Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Start Early

Parents Should Talk To Kids Early And Often About Real Life

(CBS)  Teen pregnancy is on the rise for the first time in 15 years. Some are wondering if the celebrity baby boom among young stars in Hollywood is playing a role. Fans may look up to new moms like Nicole Richie and Halle Berry, but the estimated 750,000 pregnant teens across the country can't afford the nannies and designer baby clothes the celebrity moms have.

Sarah Brown, from the National Campaign To Prevent Teen And Unplanned Pregnancy told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen that parents have to help kids filter out the images they see in the media, by beginning the conversation early in their child's life.

"The celebrity glitz and the coolness of it all can be confusing to young girls," she said. "They may think that maybe they can have a bit of Hollywood, too, if they have a little bump. Parents have to be the filter, they have to sit down with sons and daughters and say 'you don't live in Hollywood and you're not going to raise your child in Hollywood. ... It's fun to read about, but it's not you.'"

Brown said that reality sets in when the teen mother's education has been interrupted, and she realizes that the child's father is no longer around after the first few months.

"I think they hope sometimes (the men will stay). They engage in magical thinking," she said. "Parents need constantly over the 18 years to be talking about the seriousness of pregnancy, the importance of education, and the simple fact that babies need adult parents."

The conversation has to begin early with both girls and boys.

"It's an 18-year conversation. It's not one awkward Tuesday night at the kitchen table," said Brown. "It's a long conversation about respect for relationships, about what children need, not just what adolescents want. It's fathers as well as mothers and it's for boys as well as girls."

According to Brown, happily ever after rarely happens for teenagers who have children out of wedlock.

"They are likely to remain single parents," Brown said. "Even if they do get married they probably will not have a stable marriage. They're probably not going to have a very good job because they haven't been able to complete their education. In this economy with oil prices apparently going higher and higher, the need for education, two and four years and beyond has never been greater. So anything that gets in the way of that risks poverty. And that means the child is raised in a tough environment."

[francineny1]

See, this is why I recommended education. Not only did you initially miss the point of the article - which had nothing to do with abortion - but you also missed the point of my response to you. I will put it in the most basic terms I can. The article was about preventing pregnancies before they happened. My question was about whether you or anyone else could argue with a straight face that teen pregnancy was a good idea.

I get that you''ve got strong views, but knock it off already. Not every discussion is about abortion. I''m really sorry I tried to have a normal conversation. It is beyond clear that you''re not capable of it.

[horrorfied3]

Surprised to see how perfectly formed and beautiful they must have been before being so coldly mutilated by medically trained people who should have used their knowledge to protect these children.

[horrorfied3]

You bet that is what they mean! OMG!

[ellianne10]

Is THIS what you mean by "choice"?

Testimony of Former Abortion Provider Beverly McMillan, M.D.

After it was all over, I would leave my patient on the table and I would go over to the suction bottle and I would take the little stockinette out and go outside the room to a sink where I would open the stockinette up, and I personally would pick through it with a forceps and I would have to identify four extremities, and a spine and a skull and the placenta. If I didn''t find that, I would have to go back in that room and scrape and suction some more, or else my patients would be showing up in 48 or 72 hours, just like those women at Cook County with an infected incomplete abortion.

Standing at that sink, I guess I just started seeing these bodies for the first time. I don''t know what I did before that. I think I just counted. I was cool. Blood didn''t make me sick. I could handle all the guts and gore of medicine just fine. But I started seeing this for the first time and it started bothering me.

[ellianne10]

Is ThIS what you mean?

Testimony of former abortion provider Dr. McArthur Hill

She has another sign which she has used which is extremely effective. This sign is visible from a very long way away. This is Baby Choice. Most of you involved in the Pro-Life Movement have seen Baby Choice. On the reverse side is a tiny hand on Jeannie''s palm, a 17-week baby that was aborted, and, of course, the gold on black background, the word, "Victim." This sign is very, very visible. I would certainly encourage any of you to utilize the same techniques. We have a few of these signs for sale if you are interested in using them.

[ellianne10]

Dr. Sally Dorfman reported on the use of ultrasound during abortion at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association of 1986. She recommended that it be used in all abortions performed after 12 weeks to accurately assess fetal age, as a teaching tool, and as a means of enhancing safety. It is interesting that they are doing all of these things to enhance safety when it''s such a safe procedure before they started using it. It is interesting also that she has warned against letting the patients see the image on the screen as "seeing a blown-up moving image of the embryo she is carrying can be distressing to a woman who is about to undergo an abortion." She stressed that the screen should be turned away from the patient. She also addressed its effect on staff members and stated they may need opportunities for venting their feelings and for reconfirming their priorities. What they really need to do is to look at the moving image on the screen and realize that they are about to take the life of a living human being.

[ellianne10]

Is this what you mean by "choice"?
Testimony of former abortion provider Deborah Henry

I have been there, and I have seen these totally formed babies as early as 10 weeks, a couple of inches long with a leg missing, or with their head off. These are things that I have to live with now. I know the Lord has forgiven me, but I can never erase those things from my mind. The sounds of those bones breaking, The sight of those babies. It seems like the longer I go on working with the Pro-Life people, the more it is affecting me. I can understand the reality of a baby inside of you--a full baby growing.

There are a few more experiences that I want to go into before I forget. There was one incident of a baby who was about 16 weeks. One of the girls had called me into the lab as she was cleaning up, and on the end of the cannula, which was the instrument at the end of the hose, was a little baby''s foot. It was about half an inch long. This foot was perfectly formed. I couldn''t believe it. I was so amazed by the sight of it. It was all black and blue. When you drop something on your foot and your foot becomes bruised, it is usually because of pain. This baby''s body was completely ripped apart because of the abortion.

...continued....

[ellianne10]

In another incident, the hose popped off of the machine, and we had blood splattered all over us. This poor woman just lay there and cried. It was too late for any of us to do anything about it. That baby was dead.

I was told that one of the Pro-Life problems is that we talk too much about the babies being ripped apart. We show terrible pictures--we dwell on these too much. What are we supposed to do? This is the reality of abortion. Are we supposed to say, Oh, don''t go into that abortion--your fetus, or tissues, will become deceased? It doesn''t make sense. You tell them the truth--the facts. We are not there to lie to them. I am there to tell them the truth. Babies are being ripped up. Yes, babies do look like this after an abortion. And yes, it does hurt your baby, and most of all, it does affect the woman.

[ellianne10]

Why I no longer do abortions

By: Dr. George Flesh
(Los Angeles Times, September 12, 1991)

I believe that tearing a developed fetus apart, limb by limb, simply at the mother''s request is an act of depravity that society should not permit. We cannot afford such a devaluation of human life, nor the desensitization of medical personnel that it requires. This is not based on what the fetus might feel, but on what we should feel in watching an exquisite, partly formed human being, being dismembered, whether one believes that man is created in God''s image or not. I wish everybody could witness a second-trimester abortion before developing an opinion about it.

[ellianne10]

Everyone has seen a surgical procedure on TV. Lets see the surgical abortion! It''s such a legal right and choice. Lets see it, CBS! Flaunt your Pro-Abort murder mentality in reality TV.

[ellianne10]

Are you meaning THIS as a "choice"?

Testimony of former abortion provider Kathy Sparks

The doctor was trying to do the abortion, and the baby''s bones were far too developed to rip them up with this curette, and so he had to try to pull the baby out with forceps, which he brought out three or four major pieces. Then he scraped and suctioned and scraped and suctioned. There this little baby boy was laying on the tray. I took the baby and I took him to the clean-up room, and I set him down, and I began weeping, uncontrollably sobbing for what I had been a part of because God showed me that was a baby, they were all babies, and I had been a part of murdering probably nearly 1,000 babies, and I cried and cried. His little face was perfectly formed, just like the sign you saw, perfectly formed; little eyes were closed, little ears and everything was perfect about this little boy.

So the recovery nurse was wondering what was taking me so long and she walked in and looked at me. She left, didn''t say a word, shut the door, and went and got the director of the abortion clinic%u2026when she was finished, I told her I couldn''t work procedure anymore.

[ellianne10]

Is THIS what you mean?

Testimony of former abortion provider Dr. Paul Jarrett

My 23rd abortion changed my mind about doing abortions forever. This patient was a little overweight and ultimately proved to be a little farther along than anticipated. This was not an uncommon mistake before ultrasound was readily available to confirm the gestational age.

Initially, the abortion proceeded normally. The water broke, but then nothing more would come out. When I withdrew the curette, I saw that it was plugged up with the leg of the baby which had been torn off. I then changed techniques and used ring forceps to dismember the 13 or 14 week size baby. Inside the remains of the rib cage I found a tiny, beating heart. I was finally able to remove the head and looked squarely into the face of a human being -- a human being that I had just killed. I turned to the scrub nurse standing next to me and said, "I''m sorry".

I knew then that abortion was wrong and I couldn''t be a part of it any longer.

[ellianne10]

Testimony of former abortion provider Carol Everett

I''ve never been able to come up with the words to describe the abortion procedure, because, you see, you''re educating people about abortion. You know more about it than the average person. However, no matter how bad you think abortion is, there are no words to describe how bad it really is. It kills the baby. And, yes, I''ve seen sonograms with the baby pulling away from the instruments that are introduced into the ***.

[ellianne10]

Choice: (1) Suction Curettage; (2) Dismemberment D&E; (3) Prostaglandin.

"Why not show the American people what an abortion is?"

%u201CWhen you say %u2018abortion,%u2019 is this what you mean?%u201D

[ellianne10]

Testimony of former abortion provider David Brewer, MD:

I wasn''t a Christian; I didn''t have any views on abortion; I was in a training program; this was a brand-new experience. I was going to get to see a new procedure and learn, and that was exciting.

And it got more exciting as I opened the jar and took the little piece of stockinette and opened that little bag, and the resident doctor said, now put it on that blue towel and check it out. We want to make sure that we got it all. I thought, oh, that will be exciting hands-on experience, looking at tissue. And I opened the sock up and I put it on the towel and there were parts in there of a person. I''d taken anatomy; I was a medical student; I knew what I was looking at. There was a little scapula and an arm and I saw some ribs and a chest, and I saw a little tiny head, and I saw a piece of a leg, and I saw a tiny hand, and I saw an arm. You know, it was like somebody put a hot poker into me. I believe that God gives us all a conscience and I wasn''t a Christian, but I had a conscience and that hurt.

I checked it out and there were two arms and two legs and one head, etc., and I turned and said, I guess you got it all. That was a very hard experience for me to go through, emotionally. If I''d been a Christian against abortion it would have been simple--I wouldn''t have been there.

[francineny1]

Ellianne10, you are clearly passionate about these issues. We disagree on many points. I do agree that: 1) children themselves are a blessing & not lesser based on who their parents are; 2) some teens will have *** regardless of what parents, society or the law says; 3) blaming Hollywood is a poor excuse; 4) abortion can have long term affects. I think everyone has a right to choose and that for many women it is not an easy choice. Particularly with late term abortion there are often serious medical issues. That''s not the point, though, prevention is, so for now I''m asking you just about what happens before conception.

I did slam teen pregnancy. Not every teen parent is a bad parent. Many love their kids & make big sacrifices for them. But it''s irresponsible for a teen to deliberately get pregnant or to be careless about it. Do you disagree with that? Do you disagree tht having teen parents puts a kid at a disadvantage compared to a kid with adult parents or that teen parents face more challenges?

It seems to me that preventing as many teen pregnacies as possible is a good goal. For the religious, maybe it''s about abstinence. For others, maybe it''s educating about the right way to use contraceptives. There can be multiple approaches to one problem. Do you disagree with the idea that preventing teen pregnancies is a good? If so, I''m curious, what is the benefit of deliberately having a baby in your teens as opposed to waiting till later?

[ellianne10]

Watch the video. Listen to Chen. Sometimes what isn''t said is all that is heard...as is always the case with the mainstream Pro-Abort Media. FrancineNY1, the Media is the one and only bull saying it is Hollywood. CBS is a tabloid newscast. Of course they shove Hollywood down our throats from any angle.

Point 2. Teens sure seem mature enough for ***! Premarital *** leads to pregnancy, STDs, and abortion. Terrible heartache that is felt lifelong! (Men struggle in their marriages because of a prior abortion their wife or he suffers from). Hey, teens are granted legal sexual emancipation from parental involvement, so who is immature here? Politicians and teen''s parents vote these rights in for teens and parents. Parents know *** leads to pregnancy. If teens can''t think that through, and parents are legally handing their children over as emancipated sexual adults, then I think a teen, and many are, mature enough to take the *** risks. The laws are very clear on this.

***, and legally emancipated sexual behavior of teens, has its cost. You reap what you sow. If that means a baby, all right. If that means adoption, which is a bitter sweet, yet wonderfully loving and fruitful option, all right. If that means a surgical womb death of the actual living human being created, the cost and risk to emotional, physical, and spiritual is also lifelong and certainly, by far, the most costly, a ravaging damage steeped in years of compensational denial and forbidden grief.

[ellianne10]

Yah, parents HAVE presented their values to teens. It''s called non parental notification. It''s called teen sexual emancipation. It''s called daycare, public school, liberal college. It''s called Roe v. Wade and the 300 partial birth abortions EACH DAY in the USA. 250,000 abortions a month! Ummm, artificial contraception is just that! Fake. A lie.

Just because a teen has a child, Chen, doesn''t mean her "best possible chance at life" is lessened. Not by a long shot! What a solid slam to teen parents! What a discriminatory insult begging for an abortion solution, right? Yah, I heard ya! We all did.

I''ll give you an ineffective platitude: "Go *** out, get herpes, warts, or AIDS (condom permeable) ....but just don''t get pregnant. Take your lowest dose possible toxin-Pill, patch or injection, and hey, JUST DON''T GET PREGNANT!!!"

Where is the REAL TALK about when the teens DO get pregnant? That isn''t "thought through" by mature anybody! *** is not just ***. Wouldn''t the mature model be to talk about the FACT *** is for procreation of a "love-child" between husband and wife? There is magic in this.

Children are a blessing from God, whether a teen or 50. If having *** creates problems for someone, then the child may be looked upon as a good that came of it.

[francineny1]

Did everyone hear read the same article? Because not once did I hear any discussion about abortion vs. keeping a pregnancy. For Ellianne10 and anyone else who missed it, the point of the article is that many teens who ultimtely get pregnant have an inaccurate view of pregnancy and the following life as somehow glamorous, possibly based on Hollywood type stories. the point of the article is that teenagers might not be mature enough to think everything through and realize the cost to raise a child, financial and emotional. Ms. Chen''s point is that teens and younger children are impressionable and that responsible parents will take the time to routinely present their values to their kids. It''s hard to argue that this is bad advice. The point isn''t that Ms. Chen is arguing for abortion of teen pregnancies - she''s arguing that prevention is the goal in order to give the best possible chance at life to both the teens and their future offspring. Hypnotoad72 had it all right - it''s about communication with your kids not presenting them simplified and ineffective platitudes.

And by the way, a college education while not the be-all end-all does help. For instance, it could help somebody to comprehend what they''ve just read.

[ellianne10]

Yes, very obvious Chen is a full fledged card carrying Pro-Abort. She doesn''t care to take the responsible effort to know teens are abandoning surgical abortion and toxin artificial birth abortificants they tout as artificial contraception. Teens know the life long stigma of "murder mom" and the depression of abortion. They also can tell you the all girls in school who have had surgical and Big Pharma chem abortions. They also know they are legally sexually emancipated from all parental involvement. They also know they have the over 18 male by the gonads for statutory rape if he doesn''t comply to their demands.

I think we need a boot camp for parents and teens (together) to discuss openly the ABC''s of the birds and bees. Parents cower to teens, too shy to speak of such wanted, needed, begging for conversation connection.

Hollywood is doing what it is good to do. Have a family. The Media stuffs it down our throats as though it were a fad. Media will spin, taint, twist anything wholesome into a mirage of smut with nannies and money.

College isn''t the big deal, either. Teens know going to college is just a debt pit, and liberal numb mind download.

Have a nice day, and remember, Chen is what she begs to ask. I would like to see her describe in medical terms, understandable for the lay person, the EXACT definitions and methods of abortion, because THAT is what it means. Is that what it means? You tell us Media. Tell us something real for a change. DARE YA!!!!