Pregnant 14 Year Old Says It's Fashionable For Teens To Be Pregnant

[matcom]

<snip>

A pregnant 14-year-old has told how having a baby is now regarded as "fashionable" among schoolgirls.

Kizzy Neal has been asked to give advice to four of her classmates who have also fallen pregnant since Christmas.

The teen, from Torbay in Devon, said: "When my friends see my bump they say they wish they could have a baby, then three weeks later they're pregnant and don't know what to do.

"Teenage girls think babies are cute, but they forget the physical side of being pregnant, then having to give up your own childhood to look after a baby.

"It seems to be fashionable to get pregnant."

Family campaigners said her comments showed how the Government's sex education policy had left teens with the "ridiculous but extremely worrying" misconception that having a child was no different to getting a new handbag.

Her revelations come as official figures show England and Wales have the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe - with the biggest increase among girls under 16.

Kizzy became pregnant the first time she had sex with her 13-year-old boyfriend.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23386641-details/Pregnant+14-year-old+says+it's+'fashionable'+as+four+friends+are+also+expecting/article.do

[RubyDuby in GA]

1. Well they see that Britney can pop out two kids in two years and keep on

partying. I wonder where they get that idea that a baby is a fashion accessory...

[DainBramaged]

2. Kizzy?

Is she related to the squirrels in my back yard (who will do it when the weather warms up).

The two remaining who escaped the claws of the eagle.

The two which haven't been mistreated but fed high-quality sunflower seeds since November

The same two which haven't been exposed to hot water.

[SeattleGirl]

3. Let's see how "fashionable" she thinks it is the first time she doesn't

get any sleep because she has to tend to the baby all night.

"Ridiculous but extremely worrying" (ie, the Gov't's sex ed policy) is putting it mildly.

[billyskank]

5. The 'family campaigners' part should raise a red flag there

That can only mean the Christian right. You know what their idea of sex education will be.

[SeattleGirl]

8. Exactly. And these are the same people who don't value

single mothers -- instead, the babies are seen as "punishment" for the sins of the mother. :grr:

[underpants]

4. I've been hearing this since the early 90's

Without wanting to characterize this element of society in only a word or TWO let me just say that they seem to have lived in an enviroment that does not adhere to most of society's norms and mores.

[Bunny]

6. "...fallen pregnant"???

Is *that* how it happens? :rofl:

[trof]

13. I guess "mistakes were made".

Just like ol' dumbya.

[Deja Q]

14. "I've fallen and I can't get up!" I betcha her boyfriend didn't say that...

:yoiks:

[Critters2]

15. That's why I don't have kids. My balance is too good. nt

[Phillycat]

16. That's how they say it in England and Ireland.

I only know that from Maeve Binchy books. :shrug:

[xmas74]

28. Well, I did fall and sprain my ankle.

I was off of work for a week. We figure I conceived during that time.

So I guess I did fall into pregnancy.

[WindRavenX]

7. wow. That article was...

...wow. Just...wow. :wow:

[BreweryYardRat]

9. Chavs.

Pfft.

[LSK]

10. precisely the reason 14 year olds SHOULD NOT HAVE KIDS

Kids are not a fashion piece.

[ohiosmith]

11. Pregnant 14 Year Old Says It's Fashionable For Teens To Be Pregnant

Seems like a worthy cause to promote stateside. Don't you think?

[ikojo]

24. Tell that to the yuppies in suburbia

who have kids only so they can put "my kid is an honor student at X school" on their minivan.

[Deja Q]

12. No friggin' comment.

[idgiehkt]

17. reminds me of the "Papa Don't Preach" uproar.

bah.

It's sad that journalism has sunk so low that the opinion of a single 14 year old is now a 'scoop'.

[LeftyMom]

18. When on earth did the utterances of pregnant fourteen year olds become news?

Of course she says it's the popular thing to do. What does one expect her to say? "My friends laugh at me because I was too stupid to work a condom" or perhaps "This sucks. I'm getting stretch marks on places I didn't even have this time last year."

[YankeyMCC]

19. And of course the "Family campaigners" say it's

sex education to blame? wtf?

[El Fuego]

20. Nature intended us to have children at 14, society says otherwise.

"You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals
So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel."

[judaspriestess]

21. lets see how fashionable it is when this kid can no longer

take care of her lil kid and she ends up killing the baby and dumping it somewhere.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. But they still have a lower teen pregnancy rate than the U.S.

n/t

[Deja Q]

23. Not for much longer if that fashionable viewpoint is maintained.

:(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. The paper being quoted is a tabloid

:shrug:

[windy252]

25. Unfortunately, I've seen this attitude previously.

And, I've heard of cases where they seem to have thought of the baby as just like a doll before they had it.

[gratuitous]

27. Sounds like she's describing, not advocating

I'm not one to credit a pregnant 14-year-old for having too much going for her intelligence-wise, but it sounds from the article (though not from the headline) that young Ms. Neal is describing the attitude of her peers toward pregnancy, not advocating that everyone get pregnant so as to be fashionable.

And she's right, and has been right about that attitude for a long, long time. I had a friend who did her student teaching stint in a small western Oregon lumber town, and in the early 1980s, more than 20 years ago, getting pregnant with the right boy was a mark of status for young girls. My friend had more of an "in" with the girls than with the boys in her school, so the attitude of the boys toward fathering a child when they were 15 or 16 was not recorded.