EDUCATING teenage girls about pregnancy is very pertinent, but are we really addressing the right issue (“Teens learn birth reality”, Sunday Herald Sun February 16)?
Many teenage girls entertain fantasies about having a baby, but I suggest wanting sex (albeit of the experimental kind) may be of greater significance.
Further, I contend that girls fall pregnant not necessarily because they want a baby, but rather because to accept responsibility for contraception runs counter to the social attitude that condemns sex per se for this age group of females.
They don’t use contraception because they cannot acknowledge they really want sex.
If more teenage girls recognised what they really wanted- without shame, embarrassment or criticism-they maybe they would be more responsible. Having a baby may be an outcome some choose, but I suggest wanting to know more about sex could be more relevant for most.