Many girls are simply uninformed. For example, at Timken High School in Ohio, 13% of their girls are pregnant. Seventeen magazine ran a story in it’s May 2006 issue discussing Timken’s situation. Timken is one of many schools that teaches abstinence only sex education. These girls were never taught how to prevent pregnancy (should they decide to become sexually active), or what to do if they did become pregnant. As one student stated “I see girls at school bragging, saying ‘I might be pregnant’ just to get attention”. If several students are doing the same thing, such as becoming pregnant, it generally becomes more accepted. Another girl stated that it “felt good when she (a teacher) didn’t judge me”. Timken has since begun to offer a class called Pregnancy Life Skills, for those who are either current moms, or expecting, to learn basic prenatal care and child development.

            The truth of the matter is, teenage pregnancy is a growing problem across the whole country. And the problem doesn’t end there. Many young parents are incapable of taking care of a child, leading for many problems down the road. About 80% of young teen moms end up in poverty and on welfare. The sons of young teen moms are 2.7 times morel likely to end up in prison than those who were born to women who waited until they were at least 20. And those children born to young teens are twice as likely to be abused or neglected as those born to 20 or 21 year old women. Many become single mothers, because the guy that they think will stick around, too often bails out. In my personal opinion, schools should at least provide the option of learning about safe sex. It’s better if they learn about it from a reliable source rather than from their friends, or from the movies. For example, another student at Timken stated that she learned how to use a condom when she watched the movie Never Been Kissed. She became pregnant shortly after becoming sexually active. I also happen to think that with the number of girls at Woodruff that are either pregnant or current moms, the school should consider a class like the Pregnancy Life Skills one at Timken. And perhaps it should be available to students district-wide.