 16. She was suspended from school, and her

"man", who is under 20, lives with her in her fathers house...He is too proud to get food stamps or let her get WIC, but he has no job or income and sponges off her dad, stays home and smokes dope.

Her sister, who is also pregnant, decided to not have the baby and will terminate pregnancy in the next weeks.

The mother, meanwhile, is in prison for drugs and retail theft.
She cares nothing about her kids-she has 9 kids by different fathers-and breaks into the house to steal whatever she can sell for drug money.

"Just Say No" is not working out, I guess...


mark

[no_hypocrisy]

20. Was this their choice or was there a paucity of abortion services available to these girls?

Or access to birth control?

Sometimes a "choice" is default.

[Recursion]

24. Maybe they want the kids? (nt)

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LynneSin]

21. It disgusts me how pregnancy and hard partying is glorified by MTV

MTV has not one but TWO TV shows that focus on underage teenage mothers. I guess they hope that perhaps seeing these girls miserable at age 16 trying to raise a kid, deal with fathers who aren't really too keen on fatherhood and looking at a dismal future would deter teenage pregnancy but I don't think it's having the desired results. I think these shows were suppose to deter young women from having babies at a young age, but instead the girls on these shows have turned into Realty TV stars with covers on People/US Magazine and names tossed about in the gossip rags. They are on the same level as people like Kim Kardasian and Heidi Montag. Pop a kid out at age 16 and you too could be on reality TV and on magazine covers. Not exactly a desired results.

As I flip thru the TV channels, something I do at least once a day. It seems MTV is always putting these shows on TV. But when they aren't glorifying teenage motherhood, MTV goes the exact opposite with the Jersey Shore. Now we glorifying young kids drinking way too much, having way too much sex with many partners. Mind you, I have no problem with drinking & sex; I've done it enough times in my lifetime. What I do have a problem with is people like Snooki, who claims at least once a month she'll drink way too much she ends up sleeping in a garbage can passed out from too much alcohol. What message does that give to the girls who are obsessed with watching shows about teenage mothers? Drink heavy, sleep around and congrats on being pregnant at age 16. What these kids should realize is most of them will end up like the infamous Octomom who thought having Octuplets would land her fame, money and glory but instead she's on the verge of bankruptcy since no one really cared about her story after the initial shock.

Someone needs to take over the programing for MTV. I thought the "M" stood for MUSIC not "MOTHERHOOD"

[Edweird]

27. Speaking from personal experience, you have your 'chicken' and 'egg' reversed.

I agree that reality TV sucks and I wish MTV was about music again instead.

[LynneSin]

33. I realize that but the point is - that's what MTV celebrates

and yes, music is what they should be doing. I would kill for a channel that is all music and no bullshit. VH1 Classic use to be that but then someone in programing decided we'd rather watch repeats of "Flavor of Love" and other crap non-music shows.

[Erose999]

34. MTV hasn't had music in at least 15 years. Its all crap now. Back when I was a young'un

MTV used to lecture us about the evils of sex and drugs and teen pregnancy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdpAop7gp0w&feature=related

:sarcasm:

[LynneSin]

43. I can't get youtube where I'm posting - is that the Christine O'Donnell clip

she was schooled by some guy famous for being on Real World.

[Erose999]

48. Its a music video actually. "Hands to yourself" by the Georgia Satellites. nt

[alp227]

61. here's the o'donnell video if you want it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzHcqcXo_NA

[slackmaster]

22. Very sad. The young women have placed limits on opportunities for themselves and their children.

Unmarried, young, and pregnant is no way to start out an adult life.

[AngryAmish]

25. It. Was. Not. Me.

I swear.

[AllyCat]

28. See? Abstinence only education DOES work! 80% are NOT pregnant

you just need to frame it the right way.

[BrightKnight]

29. In addition to the conversations birth control is a reasonable effective vaccine

against teen pregnancy. I have heard of a lot of parents getting birth control for their daughters. Trying to defeat teen hormones with words alone is not always going to work.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

30. soral is that you from USN&P forum?

[Soral]

31. SORAL! one and only :) Of course :) USP'er for life

Its so dead in there I haven't even looked in about a week

[ElsewheresDaughter]

32. welcome to DU...wow I haven't been there in months..that place is a cesspool....

:toast: I have been here since 2001 and I'm happy to see you here, kiddo

I'll be seeing ya round thew board :hi:

[Soral]

36. I've been here a while, I have just been distracted by...

The idiots that I waste my time with on another forum.

WARNING, DON'T GO THERE.

It will only make your head explode.

www.libertynewsforum.com

It's the worst of the worst tea-partiers.

[Vickers]

38. OMG, don't they have a Democrat Abortionmobile in that town?????

:eyes:

[LynneSin]

44. Michelle and Barack are manning it next week

:sarcasm:

[Odin2005]

47. is it just me, or does the Bible Belt have the worst rates of social pathology in the country?

[Codeine]

51. Without a doubt, sir.

Ground zero for social breakdown.

[cbdo2007]

49. What part is the crisis? That this many girls chose to get pregnant?

[Codeine]

52. "Chose"? nt

[Rage for Order]

55. Give me several dozen Michelle Duggars over this situation any day

At least the Duggars's kids have a chance in life

[LostInAnomie]

56. You're welcome.

:patriot:

[alp227]

58. so what do we do? adopt sharia law? ban all extramarital sex?

raise the age of consent to 18 or maybe restrict sex to married couples?

Or stopping the ignorance and stop wasting money on that miserable failure "sex ed"?

[sledgehammer]

62. It really comes down to education and parenting

It is less likely that children in a family with decent education and a moderate to high level of parental involvement will end up in early pregnancy.

So no, we don't need to adopt sharia law. Just need to emphasize the importance of education and ask for parents to be more involved. And, of course, remind the individual that all actions have consequences, so be ready for them. Sex is a whole lot of fun, but it's not a game.

[RB TexLa]

59. I didn't go to the article, is this higher or lower than the rest of the country?

[Hannah Bell]

60. and memphis has a 26% poverty rate. public school poverty rate is probably higher.

[cynatnite]

63. Of course this is all about the girls...everyone knows they did it to themselves...

:sarcasm:

Is this an all girls school? :grr: