WHAT WERE THEY THINKING
Okay! I can understand if someone makes a mistake and people need to go to their parents and tell them what's going on. But how would one be able to go to their parents and say I did on purpose. Like a practical joke among your friends.
Well in Shelby County, Memphis, Tennessee where the population is the majority African-American and poor. In the city of Frayser whether it be middle or high school they has more teenage pregnancies than graduation. Try 90 girls who either are have babies already or have some on the way.
Terrika Sutton, 16 years old, has a two month year old child and talks the news and she explains:
“They were like, ‘Terrika, I never knew you would get pregnant,’ and I was like well it happened.”
The young mother goes onto say, though, that teen pregnancy is nothing to be proud of and that something should be done:
“It’s a shame that all these girls at Frayser are pregnant, but it ain’t nothing new. They probably planned on what they gonna do to get pregnant. Ain’t no telling. They need a class where they can teach girls before they get pregnant to use protection and stuff and so they don’t try to get pregnant.”
Last year, more than 2,100 girls ages 10 to 19 gave birth in Shelby County. Frayser has the highest teen-pregnancy rate in all of Memphis.
An all-out campaign is being launched to deter teen pregnancy at the school…
Educators and researchers have come up with a new campaign that has been designed to help teens prevent pregnancy called “No Baby!”
Memphis City School officials will set the initiative in motion on Jan. 20. The campaign will be run by Girls Inc., an organization that’s been helping girls in Memphis improve their self-esteem for the past several decades.
The “No Baby!” all-out massive effort to stomp out teen pregnancy will hopefully get the message across to teens to say no to having sex and having babies. “No Baby!” will only encourage abstinence and not provide contraceptives but will give teens the proper tools on how to protect themselves should they decide to engage in sexual relations.
The war against teenage pregnancy is also being infused with $250,000 in advertising that will saturate all forms of social media forums such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as using other mediums, such as texts, radio, billboards and television.
The advertising campaign’s rollout will begin with Frayser, but it will expand to include other schools in Memphis where the teen pregnancy problem is rampant. In 10 Memphis zip codes, at least 20 percent of teens have a baby, which is more than double the national average.
My question is… what took them so long? The so-called “campaign” should have been launched when the number hit 10… or how about 5! Apparently these youngsters have no clue about birth control… and sometimes that has to start at home.
Anyway, this is a sad situation and not necessary.
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| Source By: AP |
