Comments on: Paying girls not to get pregnant

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The Top 10 Stories of 2009 | HigherEdMorning.com — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:44:36 +0000

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By: Marg

Marg — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:14:28 +0000

What have the results been thus far and I am sure we need a larger and longer study. I think learning about contraception is key, but what about the boys, how about a dollar a day not to become a baby’s daddy. We can’t label birth control a woman’s issue.
I think the classes are great and can build a positive peer group if they are well thought out.
In this day and age, with a variety of contraception, the morning after pill, etc., there are no excuses for “accidents”.
Mother’s also need to know in order to provide for their children, they need a college education.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:20:52 +0000

Is that who you were worshiping? I guess that’s a problem then. It’s not a good idea to judge God by the fallen people who claim to serve him. Even if one takes a non-literal interpretation of scripture, one can still find it holds universal truths about relationships and self-worth. And if more kids understood that they were created with purpose and value, they’d be better equipped to resist the adult messages they’re bombarded with daily. They might just learn that hooking up is just scratching an itch. But in an intimate, committed relationship with long-term goals sex becomes an expression of hope, love, and even faith.

By: worship

worship — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:06:07 +0000

Eric Says:
July 24th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
“Oh, wait… Didn’t they use to call that worship? I wonder why we stopped doing it.”

We stopped worshiping because the people leading the worship became corrupt.

By: say it again Karen

say it again Karen — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:30:17 +0000

my favorite comment:

Karen G Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 10:32 am
“Sounds like a bonanza for young lesbian girls — to be paid not to get pregnant. Easy money.”

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:36:03 +0000

Eh?
Sort of like paying Guido not to accidently break into your business and steal your stuff.
…
Seriously, there should be some sort of mandatory contraception implant, for BOTH male and female teens until they become adults.

And after that, they both should pass a parenting class to prove they have an inkling of an idea how to be at least competent parents before they procreate.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:37:44 +0000

The commitment of one hour per week is a good idea. I really like the idea of setting aside an hour of each week to focus on and listen to big picture issues. A time each week to put problems in perspective and learn life skills. I think if every student and their families did that, it would improve lives. Wow, just an hour a week. I think I could make that a habit and do it religiously.

Oh, wait… Didn’t they use to call that worship? I wonder why we stopped doing it.

By: Janea

Janea — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:14:57 +0000

I think this program should be all-inclusive on a broader scheme. Call it Sisters for Achievement or perhaps Brothers for Achievement for the young men. In exchange for one hour per week of guidance training on their goals for their future, the young men and women receive a payment automatically forwarded to a post-high school account. The fund can be used for college, vo-tech, military, etc. just as long as the teen graduates. Abstinence, contraceptives, and abortion should definitely be discussed as preventable measures. This class should be about planning their individual futures with class lectures, perhaps hands-on-training, computer researching, guest speakers, talking about budgeting, responsibility to community, leadership in their chosen field, post-secondary training, and goal preparation. I think the post-secondary trust fund idea would teach discipline and delayed gratification for those students dedicated enough to attend regularly. The classes definitely have to be interesting though and technology-based, no doubt. Great idea, but may be difficult to fund or achieve on a statewide or national level.

By: HigherEdMorning.com » Blog Archive » Black? Hispanic? White? Students foot the bill based on race

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:09:33 +0000

[...] Paying girls not to get pregnant [...]

By: HigherEdMorning.com » Blog Archive » What you’ve been saying

HigherEdMorning.com » Blog Archive » What you’ve been saying — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:11:40 +0000

[...] student’s fatal fall 4. Black? Hispanic? White? Students foot the bill based on race. 5. Paying girls not to get pregnant. AKPC_IDS += [...]

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:17:55 +0000

Why don’t the guys get paid too? And it should be a whole lot more than a dollar a day to keep your ….. in your pants. (sarcasm)

By: Hilario R. Monreal

Hilario R. Monreal — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:41:02 +0000

After reading all the 59 comments most of YOU ALL forgot the main point!!!!!!!!!…………these girls are getting paid not to have babies!!!!!!!!!! at a dollar day, I want everyone to do some math; 365 dollars a year OR raising a child for the next 18 years??????? yes, it is a lot cheaper, this DOES not include congential defects, crime to be committed, or just the burden this child will create in 18 years. COST????? more cheaper and the girls get EDUCATED!!! in the end to be able to make EDUCATED choices………..everyone deserves a chance! I believe everyone should be given this opportunity……think of the things we as a society can create and develop? for the future?????

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:15:06 +0000

I think this is a very good and bad idea, as like anything, once you start to pay someone not to do something it erodes our sense of responsibilities as individuals. Leading to a society that will only do what they are told if they are getting paid, resulting on the state and us as tax payers paying more money out to the girls to do what they should be doing morally.

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:44:14 +0000

Lara,

The little means a lot of sarcasm. If you think I would encourage my daughter to go out and have sex so someone can adopt a baby then you are crazy. I don’t think people should be having sex until then can commit their whole lives to someone by getting married first. Obviously there are a lot of people out there that don’t with that our struggle in trying to live that way. To Suzy and Sarah, I have seen the struggle of several unwed mothers trying to decide to parent their child, place it for adoption, or have an abortion. It cannot be an easy decision.

In all honesty what I am trying to say is to teach kids not to have sex. If they do have sex and get pregnant then educate them on their options. There are more options than having an abortion or trying to raise a child when you are still a child.

In regards to Suzy’s comment…have you ever tried adopting one of these “worldwide babies”? If it is as easy as you make it sound, please let me know how you did it. I hope you aren’t insinuating that I am picky on the “type” of child I am willing to love seeing that I already have “worldwide” baby. Do you think it is any easier for these international mothers to place their children for adoption than it is for anyone else?

By: Trips

Trips — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:21:50 +0000

I say, eliminate social programs which PAY/subsidize underage, unemployed, single people who have children. As well as, paying girls to attend these classes – a fund which earns interest,is a good idea. A fund that could be used to offset tuition at a Jr. college or trade school or even a traditional 4-yr school if they are accepted. It should be available for both girls and boys. As already stated, boys are just as responsible in curtailing teen pregnancy as are girls.

By: Lara

Lara — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:58:37 +0000

Jule and Richard,

I cannot beleive that you would even write that. That is the most unadult, irresponsible thing I have heard in a long time. It is NOT about you! Pregnancy is a very difficult on a young body. This type of attitude is why young people are having such a hard time finding moral role models.

By: Corina

Corina — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:54:16 +0000

oops, forgot to mention that in Ohio, Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio developed a program called Looking for Love: Exploring Teen Adult Relationships. It is excellent and worth the time and money to get trained in. Instead of blaming young women, get this, the program actually spoke to young women about their reasons for getting involved with older men (who have all the responsibility to not get involved with a young woman!!!)

By: Corina

Corina — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:49:24 +0000

I want to praise the thoughtfulness of Violet, Suzy, and Sarah’s responses!!!! I also want to chime in to some who have mentioned that men and boys who are doing the impregnating need a program too, on how to be responsible sexual beings, and taking responsibility if they do get a girl pregnant.

I also want to mention that there is a plethora of studies that link sexual, physical, emotional, and economic abuse by older men of young girls who become pregnant. Shouldn’t we be doing more sexual and dating violence prevention programs with a primary prevention (elimination of first time perpetration and first time victimization), universal (everyone) approach?

By: david

david — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:48:28 +0000

How about paying people not to engage in other bad behaviors. Paying them not to commit robberies, or battery, or how about a big bonus not to murder anyone. Payment for abstinence from drug abuse, DUI, child molestation, prostiution, kand so on……

Then levy heavy fines and tax penalties to all the violators so it will pay for the rest of us who live decent lives. That would be a real change in our policies.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:39:15 +0000

Rose, What time does your Klan meeting start?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:19:39 +0000

Perhaps people should look into the program more fully before making their conclusions….there are actually several key points that the article fails to mention. Such as:

1) Only siblings of girls who already gave birth before the age of 18 are eligible for the program. (Statistically, those girls are at a massively higher risk of becoming pregnant before 18)
2) The program is intended as much to help the girls finish HIGH SCHOOL as it is to get them into college.
3) Parents are included in some of the classes in order to help educate both the parents and the girls.

Here is the program’s website: http://nursing.uncg.edu/cbs/index.html

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:49:45 +0000

Wow…some tangents you all have gone off of….amazing.
My suggestion: these teens need to learn to keep their legs closed and then NO ONE would have to worry about paying ANYONE for not getting pregnant.
I mean really….are they serious?? As if paying these girls will make them be abstinent?? Yea right…I am a realist people…and if a girl wants to have sex, she will. She will also find the funds to abort a baby if she is that desparate to do, and in this situation, that is probably what one would do in order to keep getting “paid”
Our society is truly sinking to a new level when we have to pay our teens to make a RESPONSIBLE decision TO BEGIN WITH – as a person who teaches about sex, drugs and alcohol at the collegiate level – I have a hard time having “pity,” patience or OTHERWISE for kids that want to BE TREATED as adults, yet CAN’T ACT like adults. My motto: You want to be a big girl or boy – then MAN UP and deal with the consequences. I don’t recall anyone in my era getting paid for remaining abstinent or practicing safe sex.
Ridiculous program….its only on the surface as to how many this will actually “help”

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:38:33 +0000

I’ve been teaching for 26 years and have said to my husband for years that we should pay girls to not get pregnant. Most of the students can use the money and in the long run it is much cheaper to pay the students now than the cost of all the social services required to help them once they have a baby. It’s money well spent and may be the only way to break the circle of poverty for many of them.

By: Rose

Rose — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:39:11 +0000

This is an ugly and racist and anti-white program.
We all know that white girls obtain university education more frequently than black or Latina.
This is why they give money for not having children for girls who might enter the university.
Because they calculate that the girls participating in the project will be predominantly white.
This program would drop the birth rate of white people even further down.
The program must not be supported by anybody who does not want European race to disappear.

WE NEED MORE WHITE BABIES!

By: R. Lowell

R. Lowell — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:56:19 +0000

Teen pregnancies are almost always unplanned and unwanted they are also often a medical high risk. The long and short term costs to society are very high and the impact on the lives of the girls involved is often negative. If the simple act of paying a girl to avoid pregnancy works doing it is a nobrainer. There is no reason to think that girls in European countries are less sexually active than American girls. The rate of teen pregnancies in these countries is much lower than in the US
we are obviously doing something wrong.

By: Kathy Jones

Kathy Jones — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:50:27 +0000

What about good old fashioned MORALS. What about the parents telling them to do what is right instead of doing their jobs as parents. No upbringing at all

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:48:43 +0000

Ed:
Two words: Bristol Palin.

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:05:32 +0000

Marie states: If paying girls not to get pregnant is cheaper than an abortion and way cheaper than welfare payments, then I am all for it. And let some of these so called “churches” cough up the dough. The GOP should be a major contributor also. Since their “Abstinence Only” policy has failed so miserably.
Along with their claims of “moral values”
Marie you have very harsh words for many churches I know that our doing incredible work and I have seen it first hand. As for the GOP and your comment about failed abstinence policy it is simply untrue and you really must do your research before making untrue remarks. It must go hand in hand with other moral training. At least their making an effort with moral policy. I suppose your solution is throwing more condoms at kids. We need involvment from parents setting an example and a return to faith in Jesus to build a foundation for true morality. People are not animals, but spiritual beings that struggle with a sin nature. It is possible to wait till marrige…my wife and I did.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:44:50 +0000

It is not “we” who removed the boundaries. It is MTV and TV in general, and Hollywood. They are our enemies. I have turned off all my TV channels. They are really dangerous. Their ideology destroys the fabric of our society.

Read the comments, many people say that many problems come from TV. Perhaps it is time to realize that TV is the Enemy of American people. And I don’t really like Christianity (I am pagan), but even going to a church would be a much better option than watching these stupid TV channels, which, unfortunately, everybody considers a must to have at home these days.

Turn the tube off! (Try youtube, it is much better, at least it is fair and balanced.)

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:12:15 +0000

It really is a logical conclusion.

When you remove one set of boundaries, you have to replace it with something else or the situation will run out of control. we have removed guidelines of moral purity based on right and wrong. And definition of right and wrong based on the Bible. You can teach abstinence and give contraceptives and still miss the basic point. When there is no objective standard of conduct based on a firm foundation that gives the courage to self discipline, subjective emotions become the basis for behavior. Empty external incentives do not address internal problems. It’s a heart issue. The family unit with a loving system of accountability is also vital. And, if the girl messes up and gets pregnant, these very elements will help her to work through consequences, support and love her and help her to make it in life successfully. She may stumble, but she knows how to get up and do the right thing. We don’t applaud what happens. It is wrong. but, we love and support and make sure she succeeds.

Prevention begins with training, not with paying. Do these girls expect to get government help the rest of their lives so they do the ‘right’ thing – whatever it is????? Isn’t it about who makes the best offer? What if they get offered more to get pregnant??? Will they find that more appealing?

UNC’s program has not taught anything about moral responsibility or about self disciplining of the mind and heart because there is a higher standard than themselves. I fear it is a discipline of the body until it is more lucrative elsewhere and with an ulterior motive of self gain. There are other ways to help kids go to college. But, I must say, at least they are doing something in the moral vacuum we now live in.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:06:19 +0000

Kay Guenther Says: “After all we give money to young girls in lower economic households who do have babies (to take care of the child) …”

Can you tell more about this? How much money, under what conditions etc.
Very interesting! May be this practice should be stopped?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:55:41 +0000

I think the idea of this program is good. However, I think what would actually make it work would be the education piece. Paying teenagers for a particular goal doesn’t always work (see Cash for Grades http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2008/11/28/giving-students-cash-for-grades.html). As time unfolds on that project, it has become evident that the minority achievement gap has not really closed, despite throwing tons of money into it. Thus, the education piece on UNCG’s program is probably the most valuable aspect. You would not believe how many myths teenagers hold regarding sex (i.e. the pullout method, the use of plastic wrap as a condom…) and there is no one to dispel these myths because sex education is such a taboo topic in most school systems. With that, I would say it would be just as beneficial to sign boys up for this type of class as well.

One other minor flaw would be what happens to the girls who DO get pregnant. Are they taught good parenting skills? Would they be enrolled in a program such as Violet B. discussed? Are there incentives for not getting pregnant again? Are they still encouraged to go to college? Or is it, once you’ve become pregnant, too bad, you’re branded as an irresponsible teenager, get out of our program. Because inevitably, there will be girls who still end up pregnant, so without a piece of the program to deal with that aspect, it only helps with half of the problem of teenage pregnancy.

Though I agree that teenage pregnancy is a pressing issue, it’s not the end of that girl’s life and she doesn’t have to end up on welfare. Like Suzy, I had my first child at 18, but I read books on parenting, enrolled in parenting classes, and was encouraged by my family to go to college. It was definitely not the easy path, but now I’m done with my MA and easily make double what many of the girls earn who I went to high school with. I eventually was married and we now also have a second child. It’s been rough at times, but we’re a well-adjusted family. I’d love to think this was all my doing, but the fact is that without the support and education I was given AFTER I got pregnant, I know I wouldn’t be where I am now. Providing this type of support would make UNCG’s program more complete in fighting the economic & societal drain that is associated with teenage pregnancy.

One other thing: for those of you encouraging teenage pregnancy in the hope of securing an adoption, that is sick and wrong. Giving up a child is one of the most emotionally wrecking situations – close to the emotions many women feel after an abortion. An image of vultures circling injured lambs comes to mind…

By: liz

liz — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:43:38 +0000

Wow – what a brilliant idea. I am incredibly impressed. Teens should not be having children, it is not healthy for them pysiologically/medically, socially, economically and academically. Wonderful work!!!!

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:29:01 +0000

To Martha: that is called communism.

By: Suzy

Suzy — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:49:51 +0000

I have read all of these comments and frankly can’t believe most of them. As a mother, and one who had my eldest son as a teenager, the concept of this program is GREAT!!! As someone mentioned, abstinence is taught IN CONJUNCTION with contraceptives should these girls have sex. As a parent I would love to believe that my children will wait until marriage or at least until they are a bit older then high school. BUT as a realist, I would rather educate regarding abstinence and sexual behavior while still providing the contraception in the event they make the decision to have sex.

Having a child as a teenager has NOTHING to do with IQ (I have my Masters) but rather just unwise, young decisions. I was not a stupid girl or Latina or looking to populate. I was a young girl who of course thought she was in love, still waited over six months after we stared dating, and was not sleeping with everyone. The problem is that there is still this stigma in our society that teenage girls who get pregnant are stupid and promiscuous. I would beg to differ as I have gone on and I now have four children and have obtained three degrees. Yes, it was hard to do and support children and it took longer…….but a program like this could have helped me at least make better choices on a consistent basis. It only takes ONE time with no contraception to conceive. Stop judging these girls. I do agree that a program for the boys is needed as they are responsible as well.

Now, as someone who was adopted, I am stunned with the folks who are trying to adopt and would suggest allowing these girls to get pregnant for your selfish gain. Being pregnant young is not good for the baby or the mother. There is a higher rate of premature births for teenage girls which puts the babies at risk. Also, giving up a child is not this easy thing to do or decision to make. I contemplated it myself. The emotional aspect is not something to take lightly. There are plenty of babies worldwide that need to be adopted….maybe you should reconsider the “type” of baby you want and just love a child in need instead of wishing a young girl to get pregnant, suffer the loss of a child, just so you can get what you want.