Shocking Teens Out Of Getting Pregnant

British Public Officials Put Out Graphic Video Depicting Girl Giving Birth Amid Taunting

(AP)  A gory video meant to shock teenagers into avoiding pregnancy by showing a girl giving birth on a school field while ogling children taunt her is capturing plenty of attention from Web users.

Public health officials in the city of Leicester, about 100 miles north of London, produced the video and posted it on social networking and video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

Organizers said Wednesday that the video, filmed to look as if it were shot on another student's cell phone, had received more than 250,000 hits.

The video shows a girl in a school uniform screaming in agony while jeering children jostle for a close look, while another girl trying to fend them off is helping deliver the baby.

The video ends with the caption: "Not what you expected? Being a teenage parent might not be either."

Public health officials in Leicester said local students were picked to act in the video and that a focus group of students offered suggestions on how to make it.

Liz Rodrigo, a public health specialist in Leicester, said kids came up with the video's concept, saying they liked the idea of using digital media to reach their peers instead of leaflets and posters they disliked.

She said they also prefer a shocking or funny approach instead of "preachy," a word often used to describe the current sex education methods.

The video has drawn criticism as well as praise, but Rodrigo says that comes with the territory.

"I think it is very hard hitting. Hairs on the back of my neck do stand up, but you know teenage pregnancy is a hard-hitting issue and we've got lots of teenage pregnancies in our city," she said.

There are about 50 conceptions per 1,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 17 in Leicester City, eight more than the country's average, according to statistics provided by Leicester City public health officials.

Overall, Britain's teen-pregnancy rates are among the highest in Europe and one recent report indicated that they are on the rise, specifically in England and Wales.

The government and educators have been trying to address the problem by distributing condoms in some schools, creating a sex-education program for the youngest elementary-school students and instituting a pilot program to distribute birth-control pills without a prescription.

[indivthinker]

Ohhhh...The old scare tactic. Has been used by Conservatives for hundreds of years. And, to their complete amazement, it works 0% of the time.
Posted by jcdugger1234 at 12:15 PM : May 20, 2009

That's not true. It worked well for me and several of my other friends. We all parents that thankfully had zero tolerance policies. If I had drugs, sex, or alcohol while I was living in their house, I was done for. Before I was 18, they threatened to take my car and video games away. After I was 18, they told me they would kick me out of the house.

Now I am a 25 year-old med school student that has been moved out for three years now, and I still to this day have not had sex, despite dating four girls in college and one girl now. I just find people with the same values.

I am so thankful for my parents' strictness. Before I was 18, they instilled fear in me about sex, and I am glad they did it. No one under 18 should even consider having sex. They are too emotionally and socially immature to understand the situation for what it is. They have such a narrow view of the world, and it is not until a major event like going away to college or moving out of the house that a young "adult" is ready for any intimacy.

Now I, 25, have made a mature decision to not have sex until marriage, fully understanding what all is entailed. I thank my parents all the time for their harshness, because without them, I would not have been given the time to mature before my decisions were made. They took the pressure off me to have sex by putting the pressure on me not to have sex.

If ALL parents would fight for their kids' abstinence like my parents, I guarantee you that STD, pregnancy, and abortion rates would be significantly lower.

[ayatoldya]

Is this the video of Bristol Palin giving birth? And all her classmates are standing around her like a pinata waiting to beat the child like a wolf pup in Alaska?

[jcdugger1234]

Ohhhh...The old scare tactic. Has been used by Conservatives for hundreds of years. And, to their complete amazement, it works 0% of the time. You know, I heard a Conservative on the radio this morning. Get this. He said, when talking about cars being mandated by the Government to get 35.5 MPG..."I don't want my Government to tell me what kind of cars to buy, I don't want them to tell me which doctor to choose...all of this is simply Liberal nonsense". Wow. So you don't want the Government to tell people what kind of cars to buy and what doctor to choose...but you DO want them to tell a woman whether or not she has the right to choose?! You DO want them to be able to wire-tap your phone without a warrant?! You DO want them to be able to hold you in prison without a trial?! When biitching about Obama and Liberals, do Conservatives even CONSIDER the past 8 years of complete and utter failure?! I'd take ANYTHING over Bush and his Conservative cronies.

[jcdugger1234]

"Show the guys what a child support garnishment on your paycheck looks like." ... Now that is a good idea! That would scare the hell out of most guys!

[credibility2]

Why aren't boys being stigmatized for creating the pregnancy? We need more ridicule, chastisement and stigmatizing of both the girls and the boys in this matter. It's become too cache and accepted. The government should also stop giving welfare and support to these individuals once their kids are born. The government, pop culture, the entertainment industry, schools, the boys who get the girls pregnant and the girl's parents are all enablers and share in culpability for this disgusting and disgraceful situation.

[mrs_trepidatious]

What these girls need to see is real life examples of how teenage hussies who get pregnant live a life of the misery they so well deserve.

[ayatoldya]

What, this video is supposed to scare the pregnancy right out of a girl? Judging from this video, it seems safer to get an abortion than to have a child.

[ElectricBlue44]

My doctor said they know what causes prenancy. Supposedly it is preventable.

[hetup-2009]

How about a video for cops and donuts?

[Henri_Rochard]

Show the film here in the States.

The holy-rollers' 'just say no' message isn't working. Just check up in the Alaska governor's mansion.