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Unintended pregnancy in US teens has consistently dropped by quite a bit [1], and I have to imagine that has reduced the number of "shotgun weddings" at a young

Unintended pregnancy in US teens has consistently dropped by quite a bit [1], and I have to imagine that has reduced the number of "shotgun weddings" at a young age. That said, the number of unintended pregnancies by people at and below the poverty line has actually risen somehow. [1] https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/unintended-pregnancy-united-states https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/unintended-pregnancy-u...

dcole2929 8y ago
The somehow is the access to contraceptives being severely curtailed. Outside of condoms pretty much every form of contraceptive is much more expensive and harder to get than it once was. Free/Cheap birth control was an excellent way to prevent pregnancies but various entities have conspired to take that away, with the ridiculous idea that people will just stop having sex. Condoms can be expensive if you are living below the poverty line but people aren't going to stop having sex. Thus you have these obvious consequences.
tropdrop 8y ago
> somehow Note that access to reproductive care continues to be impeded on in places like Utah and Texas - see the recent filibuster in Texas by Wendy Davis, for instance, or Utah's "abstinence-only" school curriculum. It is not usually middle class families hurt by policies like these (e.g. Utah's laws assume the parents will deal with sex ed, and by and large, middle class families do just that). Instead, abortion/birth control restrictions and/or poor sex ed hurt lower educated, lower income families. Single moms (whose husbands are in prison) have no time to ensure each of their kids gets proper attention, have no control over the next pregnancy because lack of education/PTO to drive to the next state for abortion, new child is born, cycle continues and unintended pregnancy rate for people below poverty line increases.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
trentlott 8y ago
The concerted effort to shut down Planned Parenthood, probably. When you remove and important and often sole provider of family planning, the planning part goes astray. My biggest question is who profits from eliminating places like that? I don't buy that it's just about abortion and religion (and therefore politics, in the US.)
- magduf 8y ago
  Don't underestimate the power of religious, irrational thinking. People in the middle east have been fighting to the death over completely irrational religious issues for literally thousands of years now. Not everything has a profit motive behind it.
thrower123 8y ago
Pregnancy can still be a meal-ticket in some states. Particularly if there is a definite father that it can be pinned on.

dcole2929 8y ago

The somehow is the access to contraceptives being severely curtailed. Outside of condoms pretty much every form of contraceptive is much more expensive and harder to get than it once was. Free/Cheap birth control was an excellent way to prevent pregnancies but various entities have conspired to take that away, with the ridiculous idea that people will just stop having sex. Condoms can be expensive if you are living below the poverty line but people aren't going to stop having sex. Thus you have these obvious consequences.

tropdrop 8y ago

> somehow Note that access to reproductive care continues to be impeded on in places like Utah and Texas - see the recent filibuster in Texas by Wendy Davis, for instance, or Utah's "abstinence-only" school curriculum. It is not usually middle class families hurt by policies like these (e.g. Utah's laws assume the parents will deal with sex ed, and by and large, middle class families do just that). Instead, abortion/birth control restrictions and/or poor sex ed hurt lower educated, lower income families. Single moms (whose husbands are in prison) have no time to ensure each of their kids gets proper attention, have no control over the next pregnancy because lack of education/PTO to drive to the next state for abortion, new child is born, cycle continues and unintended pregnancy rate for people below poverty line increases.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

trentlott 8y ago

The concerted effort to shut down Planned Parenthood, probably. When you remove and important and often sole provider of family planning, the planning part goes astray. My biggest question is who profits from eliminating places like that? I don't buy that it's just about abortion and religion (and therefore politics, in the US.)

magduf 8y ago
Don't underestimate the power of religious, irrational thinking. People in the middle east have been fighting to the death over completely irrational religious issues for literally thousands of years now. Not everything has a profit motive behind it.

thrower123 8y ago

Pregnancy can still be a meal-ticket in some states. Particularly if there is a definite father that it can be pinned on.