Teen Pregnancy

Teens haven't always been helpless victims of their hormones and sexual impulses. I graduated from Central High School in Memphis in 1964, back before sex ed in schools, before the pill, before legalized abortion, before the "sexual revolution" of the mid to late sixties.

I don't recall a single girl getting pregnant in my class. Possibly, in our school of over 1,000 students,(10th thru 12th graders) there were rare exceptions, but I never knew about it. It was never talked about, and believe me, there would have been PLENTY of talk!

I think the difference then was cultural, and the fact that most of us regularly went to church or synagogue, (as my class was about 1/3 Jewish). Having sex before marriage (or at least in high school) was shameful in those days. Central also set the bar pretty high for excellence in terms of academic and athletic achievement and every other category.

We also were not bombarded in the mainstream media by sexual images and messages that seem to encourage teenage sex, as today's teens are. So many factors came into play in those days that seem to be largely absent now, most importantly, more parental supervision.

Unfortunately, in some schools now, girls' pregnancies and "single motherhood" are seen as a badge of honor and proof of a boy's masculinity.