Planned Parenthood Slams Edgy City Ad Campaign On Teen Pregnancy

[alp227]

Planned Parenthood is blasting an edgy new city-sponsored ad campaign against teen pregnancy.

The city ads, which launched Monday on subways and bus shelters, feature grumpy-looking babies spouting dire messages about the consequences of teen pregnancy, like “Dad, you’ll be paying to support me for the next 20 years,” and “Honestly mom...chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?”

Planned Parenthood officials called it a scare campaign that shames teen parents and promotes gender stereotypes.

“The latest NYC ad campaign creates stigma, hostility and negative public opinions about teen pregnancy and parenthood rather than offering alternative aspirations for young people,” said Haydee Morales, vice president of education and training at Planned Parenthood of New York City. “The City’s money would be better spent helping teens access health care, birth control and high-quality sexual and reproductive health education, not an ad campaign intended to create shock value.”

full: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/03/planned-parenthood-slams-edgy-city-ad-campaign-on-teen-pregnancy

[Rabid_Rabbit]

1. Hard hitting

Just like the anti-tobacco ads, this might work.

[HappyMe]

2. What a bullshit campaign.

Money would be better spent educating kids on birth control, std and giving kids info about where to obtain reproductive health care.

[CBGLuthier]

3. Glad you Posted this. Today is my mother's birthday

and I had not called her yet.

She was 17 when I was born.

[Xithras]

4. As a former teen parent, I don't see a problem with this.

I've posted the story before and don't want to rehash it all now, but the story is basically this: I was 17 and she was 15 when she got pregnant. We were 18 and 16 when my daughter was born. Our relationship was over and I was out of the picture before she was even born, and I didn't really know my daughter until she was four (her mother and I had an extremely acrimonious relationship after I pressed charges against her dad and had him jailed for two months after he assaulted me). We did end up reconnecting, and marrying, many years later, but neither of us had any maturity or interest in raising kids or being chained to another person when we were teenagers. My mother in law largely raised my daughter until she was nearly 5 years old.

Few teenagers really contemplate the consequences of pregnancy. The notion that I would one day be handed a bill for nearly $30,000 in unpaid child support (every dime of it paid, by the way) never crossed my mind at 17. The notion that a kid would be HARD WORK never crossed my mind either. And diapers? Isn't that what moms are for?

Any campaign that drives home the reality of parenting for both boys AND girls should be supported. We spend a lot of time and effort teaching kids HOW to avoid pregnancy, and far too little time teaching them WHY they should avoid it, and WHAT to expect if it happens. A holistic approach to teen sexuality should include all of it. While I wouldn't give my daughter up for anything, I might have been a bit more careful if the reality of parenting had been driven home a bit better. Instead, we got condoms and bananas, and a discussion about reproductive systems.