16 and Abortion?

Thoughts from Courtney Bauer

One of my favorite shows is MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. I tune in every Tuesday night. When it first came out, the creators of the show said they wanted to have a show that actually shows the struggles of being a teen mom. The goal was to scare teens into practicing smarter sex. Many people argue that the show “The Secret Life of The American Teenager” on ABC Family glorifies being a teen mom. The main character is shown looking great and going back to regular high school after having her baby when in real life, this isn’t usually the case. I applaud both of these shows for bringing up the issue of teen pregnancy and getting people talking, but WHERE are the ABORTIONS?!!!

Each year in the U.S. about one million abortions are performed. Fifty-two percent of those abortions are performed on women under the age of twenty-five. So, if there are so many young women getting abortions why are there no shows about teens choosing that option? After all, at the end of each episode of 16 and Pregnant the girls say that they were not ready to have baby.

Some people believe the abundance of sex on T.V. is encouraging teens to have sex at young ages. If this is true than the lack of abortion on T.V. is reinforcing to the teens that it is not an acceptable option. Perhaps networks don’t want to show abortion on their shows because it is a very sensitive topic? 16 and Pregnant does show some of the girls giving up their babies for adoption. However, the reality is that far fewer adoptions take place each year in the U.S. than abortions.

Most teenagers, if not all, are not ready to be parents. If teenage girls gets pregnant they need to have options available to them. If television shows showed more women getting abortions and talking about abortions, it would open teen’s eyes to the fact that it is still an option.