Teen pregnancy is always a highly debated topic, but why? There is always a vocal critic of teen pregnancy and how it happens, yet in many schools, safe sex practices are still not taught—or not taught completely— to students. The topic of teen pregnancy is more complex than at first sight. Without knowledge of safe sex practices, many teens enter parenthood early, most having little support from the community. While teen pregnancy is a controversial issue, many believe it is an issue that needs to be talked about. Wasuk Lado (12) was a part of Planned Parenthood’s Just Us program, which aims to help educate fellow students about sexual health.

“Honestly, teen pregnancy shouldn’t always be seen as … a bad thing,” Lado said. “Obviously, majority of the time nobody wants to be a teen parent, but instead of always berating them and bringing them down, you can just show them support. [There is] no need to judge anybody for any of the life choices they made.”

Heather Heaston, a counselor at White Station, feels that teen pregnancies have lessened in the 21 years she has been teaching. 

“Not at all … no, I don’t think there’s been a lot [of teen pregnancies lately,]” Heaston said. “I think it’s [because of] the world [policies].”

Even if locally it’s dropped, on a state level, Tennessee teen pregnancy birth rates still remain high, suggesting the state’s lack of sexual education in schools as the reason. According to the CDC, this year Tennessee ranked seventh for its teen pregnancy birth rates, with 23.3 births per 1,000 women ages 15 through 19—higher than the national average of 13.5. 

“Not a lot of people know about sexual education,” Lado said. “[That is] why we have high rates of teen pregnancy and think it’s always seen again, as a negative thing.”  

Specifically, Lado believes sex education should include the many different kinds of birth control available to teens. Methods of birth control include intrauterine devices (IUD), birth control implants, pills and patches.

“If teens are aware of what they’re doing… then obviously something will be prevented,” Lado said. “They’ll know what will happen if you don’t use condoms or if you’re not safe, just not even getting pregnant, but also different types of STDs and STIs. All this stuff can be prevented if the right information was put out for people to have access to them.”

Despite the wishes of school staff, they must stick to what is outlined in Tennessee’s curriculum to teach, and currently, that does not involve sex education. Educators like Heaston, however, have a different opinion on this.

“I would definitely have a class for sex education to be taught during school,” Heaston said.

Despite not teaching sex education, schools do have ways to accommodate student parents. Students stay in school until the day they deliver their child, then they are placed in a homebound program where a teacher is sent to them for at-home learning. There are also measures put in place after the child is born.

“[Adolescent Parenting] provides diapers and bouncers for daycare, whatever the student needs to help them to come to school and be successful while here so they won’t have to worry about their baby during the day.” Heaston said.

These programs help students now, but when Amber Azor’s (10) mother, Alice Lockett, was 16 and pregnant at Manassas High School, it was difficult without them. Azor’s mother eventually dropped out of high school due to her struggles as a teen parent.

“She had [to] take two jobs on top of school just to … take care of my sister and stuff,” Azor said. “So she was just like constantly moving, constantly doing something; she had to find somebody to watch my sister while she was at work and then find somebody when she went to school.” 

Being a teen mother with no support was hard for Lockett, especially with the constant exclusion from her peers and family. The stigmatization of teen pregnancies makes an already difficult situation worse when there is no one to turn to.

“A lot of people just weren’t really supporting her 100%. They were just like, ‘Oh, you just got knocked up, like that’s your problem,’” Azor said. “And she just didn’t really have anybody to go to at the time.”

However, becoming pregnant was not the end for Lockett. It is a common stereotype that teen mothers are undereducated, poor or lazy; however, Lockett has accomplished every dream she had before pregnancy. Teen pregnancy has many negative misconceptions, but without addressing them, they will continue to follow teen parents throughout their lives. 

“Before she got pregnant, she had dreams of being a nurse,” Azor said. “Now she has her own health care agency, so she always got to do what she wanted to do at the end. [She] persevered and she did end up living a good life. It sets you back in the moment, but it doesn’t mean that you’re always going to be back.”