MTV’s Teen Mom 16 and Pregnant is a program basically meant to spread awareness against the evils and difficulties of teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy is a genuine issue that needs to be discussed so that more teens may save themselves from the burden of motherhood at very early and immature age.

However, how genuine it is for Network channels to make personalities out of underage mothers?

This is a burning question. Another burning question is, in spite of their good cause, are MTV’s popular program Teen Mom 16 and Pregnant really doing the job of reducing the numbers of teenage pregnant by informing them about the problems involved? Or are they doing just the opposite work of promoting teen pregnancy and making it a popular fashion?

Some people believe that such shows like Teen Mom should be taken off from the air.

While commenting about ’16 and Pregnant, Lisa Lupner said, “It does no good-only promotes more teen pregnancy. It's sad the way these kids are being made famous for being irresponsible, and they will only be famous for their 15 min. then it's over. Then who's going to pay their bills?”

Her concerns are absolutely right and the current happening with Jordan Ward proves it.

Jordan Ward was 16 years old when she got pregnant first time. She gave birth to a son who is now 17-months-old and his name is Noah.

Her pregnancy was aired on MTV and she discussed about the burdens and problems she may face, she messaged that teens should avoid irresponsible sex activities and should about teen or early age pregnancies. However, just after 17 months, she is pregnant again. Obviously, her words don’t match with her deeds.

She is not the first Teen Mom who is facing pregnancy within a short period. Prior to her, Markai Durham also got pregnant for second time after her pregnancy was featured on the MTV’s show 16 and Pregnant.

However, Markai decided to abort her second child. She was certainly not in a position to provide suitable living conditions for second child.

One of the most troublesome issues for the society of the United States is teenage pregnancy. A lot many US teens get pregnant every year and they become single mother with little or no support. Obviously they lead a oblivious, poor and distressed lives. More problems occurs for their children as they never get the security of a family.

Many people have said that they hate this show; all it is doing is showing teenage girls that it’s okay to go out and get pregnant. It can land you on TV. Today’s society is totally different than it used to be”.

I just think it’s all pathetic.

It is hard to believe that teen girls are willingly becoming ready to be a baby producer outside marriage with no certainty of future. However, the case of Jordan Ward is certainly different.

When she got pregnant for the first time, she wasn’t married, she was underage, she was single and teen.

Yet now, she is neither a minor nor underage, nor is she a single. She is a married adult of age 18 and her husband is a linguist in the US Air Force.

However, is it right for a girl to be a mother of two children at the age of 18 years? I don’t think any sensible citizen of the United States will dream for a similar future for their daughters.

What if pregnancy brings your daughter, name, fame and glamor? MTV is doing exactly that.

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Teen pregnancy is one such issue which is common to both the developing world and the developed industrialized countries. However, the reason for teen pregnancy is different in different cases. In developing countries of Asia and specially in Indian sub-continental countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal et all) teen pregnancies often occurs within married relationships as these countries still suffer social problems such as child marriages.

On the other hand, in industrialized countries such as the USA, UK, France, Italy or Switzerland, the main reason for teen pregnancy is high sexual involvements of teens in unmarried relationships.

The United States suffers with the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world. Recently, at the occasion of the United States National Day for Prayers, MTV renewed its fourth season of Teen Mom, which is an initiative to spread awareness about the issues and problems related with teen moms in general.

According to the Center for Disease Control in the United States, one-third or 33% of American girls get pregnant before the age of 20.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy maintains a website teenpregnancy.org to provide relevant information about the issues and according to the site, the United States faces "750,000 teen pregnancies annually. Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended and 81 percent are to unmarried teens."

Teen moms often suffer social stigmata and that increases the risk for babies born to teenage mothers. They faces major long lasting problems in many areas such as schooling failure, mental and physical illness and poverty.

Teen moms also suffer similar risks. Proper studies on teen moms reveal certain facts about teen pregnancy:

• Teen mothers often drop out of high school
• They often are and remain single parents
• Teen moms score lower in math, science and reading into adolescence

Teen pregnancy is often considered as a huge crisis for the pregnant girl along with her family. She often suffers anger, guilt, and denial. If the father of such child is also a teen, he also suffers similar reactions in his family.


However, in most of the cases, teen mothers are found to be engaged with elder men of age at least 6 or more years more than their own ages.


Adolescent moms often fail to attain proper medical care during pregnancy period and that increases the risks for medical complications. It is necessary to provide special understanding, education, and medical care along with information about nutrition, substance abuse, infections, and complications of pregnancy and delivery.

Teen moms should be taught about dangers of using tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs as this may damage the foetus in their womb. All pregnant teens should also be provided with medical care beginning right from their early pregnancy.

Often teen moms remain uncertain about their role and responsibilities for their child, as a result, babies of teenage mothers often suffer risk of neglect and abuse.

Teenage mothers often get frustrated because of the regular demand of caretaking for their child. Their frustration further increases because mostly they remain single parents.

Teen girls should be educated about contraception and their proper usage because education about contraceptives leads them to use contraception while having sex.


However, sex education and information about contraceptives doesn’t cause any negative effect by lowering the age at their first sexual activities.

How to Prevent Teen Pregnancies

Many teen girls remain excited about their sexual life and how to start it. If you are about to involve in a sexual relation, the best way is to attain all possible information about different types of contraceptives as the usage of proper contraceptive will reduce chances of unwanted pregnancy.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, 25 percent of young teens who have intercourse without a proper contraceptive are likely to become pregnant within a month.

Parents are required to get involved with their teen children and to discuss about sex and contraceptives.
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