Tag Archives: teen pregnancy

Jamie Lynn Spears Was “Really Scared” To Ask For Birth Control Before She Got Pregnant

Jessica WakemanFebruary 3, 2012 //
Abstinence Message
Abstinence-only sex education is rebranding its message. Read More »
More Pregnant Teens
Teen pregnancy has been on the increase these past few years. Read More »
Bristol Makes Bank
The teen mom is paid a lot of dough to preach abstinence to others. Read More »
Faked Pregnancy
A high school girl faked a pregnancy for a class project. Read More »
Jamie Lynn Spears photo

“I had been on a Nickelodeon show, ‘Zoey 101,’ and after we wrapped shooting, I just wanted to go home to Louisiana and finish high school, be a cheerleader, all that. Then I found out I was pregnant. I was 16. I’d had one boyfriend. It doesn’t make it perfect or all right. But I was judged for something that probably most everyone does … I was like every other teenager, except I had this last name … I believe in safety and birth control as prevention. But like many young girls… I was really scared to go to the doctor. And I was on a Nickelodeon show, and it (felt) especially embarrassing to ask someone to put me on birth control. I didn’t want to ask my doctor.

It’d be dumb to sit here and say that [four-year-old daughter] Maddie isn’t going to like a boy one day and she isn’t going to have a boyfriend. I’ll just have to handle that the best way that I can. Both her daddy and me will caution her (about having sex), and I would hope that she would not want to do that at all, but I have to make sure that I’m realistic too.  I’ve got to figure out a way to communicate to her to make smart choices and make the best decisions she can.”

Whoa. Not that there is much competition, but Jamie Lynn Spears is the smartest-sounding member of the Magnificent Performing Spears Family by leaps and bounds. Jamie Lynn talked to Glamour magazine about getting pregnant at 16 and it made me feel empathetic towards her situation. Keep reading »

Evening Quickies: Tyler & Catelynn From “Teen Mom” Set A Date

Jessica WakemanDecember 16, 2011 //
Get Off "Teen Mom"
Catelynn gave her baby up for adoption. Why is she on the show? Read More »
Catfight: College Fund
Is Jezebel's college fund for Tyler and Catelynn a sucky idea? Read More »
Glamorizing?
Some say "Teen Mom" glamorizes teen pregnancy. No way, dude. Read More »
tyler and catelynn from
  • “Teen Mom”‘s Catelynn and Tyler, who gave their daughter Carly up for adoption, have set a wedding date for 2013.  Wow, you mean there is actually some non-terrible news coming out of Pregnant Teenager Land?  [Crushable]
  • Alyson Hannigan of “How I Met Your Mother” is preggo again. Congratulations! [Us Weekly]
  • Lady Gaga’s fans think her song and music video for “Marry The Night” allude to her having an abortion (which the singer has never confirmed). Interesting theory, though. [Examiner]
  • Five-year-old Suri Cruise threw a temper tantrum inside the famous New York City toy store F.A.O. Schwartz, just ike every other small child in the universe at some point. [Daily Mail UK] Keep reading »

Arkansas High School Had Two Valedictorians Because The Actual Valedictorian Was Black

Jessica WakemanJuly 26, 2011 //

An Arkansas high school appointed two valedictorians in their Class of 2011, because the student with the highest GPA was black. According to a lawsuit by 18-year-old Kymberly Wimberly (yes, her real name), she was told earlier this year she would be valedictorian of McGehee Secondary School in Pine Bluff, AR, thanks to her nearly-straight A grades, Honors and AP classes. But Wimberly’s mother is an employee at McGehee Secondary School and overheard talk in the copy room that school personnel were concerned that having a black valedictorian would cause “a big mess.” According to Court House News Service, the high school was “predominantly white and 46 percent African-American,” and the implication is that some white families would resent having the black student’s success. So, on graduation day, both Wimberly and a white student, who had the number two GPA at the school, were both honored as valedictorians. The number three-ranking student, also white, then became the salutatorian. When Wimberly’s mother tried to protest the principal’s decision at a school board meeting, she was told she had filled out the wrong forms and was not permitted to speak.

Seriously, people? Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: School For Teen Moms Closes In Detroit

Jessica WakemanJune 8, 2011 //
  • A school for teenaged mothers and pregnant teen girls, Catherine Ferguson Academy, closed in Detroit due to budget cuts. [The Grio]
  • “People are going to say, ‘I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who’s every bit as attractive.’” — Depressing quote from an article about Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin’s rumored presidential campaigns. [Politico]
  • In other Palin news, the UK’s Margaret Thatcher is really not interested in meeting her. [The Sun UK]
  • The EU has warned Germany, Austria and the Netherlands that they have to better integrate women into their workforces. [Daily Mail UK]

Keep reading »

World’s Worst Mother: “16 And Pregnant” Teen’s Mom Takes The Cake

Julie GersteinMay 25, 2011 //


We’ve grown used to seeing irresponsible teens and bad parenting on the MTV show “16 And Pregnant,” and that’s part of what makes it such a compelling and powerful watch. It teaches cocky adolescents that having a baby is more than just dressing infants in cute clothes and parading a kid around in a stroller at the park. But on last night’s special 1.5-hour long episode of the show, featuring anorexic pregnant teen Kayla, Kayla’s mother Deb was the truly horrific parent.

Kayla’s anorexia and struggle with her eating disorder made her pregnancy doubly difficult. Her complex and uncomfortable feelings about her body had her skipping meals and unwilling and unable to eat food, even though she knew taking in nutrients was absolutely necessary for the health of her child. But despite several close calls, and a complete lack of support from her mother, Kayla gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Over and over, we see Kayla express — in an articulate and nuanced way — how her eating disorder has skewed her brain’s ability to do what’s right for her baby. But then, just weeks after giving birth, and knowing that her daughter had long-struggled with anorexia, Deb asks her daughter to go on a diet with her. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: What To Expect When You’re (Young And) Expecting

Adriann BarboaMay 4, 2011 //

I have teen pregnancy on my mind today. In case you haven’t heard, today is the National Day to End Teen Pregnancy, and 16 years ago, I was a pregnant teen. I always knew motherhood would be an important part of my life, and when I was 18 and found out I was pregnant, there was a voice inside of me that said, calmly and clearly, Now is the time. Keep reading »

High School Girl Fakes A Pregnancy For A School Project

Jessica WakemanApril 22, 2011 //

Craziest. School. Project. Ever.

Gaby Rodriguz, a high school girl in Washington, faked a pregnancy for six months of her senior year as part of a school project on stereotypes. For the past six months, students at Toppenish High School in Washington thought Rodriguez, 17, was pregnant. Only her mother, her boyfriend, the principal, her best friend, a sibling, and a few teachers knew Gaby’s pregnancy was a fake. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Bristol Palin Makes Bank Preaching Abstinence For The Candies Foundation

Jessica WakemanApril 5, 2011 //
  • According to an investigation by Jezebel reporter Irin Carmon, The Candies Foundation paid $252,500 in fees in 2009 to pro-abstinence teen mom Bristol Palin, while only giving $35,000 to actual anti-teen pregnancy initiatives. Color us shocked. That PSA that Bristol Palin made sure paid big, didn’t it? [Jezebel]
  • Vince Neil of Motley Crue has been charged with domestic violence and disorderly conduct for allegedly forcefully poking his ex-girlfriend in the shoulder blade with his finger in March while in Las Vegas. Neil reportedly began poking several people with his finger, including his ex, while saying “f**k you.” [TMZ]
  • Remember the anti-abortion billboards in Chicago depicting President Obama which imply women who have abortions could be “killing” the next great leader? Well, abortion rights activists hung banners over them. [Chicago Tribune]

Keep reading »

Oprah Talks About Getting Pregnant At 14, Drinking Detergent As A Cry For Help

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comJanuary 19, 2011 //

“Me getting pregnant was a result of bad choices, not having boundaries, sexual abuse from the time I was 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. … My mother said, ‘You can’t stay here,’ so I had to move with my father in Nashville. I hid the whole thing. … My father as part of his decree about what’s gonna go on in his house and what isn’t gonna go on in the house said … ‘I would rather see a daughter of mine floating down the Cumberland River than to bring shame on this family with the indecency of an illegitimate child.’ He said this and I know that I am pregnant. So I’m thinking, ‘Well, I’m just going to have to kill myself.’ … I did stupid things like, you know, drinking detergent and all that crazy stuff that you do when you’re trying to get attention, when you’re really just trying to cry for help.”

—Oprah talks to Piers Morgan about getting pregnant at age 14, and feeling “no connection to [the baby] whatsoever.” Shortly after the detergent drinking incident, Oprah lost the baby. She says that she took it as her second chance. Watch more of the powerful interview here. [via NY Daily News] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Teens Are Not Having Babies Like They Used To

Jessica WakemanDecember 23, 2010 //
  • Kids: they are not having babies like they used to. The teen birth rate fell to a record low in 2009 in a six percent drop from 2008 figures. It’s the second year in a row that the birth rate among teens has fallen. [Washington Post]
  • Ladies Shoes Me is a new French dating site where women pick men just like they pick … shoes? WTF? Way to objectify men as just another item for women to consume. [TechCrunch]
  • “Glee” actress Jane Lynch, a lesbian, and Dan Savage, a gay advice columnist who pioneered the “It Gets Better Project,” open up about the current status of gay rights in the U.S. [Newsweek]

Keep reading »

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