Yhese movies were probably made by someone in the pro-life movement camp or by some right wing religiopus group. I am 45 years old and I can remember when I was a teenager they use to show movies on the difficulties of child rearing if you were a teen mother. Although it doesnt always work at least they were realistic and let woman know before they go to far. Hopefully they would think twice. I think it is wrong for any group to take advantage of any group just to benefit themselves which has nothing to do with the woman themselves. This is a good example that we need comprehensive sex education and we need someone to tell these girls the real truth on a social and cultural level and a psycological level as well. I had no idea there was a link to by polar and unplanned pregnancy. Maybe if this was told then these girls wouldnt get pregnant I mean who wants to have mental problems.

The only sure way to stop the teenage pregnancy epidemic is to require the biological father to financially support the child until the age of 18.

The important part is that the mother to be continue her education so that she can get a decent job. She cannot do this without safe and affordable child care.

And what about the cost of giving birth in American hospitals? And decent affordable housing?

Haven't seen the movie. Does it address the real hypocrisy of the Anti Abortion movement which consists of insisting that the girl "Step up and be a Mother" while at the same time insisting that the girl must be Punished for her "SIN" by being denied any help, financial, medical or personal in dealing with the impact of the pregnancy on her future?

I've said for years that the best way to prevent abortion is to help the young mother cope with her problems by removing the "Her life is Ruined" factor from the outcome.

Whether that be Adoption or child care that allows her to continue her education and, eventually, achieve a Career instead of a dead end "McJob", the accidently pregnant teen should receive Support, not lectures on "Morality" and "Personal Responsibility" followed by social rejection.

Best way to prevent abortion is contraception. Cut the pseudo-romantic syrupy swill around "motherhood" and get practical. If you want something to love you, get a pet, not a baby.

The second prong of the attack on mindless )"I was shocked and so was he" quasi accidental Oh - I didn't expect that! reproduction is education. One of the main side effects of thoughtless careless congress is, duh, pregnancy, which itself poses some significant threats to the woman's (<-term loosely applied here) health.

What bothers me most is the farm-animal fatalism, the mindless passivity wrapped up in mucky romanticism around the issue of extra-marital births. Boink all you want - enjoy all you want, but make sense, be practical. And yes, even then real accidents will happen. That's life.

Education is a problem here on another level,too. Educated women make babies later and have fewer of them. This capitalist system is predicated on endless expansion. In order for this monster to keep growing, more offspring will be needed to keep the wheels turning. Ideally, a population of atomized, impulsive, uncritical, self-centered little consumerist-hedonists will keep the golem fat and happy. So while the media, imams, and politicos churn up contempt and hostility toward the little breeders, Daddy Bigbux is actually quite happy with the effects. The McJob market is greedy for idiots who will underbid each other because the applicant list is too long. The taxpayer will cover the family subsidy payments, and the spawn will swarm over the earth to consume, like locusts. It's a win-win situation, and not accidental at all.

Welcome to the world's most critical discussion. If we want to know, understand, and in turn change most of the ills of the world- we HAVE to start with the crisis of people having children they cannot take care of. The people of the world who REALLY think about what it takes to raise a child in THIS day and age, are the ones who are least inclined to do it.

If people, let's just say Americans, took a look at how much money is spent on the irresponsible actions of millions of people, they might think twice about "the abortion debate". And that is just the monetary side of the issue; what about these children's lives?

I keep hearing about new teacher compensation packages; "we have to get better teachers", "what's going on in schools". No. What is going on at home? Why do we live in a world where having a child in considered an accomplishment... or a "teachable moment"? Does this country have ANY idea what the consequences of all of these "teachable moments" have on the world?
Why are we not talking about this?
...and If we don't- We will continute to hear "God sent Huckabee" rhetoric because THESE are the people having children, who have children, who have children... etc.

Having a child is not a miracle or an accomplishment. It is THE MOST drastic action another human being can do while on this planet. It is high time we start taking it more seriously.

Vaudree- "And what about the cost of giving birth in American hospitals? And decent affordable housing"

The world is the way it is RIGHT NOW. I am all in favor of making life easier, and putting those in check that feel that profit is everything, at the expense of anything. However, that doesn't give ANYONE the right to make decisions that financially compromise people, cities, states and countries. People who have children that they cannot fiscally take care of, do so at the expense of everyone. Why is this alright?
Granted, I am talking about the U.S.- not countries where women's bodies are not their own (that is a whole other issue).
Why do we continue to encourage such behavior? ... And this is just the money component. ...

I am a lifelong liberal and feminist who is NOT afraid to say what I believe and that is - I am ANGRY AS HELL at young females who think it's okay to be unmarried and pregnant in their teen years, to burp out babies they cannot afford and which I, a taxpayer, must pay for - ignorant fools that they typically grow up to be (yes there are rare exceptions). I also blame shows like Maury Povich (talk about whoring for a living) who highlights women who aren't sure which of the 12 men on the show fathered her baby. This is GARBAGE and it's all polluting America from the roots up!

Ban birth control, ban abortion, teach abstinence only(which we all know works so well), and pray for the best.

Medusa, I agree with you completely. The agenda of the right with all this "pro life" swill as they spin it, is nothing more than fuel for an Titan sized monster called capitalism. Have more kids for God! So that his followers can get richer and have more power. Breed and consume and consume and breed some more.

Hollywood for a change is promoting the message of the right. To bad the Dem's haven't got the balls to balance the bad that is gonna come from all this empty. People talk about birth control, someone must have "fixed" the Democrats, because they are about as impotent as any point in their history. Or are the Dems just practicing their own form of abstinence, because IMHO they have not commited any fruitful deeds since gaining the majority. They go thru the motions, but just arent doing anything for me.

I saw "Knocked Up" when it came out, and wondered why terminating the pregnancy wasn't even a thought that remotely entered into the plot, especially when the sperm-donor "father" was clearly an arrested adolescent. No way, in my experience, does fatherhood cause such an immature person to suddenly grow up. Then I saw "Juno," and alarm bells went off in my head. Who has ever seen a family-planning clinic that looked like the one depicted in this movie, and who would ever not get an abortion because of the piercings on the front-desk staff? Who would think that the plot-resolution in "Juno" is anything close to realistic? And both these movies got rave reviews by all the critics. So what's going on here?

This is clearly another subtle thought-manipulation ploy, much like the pro-smoking message that we are constantly bombarded with in movies. What I don't get is who's behind this ploy. I plan to try to find out what the connections are between (among) these movies. Someone or some group is behind these messages.

The Pro-Choice movement has always been about a woman's right to choose - correct?

I've only seen "Knocked Up", but I have to agree with Goodman that "the choice" to birth or not to birth has been conspicuouslyl avoided.

A movie about a woman who chooses to terminate a pregancy would be a short one. But still, these scripts seem to infer that there was no real choice in the matter. The new rule is: "Nice girls can make mistakes, but they wouldn't dream of having an abortion."

On the other hand, If these stories did fully explore the process of the woman's decision, and then proceeded with her intention to complete the pregancy. Would Goodman regard that as pro- or anti- Choice?

My complaint about these films is that the woman who got "knocked up" was living in a fairytale land where boy-men drop everything to help girlfriends through pregnancy, where her job & career would never be jeopardized by raising a child, and everyone lives happily ever after.

It's still her choice, but in the real world there are consequences in that these films do not discuss... like living with your parents and working at a night-shift McJob while your mother raises your child.

What I found strange about the Spears pregnancy was how the MSP reported it as a great thing or how they met in church but not a word about the poor kid in Georgia that was given 10 in prison for having oral sex with his girlfriend. He was 17 she was 15. After much screaming he was released.

Now Ms. Spears was 16 her boy friend was 19, in LA and CA the two states they reside the law for statutory rape is if the boy is more than 2 years older than the girl then its statutory rape. But no talk of that, maybe because the other boy and girl was black.

Then mommie Spears sells the story of her 16 year old pregency and walks with $1 million. Not bad for little work on mommie's part. If anyone should lose her kids it her.

But I keep forgetting this is the type stuff that keeps our mind off the criminal Bush and the war.

in the movie, knocked up wasn't she a news reporter? that should explain something.

in this life, any vice can be portrayed as a virtue with a little skill, and any virtue a vice. artists and writers have been fascinated by this ability down through the ages because it's relative to the kind of creation they do.

some Americans, who are reluctant to think an individual and particular event through on their own, because it's difficult and time consuming, because it involves self discipline, and hard work, fall prey to any kind of nonsense, any fairy tale, whatsoever if it's portrayed in bright colors and comes over sugared with happy endings and happily ever afters.

First, it's a movie. If they write an abortion into the script, the movie will be about 15 minutes and end up only playing as a short at some film festivals.

Second, why would someone take "tweens" to see a PG-13 movie about a pregnant 16-year-old? There are plenty of movie reviews that explain the topic addressed in the film. Don't take a bunch of kids who are too young for the film to the theater and then complain that the subject matter was inappropriate.

badger80- First, it's a movie. If they write an abortion into the script, the movie will be about 15 minutes and end up only playing as a short at some film festivals

Yes, that's right, the ONLY interesting (and realistic) outcome of a woman who gets pregnant in a film would be if she carried the pregnancy to term.

Her life remaining her own, she remains in/goes to school, joins the Peace Corps, etc. are not NEARLY as fascintating outcomes as black and white ultra sound photos, ...and the last 5 minutes of the film, a crying baby.

Why are all these films about women? What about the males involved? I taught at a schoolfor pregnant teens for three years. In that time I knew hundreds of pregnant girls. Some were smart,some were not. Some wanted to become pregnant, some didn't. I remember one case where the girl suffered a long and difficult delivery. Where was the father? He (like Cheney) had more important things to do--he had to play hockey because his team depended on him. The responsibility of unwanted or unwed pregnancies needs to fall squarely on the males.

What I meant was that the cost of giving birth in a hospital should not prevent someone from going to college like it does in the States. Who is served by that?

Haven't seen the movies yet so don't know certain things about them other than what was said. As I remember, there was a pregnancy in Grapes of Wrath and the roll of that pregnancy was to show that the way things are going has got to change. When a relationship or life situation cannot withstand a pregnancy it is, likewise, used in stories, as a sign that things need to change.

Adoption seems the hardest option for me because you basically got a 50-50 chance of getting someone decent. There is also this sense that the rich deserve the children of the poor more than the poor do - which has a Jonathon Swift feel to it. Who really wants someone like Cheney or Laura raising your kid!

Yet, you are right, it is like the wealthy want to turn the poor into baby machines - like in the movie version of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's tale.

RE: Male Responsibility

I don't know if bringing back shot-gun weddings is the answer - eventually you end up divorced with three kids rather than just one.

RE: Easy Breezy Beautiful Cover girl

To me the word "Breezy" means vacuous or unintelligent - or anti-intelligent (which is an active resistance to being intelligent).

Whether the message includes prosmiscuity or not, the idea that a woman is nothing without a man leads to putting getting and keeping a guy ahead of all other considerations.

Stress or Trauma increases the risk for teen pregnancy. It is not a joke what they say in "Wedding Crashers" about funerals. Whether it is the death of a family member or a friend or family stress due to the fact that one's sub prime loan is about to be up - these things then to break down one's resistence.

Then there are the teen hormones - which really don't need encouragement.

Then there are questionable circumstances - such as date rape drugs in one's drink.

If you are truly pro-choice you have to believe in affordable child care.
If you are truly pro-life, you got to know that the choice is mainly between either abortion or raising the child oneself. Sabotaging the mother-to-be so that she will give up her child usually results in her thinking that this is no world to raise a kid in and either going to Morgantaler or to someone who still owns a wire coat hanger.

In this era of AIDS and Hep-B, why the HELL weren't these idiots using condoms?

Paul M-condoms aren't 100% effective, either. We're humans, we err. It's in our best interests to use the tools at hand in the best way we can. Teenagers have been getting pregnant for all of time, in and out of marriage. I'm not excusing it, but we all should remember being that age and all of the ridiculously stupid things we did and how we're lucky we're all still around.

My eight year old was shocked to hear that "Zoey 101" was pregnant at 16. My 15 year old was surpised Spears didn't have better birth control.

Nor does responsibility for pregnancy fall squarely on the young men. If it's consentual act, it's both their responsibilities. And sometimes, in real life, people who find themselves in these situatioins do step up and do mature and do go on to have good lives.

"Why are all these films about women?"

Because, when a man and a lady have a "special hug" and a child is conceived, it is pretty much always the lady who has to carry, bear, and nurse the child. Did you not know this?

Juliann said
"I am a lifelong liberal and feminist who is NOT afraid to say what I believe and that is - I am ANGRY AS HELL at young females who think it's okay to be unmarried and pregnant in their teen years, to burp out babies they cannot afford and which I, a taxpayer, must pay for . . . "

I agree with you. I am 71. I started working before I was 16 (you could do that back then) and managed to get an education. By my early 20s, I had to help support my parents who were not well. I was nearly 50 before I could afford to buy a house in a working class area for myself and my older sister.

I have always been responsible. I've worked all my life. Now, I'm watching my savings decrease in value, taking care of my older sister who has had a stroke, and seeing my neighborhood trashed by hispanics. I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.

I'm angry about supporting irresponsible people. I'm angry with the religious nuts who say that children are sacred (but only until they are born).

Some days, like Job, I curse the day I was born. I bought a lottery ticket today. Not my sort of thing but why not.

Camus, Camus, Camus: You're not from around these parts, are you? Let me explain. Jamie Lynn Spears is a pretty blonde white girl, the most exalted example of womanhood in (white) American society. Sometime pretty white girls make mistakes, like get knocked up, or go missing, in which case every news network devotes 24/7 coverage to this terrible predicament. The guy in Georgia, on the other hand, was black, and when he screws up, it's go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. If he disappears, the news media couldn't care less. I don't know where you're from, but it must be very far away not to understand this basic rule of U.S. society.

I think Jamie Spears should have kept this pregnancy to herself and personal relationships. She has failed as proper role model for the young girls of today. I learned about her from my 11 year old daughter who told me her name and age. My daughter also went on to say, "Isn't that cool". To read here now that Spears sold her story for a million dollars, well now, I quess I'll call her the Cash Cow.

We have to view this as 'comprehensive' sexual education. The truth is that abstinance only education does not work. We have to teach our children that they should wait...but also at the same time explain how they can protect themselves. I think the most important part of this message is that 'you are worth more than just sex.' They must have a center of self worth. I have three children, and three..almost 4 grandchildren. All born in loving, stable marriages. Truth and honesty works...the right-winged blind theocracy does NOT work. Ever.

Females are pretty much blind to the undercurrents of male sexual behavior, which is probably just as well. I think women are, in general, much more secure about their orientation. One thing which is missing from the discussion of why so many teen pregnancies when it is so obviously a huge problem, is that many young men unconsciously associate fathering a child with a heterosexual orientation. If they father a child, then by default any homosexual tendencies must not be 'real'. This happened to me as a young adult, and it took me many years to understand what was actually going on. In the long run, education about tantric sexual practices, where ejaculation does not equate with orgasm, will bring young people's understanding to a new level. In the short run, I think education about conception should include more information about Conscious Conception (which includes the idea that all sexual behavior is by nature about the conception of something, whether or not it manifests
as a child).

Oh yeah, right, and the Spears sisters make really good role models for youth. Spears Elder is a fruitcake that cannot raise kids or exist within societal norms, even with many full-time, professional handlers. Spears Junior will likely follow in big sister's footsteps.

If life were a science fiction story, the answer would be contraceptive implants for boys when they begin producing sperm until age 20 and girls from the onset of menses until they are 20. 20 is an arbitrary age, yes, but it roughly coincides with the age when most human beings reach full growth and physical maturity and have achieved a basic education and some smattering of independent life-experience.

Then that segment of the population would only have to worry about STDs and the emotional immaturity of some teenagers, with less pressure to participate or not in sexual activity. Things would percolate along pretty much as they always have, just with the risk of children becoming parents removed.

Absent such a scenario, the only way to change the script is for teenagers to discover something that demands the same sort of social-emotional involvement that sex and ensuing pregnancy do. Some believe it's the only valid step into adulthood, and they want to get there as soon as possible, not realizing that adulthood comes in subtle steps, it aggregates as wisdom, and doesn't depend on age or activities.

"adulthood comes in subtle steps, it aggregates as wisdom, and doesn't depend on age or activities"

anney, you hit it on the nose.

My 15 year old just had a speaker come into her health class to discuss birth control. It is an abstainance based program, so I was surprised BC even got discussed. She told me things I didnt' know -like there is birth control available that is 100% effective and lasts for 3 years (Ibeleive it's implanted in the arm). Seems to me that could be a very smart choice for some young ladies. I know this doesn't apply to the young men, but it's what we have and as the mother of 3 daughters, I'll do whatever I can to keep them healthy and safe.

As an aside, it took all of history to 1850 to get a billion people on earth. Something more than 6 billion now. Projected 9 billion by mid-century. Do we or do we not possess communication technology for worldwide sex and birth education? Can we or can we not get men to believe that the best way to love women is to not impregnate them without a firm mutual agreement that the two of them are TRYING together to make a baby?

This is all just a matter of simple economics. Republican officeholder blocks access to birth control and comprehensive sex education. Teen girls with bad information become pregnant. Lack of child care, housing and education options force young mothers to seek alternative incomes. Republican officeholder saves $100 on his weekly visit to his "massage" due to competition and excess supply of services.

Multiply that by a few years and that money really adds up. Go to one of the many escort networking sites and look at how many of them discuss their kids or funding education.

Sick but possibly true.

Check out the latest edition of People magazine for an article on teen moms, all shiny and freshed faced, all of whom either adopted their babies out or kept them to somehow raise on their own (or living with grandparents who will raise them). Nothing in the article acted as a deterrant , in fact none of the teen moms seemed to mind very much about their predicament (so far).
I recently attended a presentation by three psychiatrists on the topic of Bipolar disorder, a mental health diagnosis very common these days. One of the psychiatrists made the statement that the number one health issue in the USA today is unprepared pregnancy. Why? Because it contributes to dysfunctional and inadequate parenting which in turn contributes to mental illness such as bipolar disorder, etc. Strong words!
I'm glad to hear I can save my money by avoiding the film "Juno".

veggiegirl: Interesting post on the bo-polar disorder vis-a-vis parenting. Let's also not forget the fact that in the U.S. 1 out of every 155 children is autistic. It is difficult for the BEST of parents to parent an autistic child, let alone the difficulties that a disfuctional parent encounters.

And what will the next generation of children be like when these bi-polars and autistics start breeding?

as the parent of 12 and 14 year-old girls who just saw Juno last night with their friends, I appreciate the above article and subsequent discussion. Being a single parent father, i've always tried to have open and frank talks with the girls about most subjects, but the topic of unplanned pregnancy and how to deal with it has been off the radar until now: dance, sports and music have restricted how and where my kids do most of their socializing. We're going to read Goodman's story and some of the blogs together before we have a good Sunday chat about some of the issues.thanks common dreams.

to COMarc.

I guess I am one of those Kucinich nuts..

Yeah.. the guy who is crazily trying to impeach Cheney as should be done .

Kucinich is the most progressive and honest politician of the lot! The most consistant too.

The fact is.. is that the corporate controlled media is dictating this election.. just like they always do. They don't want him to gain any power.. so they just censor him. Thus the low poll numbers.

No one hears him.. no one things he's viable. Voila.. He is out of the race.

Convenient how that works today isn't it?

And yet.. Folks like you .. fall for it hook line and sinker.

Our Democracy is in shambles. OUr elections are essentially rigged and controlled by the mainstream media.

The Sheeple can't think for themselves.. IF the media commentators and pundits say one thing.. that is THE WORD.. Don't ask Kucinich questions at debates.. ignore him.. Dismiss him... focus ONLY on who you want to get your money from. Gee.. that would be the Millionair producing candidates. Hillary and Obama!! Kucinich is using public financing.. no money there.. and is a threat to OUR status quo... we can't have that... well we will make him irrelevent....

and all us little thorns in the sides of YOU and the media and those who say that Kucinich is irrelevent.. Well too bad.. Kucinich may not become president because this election is rigged against him. but that doesn't mean he is going to go away. He knows how the game is played.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" Ghandi

OH and watch this excellent interview with Bill Moyers

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01042008/profile2.html

i feel that i am quite to the left of the average american, yet on this issue i am totally not liberal. not only do i have no interest in paying taxes to support girls having babies that they can't support themselves, i have no interest in making sure that they can still manage to go to college. there are plenty of girls who have not gotten pregnant who are also unable to go to college. those are the ones that should be helped.

I don't think the right's desire for plentiful procreation is purely motivated by support for capitalism. Economic growth has taken place without corresponding population growth- indeed, the countries with the highest population growth rates at the moment have the lowest involvement in internation trade, and also the lousiest domestic economies.

Coming back to the topic of media messates -- in this case Hollywood --- there's some heavy manipulation of society going on in these films --- and specifically manipulation of female minds and bodies.

If it were males who were to be sidelined for 10 months physically -- and had their educations, careers, futures put in question would the need for birth control be so
callously denied?

I don't see that anyone is saying that these girls intended to become pregnant ---

And THAT should be what these movies are all about ---
if we want to properly inform society and especially females about controlling their bodies an their lives; basically their futures.

Ms Goodman writes: "...teenage pregnancy rates have gone up" in recent years. Surely this is an error. We were told that the leading cause of teenage pregnancy was our (sub-poverty level) generous welfare benefits, which were a disincentive to "working hard and playing by the rules". When we wiped out the entitlement to basic aid, teens no longer had an incentive to get pregnant. Therefore, teen pregnancies must have plummeted. After all, would our politicians lie?