Pregnant teens have
* decisions to make * challenges to meet * dreams to pursue
Sensitive guidance for pregnant teens - Choices - Techniques for decision-making and goal-setting - Tips for Survival.
Pregnant teens can't go back and change the past, but they can take control of their future. Surviving Teen Pregnancy provides the steps to help them do so.
Teen Pregnancy Is Treated as Challenge
More than a million teenagers become pregnant each year in the United States. It's been called a national tragedy.
If she's pregnant, she doesn't feel like one of a million girls just like herself. She is unique, and she doesn't feel like a national tragedy - but she may feel like a personal one. Her world changes suddenly, and those changes touch the lives of everyone she knows and loves.
Surviving Teen Pregnancy: Your Choices, Dreams, and Decisions by Shirley Arthur provides sensitive guidance for pregnant adolescents. A former teenage mother, Arthur provides choices, techniques for decision-making and goal-setting, and tips for survival.
Pregnant teens are often traumatized by their experience and left with little hope that they can build a successful future. Arthur provides unbiased descriptions of the alternatives - none of them easy - available to pregnant teens. Surviving Teen Pregnancy offers practical advice on these choices and on deciding on birth control, money matters, and plans for the future.
Reading Surviving Teen Pregnancy will help teens define their choices and make their decisions. It will also help them recognize their dreams and realize that they, too, can set goals and work toward those dreams. It will help them meet their personal challenges and get on with their lives.
A teen who continues her pregnancy is faced with more decisions. Prenatal health is a big issue for her and her baby. The importance of nutrition and the effects of smoking, alcohol, and drugs on the fetus are discussed in Arthur's personal and sensitive fashion.
What Others Are Saying
" . . . a must purchase for any library working with young adults . . . Well written and presents the options available to pregnant teens in a straightforward manner, while leaving the reader with a positive feeling for the future." Kliatt Reviews
Contents
Preface
Foreword
Part One JUST A LITTLE BIT PREGNANT
1 Are You Really Pregnant? Do you think you’re pregnant?; Discussing your options; What is not an option?; Getting medical help; Getting emotional help; Other problems; Abuse; Are you a runaway?; Drug use; What will happen to you?
2 You Are Not Alone Carol’s story; Michelle, the last girl anyone thought would get pregnant; Kim, too; The same problem; What are you feeling?; How pregnancy affects your emotions; Good nutrition; What can you do?
3 Taking Care of You and Your Baby Special needs of teen mothers; Nutrition; How much should you gain?; What about junk food?; Exercise helps; Smoking, drinking, drugs; Preparing for childbirth; Your appearance; Taking care of yourself.
Part Two MAKING CHOICES
4 Abortion—A Difficult Choice What is abortion?; How is it done?; What does it cost?; Is it painful?; Will you be depressed—or worse?; Where should you go if you want an abortion?; Will they tell anyone?; Risks and side effects; Pros and cons; Questions to ask yourself; Is it too late for this option?
5 Adoption Is an Option Closed adoption; Open adoption; Choosing an agency; Independent adoption; Rights of baby’s father; What if I change my mind?; What will it cost?; Pros and cons; Questions to ask yourself; Adoption isn’t easy.
6 Choosing Active Parenting What are your options?; Keeping baby and staying single; Parenting; What about baby’s father?; Getting married; Weighing the good and the bad; Why is the “con” list longer?; Questions to ask yourself.
7 It’s Your Decision How do you decide?; Don’t give decision power away; It’s your decision; Others are affected; Your baby; Your parents and family; Your friends; Your boyfriend; Listen to your fantasies; Role-play your choices; What would you do if . . . ?; Put yourself in the future; If it hurts, is it wrong?; What if you decide wrong?
Part Two WRITING YOUR LIFE SCRIPT
8 Social Insecurity—Boyfriends and Others Jennifer; What should Jennifer do?; Your friends; Your boyfriend; What if you decide to say goodbye?; Inquiring minds want to know; When smart people ask stupid questions; Talking can help.
9 Money Matters Handling baby costs; If you’re living with parents; If you’re getting married; Child care; Learning to budget; Public aid; Child support?; Can you afford school?; One day at a time.
10 Birth Control Means Life Control Are you a sexual person?; Handling your sexuality; Should you be in love?; Birth control; These won’t prevent pregnancy; Sex isn’t always planned; Making birth control work.
11 Getting What You Want A job can build self-esteem; What can you be?; Education is important; Four steps to what you want; Sometimes you need a little help; A little healthy competition; Get started on your future.
12 Following Your Dreams The joy of making choices; Tools to help you; Meditation; Movies for the mind; See your past differently; Picturing your future; Self-talk; You’ve been given a challenge; How do you know when you’re “there”?
Appendix
Annotated Bibliography
Index
Author
Shirley Arthur was a teen mother, and she understands the challenge of teen pregnancy. She shares that understanding with her readers. Her daughter, Kristina, graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor's degree in Journalism, and now works for an advertising agency. Shirley has a B.S. in Business and an M.A. in Communications from the University of Colorado. Her younger daughter, Kelly, attended Colorado State University. Shirley works for U.S. West as a Computer Systems Analyst and Technical Writer. She is also a free-lance writer who enjoys writing for young adults. She lives in Denver with her husband.
Teacher Comments
We try very hard never to offer misleading information in our resources. If something slips by us, we are grateful when a reader lets us know. Thank you, Jennifer Parker, for taking the time to let us know of your concerns about the abortion chapter in Surviving Teen Pregnancy by Shirley Arthur:
Although I believe Ms. Arthur intends to present a fair and objective picture of abortion . . . her discussion of second trimester abortions describes a procedure known as saline or prostaglandin induction, and states that abortions done after 12 weeks in pregnancy involve "going through labor to expel the fetus" (page 74). This is not true in the vast majority of cases. The preferred method of abortion between 12 and 24 weeks of pregnancy is Dilation & Evacuation (D&E), and has been so for over a decade. D&E is an outpatient procedure requiring two or three clinic visits, and may be per-formed under local or general anesthesia.
While labor induction abortions are still performed under certain circumstances, they are almost exclusively used in the late second or third trimester, when abortions are done for reasons of grave risk to fetal or maternal health. Girls and women who are choosing abortion for elective reasons and are less than 24 or 25 weeks in pregnancy can expect to undergo a Vacuum Aspiration or Dilation & Evacuation procedure, both of which are much less risky, less expensive, and less physically and emotionally traumatic than a labor induction.
I feel that Ms. Arthur also misleads readers about the availability of second-trimester abortions with statements such as: "Many teenagers don't recognize their pregnancy until after the first three months when abortion may no longer be an option" (page 71). While it is true that abortions after 12 weeks in pregnancy are generally less accessible, second-trimester abortion is legal in all 50 states, and all states have at least one provider. States with parental consent or notification laws offer a judicial bypass process for teens who cannot tell their parents, and many states without public funding for abortions have private funds willing to help poor women and girls with the cost of their medical care. For referrals or more information, call the National Abortion Federation hotline, (800)772-9100.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter further. Jennifer Parker, educator. You can reach Jennifer Parker at Women's Health Rights Coalition, ACCESS, 558 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. 415/647-2697. If you have purchased Surviving Teen Pregnancy, you may wish to tape the above information inside the book. Price of the 1996 edition, quality paper, is $12.95.
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