Letters to the Editor
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no access to birth control?!?!?
I don't know where the rest of you all are from, but condoms/spermicide/sponges are all easily available at Walgreen's/ Wal-Mart/ CVS etc., and all of them include instruction booklets and information about failure rates. I really find it hard to believe that abstinence-only sex ed. is keeping kids from obtaining contraception. Even in the bad old days of no sex ed in schools, kids (well, at least boys) could get their hands on condoms--anyone else read "Summer of '42"?
Of the girls who get pregnant due to consensual sex without birth control, you're looking at at least three groups:
1. The girls who didn't want to get pregnant and know it will have serious consequences for their lives--it happened in a moment of passion, they didn't think it would happen to them, etc. Blame teenage hormones and teenage immaturity.
2. The girls who weren't trying to get pregnant, but are not really upset that it happened--often these girls are from lower socio-economic classes and didn't see much of an exciting future awaiting them anyway. Often, these girls see mothers/ sisters/ cousins having babies young, and it's taken as a matter of course.
3. The girls who were trying to get pregnant. Now you've got a whole host of motivations.