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FORUMA Better Way to Care for Teen Moms
Statistically speaking, I should have been pregnant by now. In Arkansas, where I grew up, teen pregnancy was common, and by the time I left high school, a substantial portion of my peers had had children or had been pregnant. Although I had traveled quite a bit and seen a variety of lifestyles, I thought nothing of the many young women I knew who often prepared for classes while dealing with early morning colic. It wasn't until college that I was told that my friends' advanced fertility was problematic. More than one professor told me how "lucky" I was to escape the "dangers" of teen pregnancy and "make it" to college, as though I had narrowly escaped a life-threatening illness or accident. Looking back on it, I was indeed lucky: half of all teen mothers complete high school, and fewer go on to college. After working for the past year and a half with teen mothers in Roxbury, I have seen first-hand that their children face more difficulties than those born to older women. Teen mothers are more likely to engage in risky behaviors during pregnancy and have a low-birthweight or critically ill infant. Teen parents and their children are more likely to live in poverty, rely on public assistance, and be involved in Department of Social Services interventions. Teen parenthood, in short, has multiple problems and can be a risky venture for mother and child, especially in terms of socioeconomic and educational advancement. Early DecisionThe question that troubles me, both as a woman and future physician, is why my currently childless state is considered lucky and a boon to my personal and professional life and why all women who have children at an early age are considered hindered in both arenas.Biologically speaking, it seems more logical to have a baby during the healthiest, most fertile time possible, as opposed to waiting years in order to obtain a higher level of education. Yet when teens make the decision to have a child early--and from my experience, many do make this decision actively--they are frequently condemned for delaying or stopping their education in order to have a child. For many of these young women, rearing a child and having a family are priorities (as they are for many of us) and, therefore, their decision to start a family is one that does fulfill their goals. Who is to say that a woman who prefers to have a baby when her body is ready and her priorities are focused on family is misguided? This isn't to say that the problems associated with teen pregnancy aren't real; the numbers speak for themselves. And many teen mothers do not choose to become pregnant. Yet many teens, even those who do become accidentally pregnant, discover a love for their children and a strong urge to parent them in the best way possible. In Sickness or in Health?Part of the difficulty is that teen parents' ability to provide effective childcare is sometimes impeded by medical services that are not directed at young parents and their children. Some medical centers have little means of meeting the special needs of teen parents--for example, having appointments available after school and in the evening. Expanding special services for adolescent mothers could alleviate some of the problems "caused" by teen pregnancy and also create a medical home for teen mothers, a priority previously set by the American Academy of Pediatrics.Motherhood for women under 18 has been around for millennia and is unlikely to stop. Emphasizing teen pregnancy prevention by pathologizing teen pregnancy as "dangerous" does little to address the decision to have children, which young women will continue to make. And it compromises the health care they receive. Women who choose motherhood--perhaps the most important profession--should receive health care that befits their vocation, regardless of their relative youth. --Tarayn Grizzard, a second-year medical student at HMS |
