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Written by Marisol Franco for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post.
Published in partnership with California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ).
What comes to mind when the words “pregnancy,” “Latina” and “teen” are used in the same sentence? You may be surprised at how reality differs from current narratives about Latinas/os and adolescent pregnancy and parenting.
Consider Desiree and Angelica, two single Latina moms now in their thirties. Desiree was 17 and pregnant, and contrary to popular belief, her life did not end. Her son is now 12 and she recently received her Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Development. Angelica was 19 and pregnant. Her son is now 18 and receiving acceptance letters to his top choice colleges.
These success stories are rarely heard of, not because they are rare, but because in the last century, societal norms have changed to deem adolescent parenting “bad” and “teen pregnancy” a social problem. If adolescent pregnancy is so “bad,” why are Desiree, Angelica and their children doing well? Are they exceptions or the rule? The truth is many adolescent parents, children, and families do equally well compared to their peers, particularly when provided with strong social and functional support. The myth of the Latina/o “teen pregnancy problem” has buried these stories. Moreover, the dominant frame used in efforts to reduce adolescent pregnancy has, in part, caused these stories to be seen as even more uncommon, as it ascribes support for young families as social and economic “costs” and depicts young parents as social pariahs.
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ) released its latest issue brief, Supporting Latina/o Youth: Strengthening Latina/o Young Families and Communities, specifically to counter conventional narratives on Latina/o adolescent pregnancy and parenting. CLRJ’s brief critically examines the dominant perspective on adolescent childbearing which focuses almost exclusively on preventing adolescent pregnancy. Supporting Latina/o Youth adamantly rebukes this approach which further stigmatizes young parents and does nothing to resolve the contextual issues that lead youth to become parents, or provide support for youth who do become parents.
Has CLRJ concluded that we must desist in supporting “teen pregnancy prevention” programs? To answer that, we ask: how did Desiree and Angelica fall through the prevention cracks?
There are myriad reasons why adolescents become parents including wanting to be a parent, lack of access to contraceptives, lack of access to comprehensive sexuality education, and lack of opportunities. Working with youth to delay childbearing and parenting is not inherently wrong, however viewing youth sexuality in a vacuum of “prevention” does not meet the needs of Latina/o youth. Similar to adults, half of youth pregnancies are unintended. In other words, half of youth pregnancies are planned. Acknowledging that youth sexuality is a normal part of development and that some youth will become sexually active as adolescents compels us to think beyond preventing pregnancy. Efforts to address adolescent pregnancy and parenting must expand to address youth’s sexuality and social needs holistically.
In a misguided attempt to support youth in avoiding the perceived “negative consequences” of adolescent parenting, the dominant prevention frame centers on changing individual behavior, which has both intentionally and unintentionally categorized pregnant and parenting youth as a social problem and a “drain” on society. Young Latina/o parents are stereotyped as unsuccessful, irresponsible and unfit caregivers. This punitive strategy of blaming young Latina/o parents and categorizing them as “costs” further stigmatizes the community while ignoring the social, economic, and political factors that shape their lives and behavior.
It is time to address Latina/o youth sexuality in a manner that considers the broad context of young Latinas’/os’ lives. CLRJ work examine the various health, educational and socio-economic inequities that must be resolved to meet Latina/o youth’s needs.
It refutes myths like: “Adolescent parents are more likely to become poor.” In fact, Latina/o youth – pregnant, parenting or not – are experiencing persistent poverty. Thirty-five percent of California Latina/o youth are living in poverty. Nearly 60 percent of adolescent mothers are already living in poverty at the time of giving birth. Low-income youth make up around 38 percent of young women aged 15-19, and account for 73 percent of adolescents who give birth.
We need to change the dialogue. Instead of focusing on individual behavior and blaming youth, policymakers and advocates must address the institutional factors that influence behavior and create holistic programs that reflect this reality.
Like other parents, Desiree and Angelica made many sacrifices along the way to “make it.” Desiree struggled to work, support her son, and go to school. Angelica’s family supported her as she worked hard to provide for her son on her own. We know not all pregnant and parenting youth experience the same outcomes. Some experience discrimination at school being pushed out into alternative schools for pregnant and parenting students. Some cannot obtain childcare, which similarly to older parents, impedes them from securing good jobs, or attending school or job training. Many fathers have even less resources to support their parenting.
Providing Latina/o youth support and resources to parent does not enable them to become adolescent parents, it provides them with their legal right to the same educational and economic opportunities as their peers. Young parents are part of many Latina/o families’ reality, and they contribute to California’s socio-economic fabric. Pregnant and parenting youth must be treated with respect and dignity, recognizing that they too form part of our state’s future.
As attacks intensify on women, immigrants and anyone who is not a rich, white, heterosexual, conservative man, the vociferous response in defense of women’s autonomy and health has omitted any discussion about healthy sexuality, acquiescing to conservatives that sexuality is inherently bad. The same can be said in the case of adolescent childbearing and parenting. To many, discussing adolescent pregnancy and parenting among Latinas/os is often an unwanted reminder that youth have their own sexuality. By distorting this issue into a widely “palatable” public health prevention framework, we have undermined the conversation around healthy youth sexuality and pigeon-holed the approach to one that is punitive.
In order to address adolescent pregnancy and parenting in the Latina/o community and beyond, we must collectively start to change the discourse and norms to include youth sexuality and health needs from a perspective that acknowledges young people’s rights to education, access, autonomy and opportunities.
4 Comments
(emphasis mine)
Those big, bad conservatives screwing up again, huh?
Would you please present a scintilla of evidence that conservatives, by and large, believe that sexuality is inherently bad? Perhaps you meant to say that conservatives believe that non-heterosexual sexuality is inherently bad? That, I believe, is true. OTOH, your statement, as written, is nonsense.
More generally, your diary doesn’t look at the effects of single parenthood from a statistical point of view. It also doesn’t look at $$ costs to society for, essentially, ponying up to be the missing parent. And it doesn’t even attempt to analyze trans-generational effects of single parenthood.
I think this is extremely misleading. I live in a Hispanic area, and I’m impressed with the willingness of Hispanics to have children, even though I doubt their incomes are very high. There’s obviously tons of immigrants, here. It seems to me that they value family much more than your average whites. They remind me more of my immigrant father, and his generation, than of my more narcissistic, spoiled, late- or non- marrying, and highly divorce-prone generation.
Now, I don’t really know this to be true, but I assume that most of them are married, or else have some sort of committed relationship. (Feel free to give statistics, otherwise.) But, whatever the case, doesn’t simple logic tell you that, financially, it’s better to have 2 very humble wage earners, rather than 1? It wouldn’t surprise me, at all, to learn that most of my young Hispanic neighbors are below the poverty line. What you’ve done, apparently, is lumped different strata of poverty into one grouping.
The statistical reality that I would expect is that a typical below-the-poverty-line Hispanic couple will have a family income more than double that of a single Hispanic female. A woman can’t just go out and work the day after she gives birth. Furthermore, at least where I live, a man will typically make more money than a woman, since he’s likely doing construction, painting, landscaping, etc., and those will typically pay more than the sorts of jobs I see women doing. (I don’t have any facts or figures on this.)
IOW, there’s poor, and then there’s really poor.
If you had a teenage daughter – whether you’re brown, white, black, or polka-dotted, would you teach her that it’s just fine to have a child, on her own? And if you did, wouldn’t you at least want her to think through how she plans to take care of her child?
Metamars,
Consider, America’s lack of a “Test of Ambition”.
Given the wealth of availability for the statistics that apply to social integration, can be skewed in variety of ways when being utilized by the perceived “special interest groups” and when applied, and without much attention, has led to a “clusteer-skew” as per our tax code, among other egregious behaviors.
And what’s missiing in all our social data, is the misunderstanding, intentionally delivered, I might add, by our political elites and the leading opinion makers. And thusly, the American “vision” is missing for what can occur in the Future.
Take, for example, asking teen agers what they intend to accomplish with their lives, brings forth a variety of ideas, and yet, these teen agers have no “political” power that can “shape” their lives for the future. Especially, when our America has never established a “Test of Ambition” as a Yardstick that addresses our daily travails.
Therefore, I ascribe to the idea of an Academic-Military Draft. Long story short, upon turning 18 years of age, a high school drop out or a high school graduate can ‘enlist’ for a period of three years, and upon an honorable discharge, will have completed the academic portion and consequently, achieve a two-year college degree in general studies and equivalent to an Associate of Arts Degree. Further, borrowing the necessary monies from Federal Reserve to complete the third and fourth year of academics, can be easily accomplished. Thus, this Test of Ambition has two inherent components, Hard Work and Self-Discipline. And in doing so, the Ambition for “shaping” one’s life is not overly difficult to acocmplish.
Furthermore, with the implementation of Hispanic Ideas for this “shaping” will occur, given the inevitable demographic trends that will surely occur in the next forty years, is this “vision” that will eventually take hold, all across America. Consequently, an appropriate “vision” is being provided despite the best efforts among the “old and tired white dudes” for having no apparent “vision” other than maintaining the proverbial status quo for “economics trickling upwards” notwithstanding the crappola that passes for “tax cuts will create jobs.”
Jaango
Metamars, my sensei says that it is a sin to waste a training opportunity. So:
I don’t have the stats either, but I think you are correct WRT the incomes that you suppose. However, I submit that is a problem with *income distribution* in the US rather than with having a family there. We need, really really need, to distribute the GDP in a more equitable manner.
Again, I agree. It is insane for a society to make it necessary for any of its members to work more hours than there are in a day to make ends meet. Unless your aim is ethnic/class cleansing. We should, for starters, increase the minimum wage. As the sainted Ronald Reagan said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
I have never had a daughter, but I have had teenage friends, nieces, and a sister who were ‘teenage mothers’. Some pregnancies were planned, others were not, some were ‘in wedlock’, others not, some were aborted, others not. In no case that I know of did a mother raise a child ‘on her own’. They had (and have) family and friends, some of whom would be me. But you are posing a hypothetical question, so I will answer that I would advise any woman, young or old, to plan ahead, use birth control if they don’t want a child, consider an abortion or give for adoption if it is too late. I would also observe that, possibly due to my circle of acquaintance, that most of the women I have known who have been surprised to find themselves pregnant, the ones most angry were the married ones. And before you ask, the father was their husband.
And to close, I will ask Maddy Prior to sing us out.
:-) That may be an indication of the state of their marriage, more than anything else.