By AMANDA FLEMINGER
As her adrenaline rushes and all the rumors of how “good it is” run through her mind, she undresses in the heat of the moment without thinking of the life-altering consequences.
The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world with 750,000 teen pregnancies yearly.
Junior Valentina Fevrier found out she was pregnant over the summer and is now in her third trimester. She had her baby Feb. 6.
“It really freaked me out, and I didn’t take it well,” Fevrier said. “I’ve always wanted to be a parent, but not at this age.”
Fevrier was scared to tell anyone about her situation. She didn’t tell her mother until she was seven weeks pregnant and she did not tell any teachers until right before winter break.
“I was trying to hide it because I didn’t want to get kicked out of Law Magnet,” Fevrier said.
However civics teacher Cindy Schmidt informed her that they had no legal right to do so. As for Fevrier’s mom, Fevrier sat her down to tell her the news and invited positive people that she knew would be able to give her good advice; still, Fevrier said her mom “freaked out”, just as one might expect a parent would. Her mother had no idea she was sexually active.
“Schoolwise, [the pregnancy] hasn’t been really hard on me because I’m the type of person who likes to be on top of my game,” Fevrier said about maintaining her 3.7 unweighted grade point average.
Not all teens are like this though. According to StayTeen.org, a national campaign about unplanned teenage pregnancies, parenthood is the leading reason teenage girls drop out of school. Less than half of teen mothers graduate from high school and less than two percent graduate college before they are 30.
Fevrier considered her options before deciding to keep the baby.
“I thought about abortion, but when it came down to it, I didn’t want to do it. I also have a Christian background, and that has a lot to do with it,” Frevier said.
For senior Jasmine White, the parenting program offered after school on campus helped her most after having a baby junior year.
“It helped me get daycare. It also helped because I had someone to talk to who was older [and] wiser who related to me,” White said.
White was pregnant for two months without realizing it. Her mother saw that White was always hungry, had sharp stomach pains and had fainted three times. She told her that was how she felt when pregnant with her first daughter. White’s mother decided to have White take a pregnancy test.
White said her mother was mad at first but she soon realized that there was nothing to do, so she decided to do what she could in order to make sure White was healthy.
During pregnancy, White felt depressed because she’d wonder how she got to this point of having a baby at 16-years-old. She struggled emotionally the first four or five months. White had to take weight-gaining supplements because she did not gain weight through the first half of her pregnancy. Through it all though, abortion never came to mind.
“I never thought about abortion,” White said. “My mother always said if you can lay down to have a baby, you can step up to take care of one.”
Even though her mom and aunt help her with the baby, White’s life has changed. The father is no longer in the picture, even though he does provide child support.
Free time though has altered for her; it barely exists.
“I don’t have much time between school, sports and [my baby]. I don’t go out or have much free time; my mom will rarely watch her [on weekends so I can go out], but other than that I don’t get out,” White said. “I dislike it, but I do it because I have no other choice.”
Not only do pregnancies affect the teenage females, they affect the males involved and the families of both the mother and father.
Senior John Doe* had a child at 16, two years ago, and is now living with the effects. The mother refuses his help, he says, and they don’t speak anymore.
“I don’t have any feelings [towards the situation], but if she were to call, I’d help because it’s my child too,” Doe said.
Doe stated that they did talk about abortion, but she didn’t want one.
“You can’t force someone to change their decision or do something they don’t want to do,” Doe said. “[The whole situation] has made me think more before acting on things now. I won’t just do anything for the heck of it.”
According to National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, the average annual price for an infant in a childcare center is greater than a year’s tuition at a public college, in 43 states. Studies show that a child born in 2007 cost $204,060 to watch, feed, provide transportation for, educate and house from birth to the age of 18.
At the moment, Fevrier is trying to find a steady job, but meanwhile she works Citrus Bowl events. Together, Fevrier and her boyfriend are trying to find means to support the baby when she arrives. Currently, the father is balancing three jobs along with maintaining his grades because he is still in high school. Both of their parents plan to provide assistance; Fevrier’s mother has already bought clothing.
With a two-year-old baby by her side, White’s main concern right now is getting into college. She is trying to find one that has an on-site daycare or one that allows freshmen to live off campus. White was frequently absent her junior year due to just having the baby; but now she only misses about three times a month because of doctor appointments or because her baby is sick.
“[My baby] isn’t stopping me from what I want to do. I’ve always had my goals and dreams [like going to college], and I’m not going to stop them from happening because I had a baby,” White said. “I want [my girl] to see that I was a strong person and was able to follow my dream as well as take care of her.”
According to Stayteen.org, nearly one-third of girls did not use contraception the last time they had sex, and more than 52 percent of girls surveyed said one of the main reasons they don’t use birth control is because their partner is against it. The consequences to these actions can appear in the form of a baby or a sexual transmitted disease.
“Use a condom and birth control,” Fevrier said. “If I was on birth control, I wouldn’t be in this situation.”