While it’s OK with Republicans for Bristol Palin to be a teen mom, most parents of teens think it’s a really bad idea. Why do Republicans think pregnancy is a bad idea for unmarried teens without moral values who aren’t the daughter of the first woman ever on the Republican presidential ticket?

I bet most Republicans aren’t so comfortable with other aspects of teen pregnancy. Despite abstinence education, almost half of all U.S. high school students have had sex, and slightly more than half are sexually active by 18, according to the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy at www.thenationalcampaign.org. A recent study from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy found the number of Chicano youth has been growing faster than any other ethnicity. They also have the highest rate of teen birth by far. Among African Americans, birth rates are still high, double those for Americans (25.2 births per 1,000 teens, ages 15-19, in 1999).

While the nationwide rate of teen pregnancy has been dropping gradually and steadily since 1990, it edged back up last year. In 2004, the British Medical Journal reported that birth rates for U.S. teens were higher than any other industrialized country. In contrast to the Bush administration, nonprofits working to prevent unwanted pregnancies point to integrated programs of comprehensive sex education and diverse opportunities leading to reliable livelihoods, as being the most effective approach to preventing teen pregnancy according to “Three Policy Strategies Central to Preventing Teen pregnancy at www.chipolicy.org.

Actual teen mothers report various attitudes about their decisions. Ione Lesh, a Roseville housewife, was married for love at 16, back in 1955 to a young man with a job and a house. She escaped a less-than-wonderful family, and says she really enjoyed having her kids when she was an energetic teenager and having grandkids in her 40s.

“I grew up with my kids,” Lesh said. “I wouldn’t enjoy my grandkids as much now.”

On the other hand, Alicia E., an auditor who was a single mother at 17 in 1971 before abortion was legal in her state, thinks it would have been nice to have some support. She regrets choosing work rather than welfare, believing her daughter isn’t as secure as she would have been if work and school had left more time for care.

Teen pregnancy is associated with poverty, poor prenatal care, and low-birth weight. Poor nutrition for mothers during pregnancy can mean lifelong health risks for their children. While pregnant teens under 15 (and women over 35) face higher rates of medical complications, teens over 15 face higher risks for reasons that are primarily socioeconomic, according to a review by C. Makin in the May-June 1985 issue of Family Planning Perspectives. Miscarriage is half again as likely for pregnant teens as for those in their 20s, while the abortion rate for unplanned pregnancies is lower (1 in 3) for teens than for older women (2 in 5), according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy’s 2001 DCR Report.

Pregnant teens are less likely to seek support in a timely way, whether they prefer abortion or birth. Janay C., a City College student, actually became a mother at 20, after birth control failure. Her religious faith and her mother’s support led her away from abortion.

“If you’re pregnant, you’re not a teenager anymore,” Janay said.

When I was a teen, my traditional mother, born in 1918 before welfare existed, stressed the danger of unplanned pregnancies because the subsequent economic demands could swamp a family’s financial stability, threatening everyone’s survival. Nowadays, the overgrowth of humanity worldwide, a sort of ecological gentrification, threatens the family of God’s creatures in the very same way.