Forget for a moment all the important topics churned up by the Palin pregnancy story (topics like reproductive freedom, abstinence-only education, the family turmoil that often comes from too-early parenthood, the idea of teen marriage, the impact this may or may not have on voters and the GOP ticket, and oh, the future that awaits this and the other 400,000+ babies who will be born to teen moms this year) and think for a moment about poor Bristol Palin whose life as she knows it is pretty much over.

Not only has her mom had to publicly address her personal life (as a former teenage girl I cringe at the memory of my own mother discussing anything having to do with my social life) but pretty much everyone else in the country is talking about it too. She's going to marry her high school boyfriend (whose MySpace page reportedly said he doesn't want kids). She has to become a parent, to a living, breathing, human being who may indeed give her unconditional love but who will certainly require that same unconditional love by his or her parents. And she'll do it all in the public eye.

Like it or not Bristol Palin is now the poster child for teen pregnancy in the U.S. Jamie Lynn's a mother now, those Gloucester girls likely didn't have a pact at all, and Juno MacGuff is so last year. So now it's Bristol. And if there's a bright side to all this it's that it's now getting harder and harder to say that teen pregnancy happens to other people, to people from bad families, to people in poverty, to people in Hollywood, to people who live in public housing (although the Alaska governor's residence probably qualifies on a technicality), to people who aren't "like me."

Because teen pregnancy can happen to anyone (anyone having sex as a teenager that is).  It happens to nearly one-third of American girls (and those girls aren't pregnant by themselves). And it is totally preventable—either don't have sex or use protection consistently and carefully every single time. Which is actually the most important topic of all.

Just in time for the DVD release of Juno tomorrow, CDC's National Center for Health Statistics has released new teen pregnancy data.  Good news---teen pregnancy declined 5% between 2002 and 2004. 

Of course, this news may leave some scratching their heads and wondering, "didn't the CDC just say that teen pregnancy rates were increasing?"  Close but not quite.  In December 2007, NCHS reported a 3% increase in the teen birth rate, not the pregnancy rate. 

Still confused?  Read on and be enlightened.

Read a statement from NC CEO Sarah Brown here.   Read a data cheat sheet here.  Read the NCHS report here.

When it comes to teen and unplanned pregnancy, 2007 was in many ways the perfect storm.  After all, 2007 saw the release of the movies Knocked Up,  Waitress, and Juno.  It was the year that brought the first increase in the teen birth rate in 15 years.  And it was the year of breathless, 24/7, coverage of 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears' baby bump to be. 

Cultural warriors and pop culture devotees have taken to their respective corners in interpreting the meaning of all this mishegoss.  We revisit all this due to the DVD release tomorrow of the Academy Award winning, indie-licious Juno. 

Generally speaking, the cultural warriors have been quick to pounce on the happily-ever-after nature of the movie--less than 3% of teen moms actually put their baby up for adoption, and exactly how many boys actually hang around in real life, critics wonder. As Laura Sessions Stepp of the Washington Post noted in a recent column, "Hollywood's attitude these days toward being young, single and pregnant by mistake: It's no big deal."

Pop culture devotees have been more sanguine.  This review from the Rotten Tomatoes website is typical: "Coming-of-age meets coming-to-term, in a film that is refreshingly frank about sex and love, pokes fun at the clashes between age and class, and, even more subversively...celebrates the pregnant possibilities of the non-nuclear family."

So, are both sides right?  Is this movie item number one on the teachable moments list or movie bad example?  Or are both sides missing the entertainment forest for the life lesson trees?   Your thoughts?

On our first blog entry, we received a comment from Joi regarding adoption and teen moms:

I am a former high school teacher turned teen pregnancy presentor. Started a program 6.5 years ago talking to teens about the 3 options they face if they are in an unplanned pregnancy. Use this site quite a lot for facts, ideas, etc. Would like to know why adoption doesn't get much of a mention here?

Joi's comment is actually a pretty common one in our circle and every so often we are asked about the prevalence of adoption among teen moms.  While adoption is obviously another option for teens if they face an unplanned pregnancy, the fact is that less than 3% actually choose adoption - fewer than 12,000 each year.  In the absence of government statistics on adoption, and the small number of adoptions that occur, research on adoption, including the reasons for adoption and consequences of adoption (for both mom and baby) is rare.

So, while movies such as Juno might suggest that adoption is a common alternative to teen pregnancy, most teenagers decide to keep their baby and take on the daunting task of raising a child themselves at a very young age.

I love this article from Slate -- simply because it has the temerity to suggest that the well being of a child might be at least as important as the desires of an adult.  When it comes to getting pregnant and having a baby, it's NOT all about me (what I want, me, my life and me), it's all about we (what is best for a family?).  Emily: you are my new hero.  Be strong.