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When Sarah Palin found out that her daughter Bristol was expecting a baby, she was doubly surprised – the governor of Alaska wasn't even aware that the teen was having sex. "That's why I was so shocked," Palin tells Barbara Walters in a new interview. "Truthfully, we were devastated." In her sit-down with Walters, set to air Tuesday on Good Morning America, Palin talks about her public life and political aspirations during the 2008 presidential election. The former vice presidential nominee's highly anticipated book, Going Rogue: An American Life will be released the same day. Palin's 15-year-old daughter Willow also...

A GIRL, 12 who fell pregnant to her 15-year-old live-in boyfriend has given birth to a baby boy. Earlier this year, the NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS) was forced to apologise when it was revealed the girl's father had warned them his daughter was sleeping with her boyfriend at her mother's house. The girl's father told Woman's Day he didn't think his daughter was up to the task of being a mother. "She is only a baby herself and now she's got a baby," he said. "She has no maternal instincts at all. She never even played with dolls...

A report released last week reveals that most of us believe only teens from poor or single-parent families get pregnant. And we are wrong. According to research conducted for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, only 28 percent of those who report having given birth or fathered a child as a teen lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty line.

Selene Raynor, a Philadelphia High School for Girls graduate and an aspiring dentist enrolled at West Chester University, didn't care what anybody thought of her. --snip-- Hart has been charged with murdering Raynor, first-degree murder of her unborn child, and related offenses. Police are tracing the origin of the weapon. Clark said last night that the fatal shooting followed "an argument that was in reference to the pregnancy." He declined to discuss whether Hart was the father.

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1 About one in seven girls at Robeson High School are pregnant. Officials say a variety of factors are to blame. CBS Close numSlides of totalImages Related Slideshows Hollywood's Hottest New Starlets World's Most Useless Facts Hot-Air Balloon Flies Off In Colorado Top 10 Smartest And Dumbest Dog Breeds The Tattooed Ladies of Hollywood Hottest Female Athletes Real Or Fake? Britney Spears, Then To Now Celebs Who Lean To The Right It is a Chicago public school full of energy and spirit. It has about 800 girls, and 115 of them have something...

British Schoolboy, Aged 13, Becomes One Of World's Youngest Fathers DAILY MAIL REPORTER 03rd October 2009 A schoolboy aged 13 has become one of Britain's youngest fathers, it was revealed today. The boy, from Manchester, was 'chuffed to bits' after his 16-year-old girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl this week, according to his family. 'My son is mature for his age and will make a good father. He will make a better dad than most 25-year-old men would,' his father told the Daily Mirror. The young couple's identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons. They are said to have...

U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests. The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise. Mississippi topped the list for conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates, according to the study results, which will be detailed in a forthcoming issue of the journal Reproductive Health. However, the results...

A program operating on the University of North Carolina at Greensboro campus pays young girls not to get pregnant. Participants in the College Bound Sisters program earn $7 a week to stay baby-free. For 90 minutes a week, the girls learn about abstinence and the use of contraceptives while exploring the benefits of staying in school. The money earned is deposited into a fund and may be retrieved once the girl has enrolled in college. The program, funded by a grant from the state's Department of Health and Human Services, costs about $75,000 a year to operate. A total of...

Dozens of girls as young as 12 or 13 are regularly having abortions, Government figures show. More than 450 youngsters below the age of 14 ended unwanted pregnancies between 2005 and 2008 - including 23 girls aged just 12, the Department of Health statistics reveal. Over the same period, 52 teenagers terminated four or more pregnancies before they reached their 18th birthday, helping the number of repeat abortions hit record levels. Across all age groups, 64,715 repeat abortions were carried out last year. This is the biggest figure on record and includes 46 women who had terminated at least eight...

Some statistics: According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 86 percent of mothers who give birth out-of-wedlock are teenagers. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, only 40 percent of teenage mothers ever graduate high school; two-thirds of families begun by an unmarried teen mother are poor; and “Virtually all of the increase in child poverty between 1980 and 1996 was related to the increase in nonmarital childbearing.” So what does MTV do? It shows how cool teen pregnancy is with a new reality series called “16 and Pregnant.”

Boys as young as 12 are to be issued with condom "credit cards" allowing them to pick up free contraception at football grounds, barber’s shops and scout huts. Condoms will be distributed at places where boys congregate, to spare them the embarrassment of visiting sexual health clinics or GPs’ surgeries or facing a shop assistant at a pharmacist's counter. They will be able to collect the condoms by showing a plastic card issued to them after they have attended a safe-sex lesson, according to new government guidance. Boys who take advantage of the scheme will not have to give their...

he Sunday Times May 31, 2009 The teenage baby boom in Gloucester, Massachusetts One Year On: A mysterious spate of teenage pregnancies has shaken up one isolated American town (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni) Some have blamed the example set by Hollywood for the teen pregnancy spree. Last year, the Nickelodeon star Jamie Lynn Spears (pictured) announced her surprise pregnancy at 16 Caroline Scott The story really began at the monthly committee meeting at Gloucester High, a school in Massachusetts with 1,200 pupils. Around the table, along with the other business of the day — school food, parking, litter — someone raised the...

This message isn't hard; it just isn't as tidy as Just Do It or Just Say No. So Bristol Palin, in all her complexity as target and role model, sitting there with the beautiful baby she wishes hadn't been born for another 10 years, is a perfectly natural messenger.

NEW YORK (AP) — Unwed mother Bristol Palin said Wednesday that abstinence is a realistic way for teens to avoid unwanted pregnancy — a view not shared by the father of her infant son. Palin, the 19-year old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she wishes she'd waited to have sex. Bristol Palin was in New York Wednesday to help promote National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day. In the interview, Palin said abstinence is the safest and best choice for teens. "Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only...

Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol is making her first appearances as Teen Ambassador for The Candies Foundation, working to raise awareness of teen pregnancy prevention. She was a guest on ABC's "Good Morning America" (story here and video here), as well as NBC's "Today Show" (story here and video here). The young lady seems to be doing her job for Candies, including dealing with the media, with all the poise and grace that could be expected of an 18-year-old. She will participate in a town hall discussion sponsored by the foundation later today. CBS, feeling left out because Bristol chose...

<p>ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Unwed mother Bristol Palin is going to take part in a national campaign to help raise awareness for teen pregnancy prevention.</p>

Schoolgirl aged 12 has baby boy after one night stand By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 25th April 2009 PREGNANCY: The UK has the second highest rate of pregnancy among under 16s in the world A 12-year-old girl has become one of Britain's youngest ever mums. The schoolgirl, from the South West, was reported to have become pregnant after a one night stand with an older boy. She did not realise she was carrying a child until she started suffering stomach pains and was taken to hospital, where she gave birth. Britain's youngest mum was an 11-year-old from Edinburgh who had a...

A law that took effect in Ohio Tuesday requires abortion clinics to post signs on patients' rights and allows limited access to clinic records. The law also includes a mandatory jail term of up to a year for assaulting a pregnant woman, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.A lawsuit brought by the parents of a girl who had an abortion at Planned Parenthood in 2004 when she was 14 helped inspire the law and could be affected by it. The girl had been impregnated by her soccer coach, who was seven years her senior.The Ohio state Supreme Court has asked lawyers for...

Abortion clinics are to be allowed to advertise on television and radio for the first time. Condom manufacturers will also be permitted to broadcast advertisements at any time of the day or night. At present they are banned from advertising before the 9pm watershed except on Channel 4, where the cut-off is 7.30pm.The proposals by the Advertising Standards Authority will give Britain among the world's most liberal broadcasting regimes on sexual health services. The watchdog claims it is responding to Government calls for action to combat rising teenage pregnancy.But its plans were furiously condemned last night by family campaigners...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- New figures released today showing a record high in the teenager birth rate leads one pro-life women's leader to suggest more abstinence education is needed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released 2007 data today reporting that the number of teen births is at a record high.Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, of Concerned Women for America, tells LifeNews.com that the figures point to the failure of comprehensive sexual education and the need for abstinence.With federal and state governments sinking much more money into the more numerous sexual education programs, Crouse says the real culprit for...

The news that Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have canceled their engagement doesn’t come as very much of a surprise. The arrangement looked from the start like an election-season pretense. With the election decently behind us, the pretense can be dropped. Now Bristol and her baby can recede into private life for the next 3 years or so. But as she goes, Republicans and conservatives need to think seriously about the lesson she has taught us – or more precisely, about the illusion she has punctured. Many conservatives carry in their heads a mental image of American society that’s a...

The boy who became a father at 12 and now calls a jail cell home By CHRISTIAN GYSIN 20th February 2009. For one man there was a striking feeling of deja vu following the revelation that 13-year-old Alfie Patten had become a father. Sean Stewart was just 11 when he had sex with his 15-year-old next-door neighbour Emma Webster. Nine months later he was given the day off school to be present when his son Ben Louis was born on January 20, 1998 - just a month after Sean's 12th birthday. [pic of Sean} But now, 11 years after becoming...

Underage father Alfie Patten is the victim of a scam to make as much money as possible out of media deals, it has been claimed. Chantelle Stedman was told by her mother to say that 13-year-old Alfie was the baby's father so that they could cash in on their incredible story, according to a close friend of Chantelle's parents. Clive Sim, 39, claims that the schoolgirl was ordered to keep quiet about sleeping with other boys so that the 'teenage dad' story could be sold to newspapers for thousands of pounds. Mr Sim,who has known Chantelle's parents for years, said:...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Bristol Palin loves motherhood, but the teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she's not getting much sleep these days. Bristol Palin says in a two-part interview on Fox News Channel's "On the Record" that she wishes her pregnancy had "happened in, like, 10 years so I could have a job and an education and be, like, prepared and have my own house and stuff." Palin goes on to say that son Tripp, born Dec. 27, brings her so much joy, she doesn't regret having him at all. She's engaged to the baby's father, Levi...

In the final half hour of Thursday’s CBS Early Show, correspondent Bianca Solorzano reported on an increase in the teen pregnancy rate, using Bristol Palin as an example: "Teen pregnancy was on the RNC platform this year, literally, as Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, was about to give birth. Jamie Lynne Spears made headlines at 16, not for her acting, but the grown-up, real-life role of becoming a teen mom. These famous faces front a growing problem." A graphic appeared on screen declaring: "Teen Pregnancy: The Growing Crisis." Later, Solorzano explained: "After more than a decade of progress, experts fear...

Teenaged births up of the first time in 14 years. The highest rate of of out-of-wedlock births ever recorded. Lots of older moms. See link for interesting stats: like, August is the month most babies are born.

When the data showed a decline in teen pregnancies, teen abortions, and teen sexual activity, the mainstream media barely noticed. Almost nobody heralded that landmark accomplishment which coincided with more widespread abstinence programs in schools and community programs. However, now that the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a slight increase in teen births, it is making headlines. Let’s get one thing straight at the outset: the increase in teen births was primarily in the 18- to 19- year-old group — in other words, primarily college students who have entered...

The teen birth rate jumped 3 percent between 2005 and 2006. That means about 20,000 more babies born to (overwhelmingly unmarried) teen moms. Look for the media to blame Bristol Palin (Alaska’s teen birth rate increase was the nation’s largest at 19 percent ... but 2006 is the latest data so Bristol is part of a trend, not a cause there), religious conservatives in general, and abstinence education in particular. The truth, as Kristin Moore of Child Trends acknowledges in this brief is: we don’t know. Although quite disturbing after almost fifteen years of steady declines in the teen birth...

ATLANTA – Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, according to a new federal report released Wednesday. Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The teen pregnancy rate in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher. ------------- Snip

Former vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is speaking out for the first time on the birth of her new grandson. Palin's daughter Bristol disclosed her pregnancy shortly after she was named as John McCain's running mate and it sparked a national debate on abortion and teen pregnancy. Palin says she welcomes her first grandchild, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, born to Bristol and her fiance' Levi Johnston on December 27. “We are over the moon with the arrival of this healthy, beautiful baby,” Governor Palin said. “The road ahead for this young couple will not be easy, but nothing...

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, DEC. 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Does watching sex and aggression on TV and in video games lead teens to have sex and be more aggressive in real life? Two studies published by the journal of the American Pediatrics Association say yes. "Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," conducted by the Rand Corporation, and "Longitudinal Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression in Japan and the United States," by Craig A. Anderson, director of Iowa State University's Center for the Study of Violence, appeared in the November issue of "Pediatrics."...

The paradigm has shifted. Dating is dated. Hooking up is here to stay. (For those over 30 years old: hooking up is a casual sexual encounter with no expectation of future emotional commitment. Think of it as a one-night stand with someone you know.) According to a report released this spring by Child Trends, a Washington research group, there are now more high school seniors saying that they never date than seniors who say that they date frequently. Apparently, it’s all about the hookup. When I first heard about hooking up years ago, I figured that it was a fad...

The girls gather in small groups outside Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School most mornings, standing with their babies on their hips, talking and giggling like sorority sisters. Sometimes their mothers drop the kids (and their kids) off with a carefree smile and a wave. As I watch the girls carry their children into the Tiny Titans day-care center in our new $100 million building, I can't help wondering what Sister Mary Avelina, my 11th-grade English teacher, would have thought. Okay, I'm an old guy from the 1950s, an era light-years from today. But even in these less censorious times, I'm...

YULEE - At the beginning of her sophomore year at Yulee High School, Alyssa Gammons was a 15-year-old cheerleader whose biggest challenge was perfecting a back handspring. Her days were filled with the usual teenage things - school, homework, and hanging out with friends. But midway through the 2007-08 school year, Alyssa's life was changed drastically by a positive pregnancy test. "I lost it," Alyssa said. "All that ran through my head was, 'My life is over.' I cried and cried, because I didn't know what I was going to do and I didn't know how to tell my parents."...

RISKY BUSINESS TEEN PREGNANCY TIED TO SEXY TV WATCHING CHICAGO - Groundbreaking research suggests that pregnancy rates are much higher among teens who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior compared with those who have tamer viewing tastes. "Sex and the City," anyone? That was one of the shows used in the research. The new study is the first to link those viewing habits with teen pregnancy, said lead author Anita Chandra, a Rand Corp. behavioral scientist. Teens who watched the raciest shows were twice as likely to become pregnant over the next three years as those...

Yogi Berra famously observed that "you can see a lot by looking." I know exactly what the great New York Yankee meant. You can hear a lot by listening, too. Over the homestretch of the presidential campaign, I've been spending a lot of time at a rehabilitation hospital with someone very close to me as she recovers from back surgery. Much of the conversation in this microcosm of the urban health-care system is about Barack Obama and John McCain. Most of the doctors are white men, the physical and occupational therapists and nurses are mostly white women, and the aides...

The statistics on teen sexuality in the United States are troubling. About 7 percent of high school stu­dents report having had sex before the age of 13. By ninth grade, one-third of high school students have engaged in sexual activity, and by 12th grade, two-thirds.[1]  Yet the majority of these teens, 60 percent overall and 67 percent among younger adolescents, regret their first experience and wish they had waited longer.[2] Teen Sexual Activity and OutcomesEarly sexual activity is associated with a host of negative outcomes that can have lasting physical, emotional, social, and economic impacts on the lives of young...

The first step in reducing teen pregnancy and abortion is to know the facts. Actually, we know what works. Child Trends and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy published their own data and the corroborating findings of a vast body of scientific research which found that the recipe for delaying sexual activity is parental involvement, good friends, strong faith and participation in church activities. The bottom line, they said, is that parents and friends have tremendous influence on their children, regardless of socio-demographic or economic background and characteristics. Obviously, many of the nation's adolescents don't have those positive...

WASHINGTON: Since the time the news of 17-year-old Bristol Plain's pregnancy broke, it seems every star and starlet has a different opinion of John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, and whether her daughter will affect their campaign. One of the top celebrities, Eva Mendes has also given her comments on the hot topic. "It's never easy when you're dealing with something like teen pregnancy," Fox News quoted Eva Mendes, as saying at "The Women" premiere in Los Angeles. "People need to look beyond that and give her [Sarah] the chance to have her fair say," she added. The very vocal...

A friend asked me why evangelicals think it’s okay that Sarah Palin’s seventeen-year-old daughter got pregnant by her boyfriend. I think the exact wording was, “Why are we so excited about it?” Hmmmm. That’s not exactly the way I would put it. I don’t know anyone who is “excited” about a teenage girl getting pregnant out of wedlock. This seems to be a point on which there is near-universal agreement. Getting pregnant outside of marriage is always problematic, but when you are a teenager, the difficulties are magnified. This isn’t a liberal or conservative observation—just a statement of reality.  However,...

September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Contrary to a widely circulated report in Tuesday's Washington Post, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, did not slash funding for a program supporting teen mothers.The Washington Post's Paul Kane reported that "Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms." The far-left Huffington Post repeated the story the next day, and it was off and running. To support this contention, Kane produced the 2008 Alaska budget, along with Governor Palin's line-item reductions. Kane said, "Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million."...

[I]t is teenage marriage today, not teenage pregnancy, that is the rarity. And, statistics show, teenage marriages tend not to endure. ... The median marrying age for women in the late 1950s was about 19, according to David Popenoe, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University and an emeritus professor of sociology there. But a marriage between 19-year-olds — or even 17- or 18-year-olds — then would not have been described as a “teenage marriage,” he said. It was too routine to be given a special label. There is no way to know how many of those unions...

If there’s one person who gets a pregnant teen, it’s Jamie Lynn Spears. Britney Spears’ little sis is reaching out to Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, John McCain’s vice presidential pick. A source close to the Beverly Hills baby store Petit Tresor tells CelebTV.com exclusively that a gift from Plain Mary was sent to Bristol Palin on behalf of Jamie Lynn Spears. An insider says it was actually Lynne Spears, Jamie Lynn’s mom, who called about the gift, and requested the gift come from her daughter. “It was ordered by phone, and they asked what could be...

ST. PAUL -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live. After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Inking her initials on the legislation -- "SP" -- Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix...

Our son and daughter-in-law had just started their senior year in high school when they became pregnant, and I use that pronoun deliberately. The two of them formed their own unit and held each other up during a terribly stressful year. Meanwhile, we parents had to support them as best we could, and make sure they knew we loved and supported them through it all. In return, we discovered two wonderful adults who had just been children shortly before, and when the Little Admiral came, two wonderful parents as well. None of this was easy, and we certainly all had...

Many Freepers do not want their daughters to get pregnant before they are married and have completed their education. Nor do they want their sons to father a child become they become husbands and can support a family. They also regard abortion as a much graver sin than having a child out of wedlock (if they regard the latter as a sin at all). How do you discourage premarital sex and especially pregnancy while also sending the message that a grandchild conceived out of wedlock will be valued and should not be aborted? I am asking this question seriously, not...

Sacramento, Aug 11, 2008 / 11:04 pm (CNA).- A California judge has ruled against Planned Parenthood and its allies who challenged the content of a voter information pamphlet’s arguments in support of Proposition 4, a ballot measure requiring abortionists to notify at least one adult relative before performing an abortion on a minor. The arguments reference the story of “Sarah,” a 15-year-old who died in 1994 after suffering complications from a secretly obtained legal abortion, in addition to stories of other underage girls who obtained abortions without their parents’ knowledge.Opponents of the pamphlet’s content argued that Sarah’s story should...

Early in July, OK! magazine featured a cover story about Jamie Lynn Spears and her new baby, Maddie. Newsweek reported that the magazine paid $1 million for the rights to publish photographs of the baby and mother. The young mom, now 17, is shown on the magazine's cover declaring, "Being a mom is the best feeling in the world." A good number of parents were understandably outraged.   This week, Newsweek is out with an article that questions how Hollywood is presenting teenage motherhood. The magazine reports that teen moms and their babies have become "a hot plot device lately."...

PETA Expands Ad Campaign That Uses Teen Pregnancy to Push Pet Message Friday, July 18, 2008 By Catherine Donaldson-Evans Fox News Animal rights group PETA is rolling out its controversial "Sex Talk" ad — in which two parents urge their daughter to have a lot of sex and "pop out all the kids you want" — in the top 10 teen pregnancy states to promote spaying and neutering of pets. The 30-second commercial was launched in January in Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears' hometown of Kentwood, La., after news emerged of then 16-year-old Jamie Lynn's pregnancy. The "Zoey 101" star,...

CNN reported July 11 that according to the National Institutes of Health, U.S. teen pregnancies in 2006 rose for the first time since 1991. Translation: "One-third of girls in the U.S. got pregnant before age 20." In the same article, CNN reported a "striking decrease" in the percentage of eighth graders smoking, down from 10 percent in 1996 to 3 percent in 2007. While federal health experts were at a loss to explain the spike in teen pregnancies, a Centers for Disease Control official said smoking abated due to "efforts convincing kids and adults not to smoke," according to CNN....