Within the last several years, adolescent couples in high school that find that their conception control methods have not worked, are more likely to think of abortion as a possible outcome of the pregnancy. When I (a senior high school girl) first began to think that I might be pregnant, the days dragged by. I was really hysterical for two days because my boyfriend's father would not agree to an abortion, and I thought I would have to have the baby. During that time I missed and skipped a lot of school simply because I couldn't sit in class because I was constantly thinking about it. Things relaxed a little when I found out an abortion was possible.
Naturally, I was worried about the operation, but I knew it was the only way. I really
thought that it was better to stop the pregnancy than to have a
child that I would have to give away. I really don't know what
would have happened to me if I had to have the baby, but I am
convinced that an abortion was less of a strain on me both
physically and mentally. As I sit in my room now at college and
write this paper, I still feel sadness about the whole matter, but I'm
sure I will never look back at the experience with joy.
Illegitimacy as an Outcome of Adolescent Coital Encounters
Illegitimacy, the actual occurrence and the fear of it, is a major outcome of
adolescent coital encounters. Those who have not had coitus sometimes fear that
fondling, kissing, and caressing will result in pregnancy, as well they might if in the
process semen has been deposited within the folds of the labia. Lack of trust in
themselves, or lack of trust of the partner, also contribute to a fear of pregnancy.
Because of inadequate data, but also because of unwillingness to face the facts, it
has been widely held that the girl who became pregnant out of wedlock was lacking in
intelligence, was lower class, came from a poor home, etc. With more representative
samples and a greater willingness to face the facts, it is now apparent that this is not
the case.
In the unmarried mother population, there is pretty much the range of the
total population of both "good" and "poor" family backgrounds (Konopka, 1963, p. 2). The
girl pregnant out of wedlock is not necessarily emotionally disturbed, other than that
the situation of pregnancy may be a disturbing factor. Poor sex education is prevalent.
Nor is pregnancy out of wedlock a ghetto phenomenon. Anderson and Letts (1964)
found in Minnesota, a rural state with a relatively small non-white population, that high
school marriages and pregnancies at the time of marriage were much more prevalent in
schools located in communities up to 40,000 population. The highest rate was reported
by schools in communities of 2,000 to 10,000 population, where 85 percent of the high
school girls who married were reported to be pregnant at the time of marriage.Anderson
and Latts noted that the reported percentage is perhaps unreliably low, since many high
school principals in reporting, indicated the number of marriages but not the number
of girls pregnant at the time of marriage.
The greater incidence among girls of high
schools in rural areas may happen because rural students are less sophisticated, have
even less sex education, and tend to pet less, and have sexual intercourse with greater
frequency than their urban cousins. For cities and suburbs, 47 percent of the high school
girls who married were reported as pregnant at the time of marriage.
For the teenage girl who is pregnant out of wedlock, there are a number of
alternatives: she and the boy can marry, she can seek an abortion, she can bear the
child and keep it, she can bear the child and place it for adoption, or bear the child and
place it with foster parents until she is ready to marry. The extent to which the
various alternatives are chosen varies with social class and with various national and
ethnic groups.
Though pregnancy out of wedlock is commonly a traumatic experience for the
couple and for close relatives, it is not always regarded as such, or may be regarded
only temporarily as such. Though the following cases do not cover the range of
reactions, they show several that cannot be regarded as entirely negative.
Perhaps the whole experience has been a blessing in disguise. Now
my parents and I can talk to each other (Konopka, 1963, p. 3).