Posted on 01/09/2009 8:10:32 AM PST by lewisglad
In the final half hour of Thursday’s CBS Early Show, correspondent Bianca Solorzano reported on an increase in the teen pregnancy rate, using Bristol Palin as an example: "Teen pregnancy was on the RNC platform this year, literally, as Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, was about to give birth. Jamie Lynne Spears made headlines at 16, not for her acting, but the grown-up, real-life role of becoming a teen mom. These famous faces front a growing problem." A graphic appeared on screen declaring: "Teen Pregnancy: The Growing Crisis."
Later, Solorzano explained: "After more than a decade of progress, experts fear we've been lulled into a false sense of security. And have stopped pouring resources into prevention." A clip of the movie ‘Juno’ was then played, after which Solorzano exclaimed: "And unlike the comedy 'Juno,' there's nothing funny about the nation's growing number of teenage mothers."
Here is the full transcript of the segment:
8:31AM SEGMENT:
RUSS MITCHELL: We're going to begin this half hour with a story about teen pregnancies on the rise. It is a reversal of recent trends. CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano has more.
[GRAPHIC ON SCREEN: 'Teen Pregnancy: The Growing Crisis']
BIANCA SOLORZANO: Teen pregnancy was on the RNC platform this year, literally, as Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, was about to give birth. Jamie Lynne Spears made headlines at 16, not for her acting, but the grown-up, real-life role of becoming a teen mom. These famous faces front a growing problem. A new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows for the first time in almost 15 years, the number of teen birth rates is on the rise.
BILL ALBERT [NATIONAL TEEN PREGNANCY CAMPAIGN]: We've got a problem nationally, that we've got a problem in nearly every state, and that we have a problem among all racial and ethnic groups.
SOLORZANO: Teen births are up significantly in 26 states. Mississippi now leads the nation with the highest teen pregnancy rate. 68 births for every 1,000 teenage girls. New Mexico and Texas aren't far behind. In comparison, New Hampshire has the nation's lowest rate. 19 births for every 1,000 female teens. After more than a decade of progress, experts fear we've been lulled into a false sense of security. And have stopped pouring resources into prevention.
[CLIP OF MOVIE 'JUNO']
JENNIFER GARNER: Your parents are probably wondering where you are.
ELLEN PAGE: Nah, I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?
[END OF CLIP]
SOLORZANO: And unlike the comedy 'Juno,' there's nothing funny about the nation's growing number of teenage mothers. Bianca Solorzano, CBS News, New York.
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
NEWSFLASH——
Teenagers in the US are having SEX!!!!
Film at 11.
hypocrisy
Bristol Palin is an immoral skank who can’t keep her legs together (vile DU types and inference of driveby media commentary)
Angelina Jolie is a UN ambassador and adulated in every form of media
No I actually admire that and wish that I too would have done the same. (I know it sounds stupid and whats done is done, sometimes it still saddens me I chose that path) I hope my children (both male) will be virgins when they are married. I am all for that. However, it hardly works that way. So I actually I admire you believe it or not. Have a great day.
You have a nice day, too. You know, our mistakes matter, but so does what we do about them.
If, in order to justify our own sins (or the sins of those we love) we abandon and denigrate all morality, then it compounds the problem. You are clearly not doing that.
I’m certainly not going to judge whatever you may have done. It’s not my place. I have sins of my own, just not the ones we have been discussing here. I just appreciate the fact that you are standing up for morality now and with your children, and congratulate you for it.
The people making such accusations are often the offspring of the “hippie” aka “free love” generation, many of whom were born with no male in the home or with unwed parents. I find that more telling about the person making the comment than about Bristol Palin.
And if the “free love” movement had never happened, the numbers of unwed teen mothers would not be as high today because the stigma attached to unwed mother/fatherhood would still be firmly in place.
Liberals want it both ways . . . it’s “okay” if they do something but “not okay” if someone else does the same thing. Shallow hypocritical complainers.
What’s a “CBS”?
BS from a Cow.
I am very interested in effective ways to teach morality to children in our current degraded environment. I think one helpful tactic that is often overlooked is to teach our children all the practical and emotional advantages of sexual morality, not just the religious prohibitions and bad effects.
A couple who confines themselves to sex within marriage will have a closeness and a bond that those who engage in sex outside of marriage will never know. There is an intimate part of each of their beings that — they know — has never been shared with anyone else.
A couple who knows that his or her spouse has the strength of character to resist sexual temptation will have an extra degree of trust in that person.
The children growing up in that household will have an extra measure of security, knowing their parents are people of strong character, who trust and love each other.
The couple can go to sleep every night knowing that they are not at the slightest risk of AIDS (barring a bad transfusion, that is).
The couple who are sexually moral can say to their children, “Do as I do, not just as I say.” They can demonstrate to their children that it is possible. And, for that family, it will be the norm.
I suspect that much of what I have said is what makes you sad, and that is certainly not my intent in writing it. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t teach your children that they can have these advantages (At the same time as you teach them about repentance, if you choose to tell them about your own choices.)
Excellent points, and very articulate in how you stated it. I’m printing it to use with my own (four) children. Thank you.
They full well know the answer, that is why they don’t dare ask the question. It won’t fit their agenda.
Ooooooooooh... so that’s why the drive-bys have suddenly become concerned about pre-marital sex.
That they are Mitt sycophants too?
It is what makes me sad. I think about it once in a while but when it hits it takes a while to shake it. Been thinking about it all week. And I have been married 14 years. Long gone in the past. I am a firm believer bad decisions NEVER go away.
We have beaten this subject to death. Take care.
He and his had better be divine and without sin, ALL of them. From birth on thru the day he announces.
Of course by 2012 or 2016, our base just may have added MORE to our ever increasing litmus-test for candidates and their families/friends/boyfriends/church.
God help us, no wonder we have so few conservatives willing to run....and so few conservatives that can win after being left unrecognizable as human beings.
Well said. How many candidates have decided not to subject their families to the wolves? What a shame.
Nice straw man attempt. Unfortunately for you, it’s so transparent when placed in the context of the thread.
Actually they are doing the RIGHT THING.
So if the MOTHER AND FATHER of the new child are doing the RIGHT thing, this is a crisis for the single mother left.
“The real face of crisis teen pregnancy is a lot younger than 18.”
Amen!
25 years ago when we were leaving the hospital with our newborn twins, a group came rushing by and out the door. As an older nurse returned from the departure party, I overheard her explain to an aide that the baby’s mother was 13 and he would be raised by his grandmother (who was no more than 30 herself). It was very depressing.
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