Comments on: Teens and Pregnancy

By: maddie

maddie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:44:52 +0000

Ok so the other day I heard the Joe Jonas interview. Both you and Amanda trash talked your own guest after he had hung up. Out of the entire interview there was one question Joe did not give a response to. When you’re that famous, you try to keep as much as you can private. So, can you really blame him for not answering? I would think that that you could understand that. I know you have your own talk show and everything, but by no means does that give you the right to call him stuck up and plastic. It really doesnt make you look good.

By: Kim K

Kim K — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:39:39 +0000

I hope she finds her way….. Speaking from experience. I was fifteen and pregnant. That’s a rough road ahead of her….

By: Jenna

Jenna — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:00:30 +0000

My mother had me when she was nineteen, which made her unable to finish college, and my father has openly said (only in a moment of stupidity, not because he doesn’t love me or anything) that having a child at that age was a mistake. Yeah, it hurt at the time, but then again, I had to think. I’m in my teens at the moment as well and I have no clue WHAT I would do if I were to have a child of my own. I understand that most girls will get that feeling at some point that they want children, but it’s kind of ridiculous to say your time is running out and you want a child right now when you’re only sixteen or seventeen.

And the twelve year olds? That amazes me. I mean, whatever guy chooses to do them (pardon my vulgarity) is pretty sad in my eyes. They’re twelve. Most if not all are sexually unappealing and for you to actually do that with a twelve year old and have it result in a child, is just sad.

Soon, the US will no longer be known for its percentage of obese people, but for its pregnant teens.

What has the world come to?

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:23:14 +0000

ha-ha!

you’re funny

By: Judy B. Street

Judy B. Street — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:39:41 +0000

After reading Alison’s response, I must admit that her comment regarding not being able to support children on a salary of over $100,000 a year surprised me. I live in Penfield with my husband and four month old daughter, and we live quite comfortably on $65,000 a year. Nice neighborhood (very family friendly!), nice house (1,800 square feet with three bedrooms and a third of an acre) and we each have a fairly new car to drive around in. Compared to larger cities, this area has a cost of living which makes it easy for most middle class families to thrive.

One of the primary factors, in my opinion, which contribute to our success is the fact that we don’t carry any debt apart from the monthly mortgage payment. Both cars and our vacation property are paid off, and our credit card balances are paid off each month. Unless you’re living way beyond your means, carrying a boatload of debt or feel as though you must “keep up with the Joneses” from a status perspective, $100,000 a year is more than enough money to support a family.

By: Ni

Ni — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:57:40 +0000

This world needs more people like Alison. If Julie had grown up in a family that provided the love for her then she may not have felt the “need” to have a child. This is more of an issue of how we are raising our children. I was very much like Julie and had my first child out of the need to have someone to love me and I was 17 at the time. I now have 3 children and my daughter is 12 and because thankfully while I was pregnant I sought out a therapist I was and continue to be able to raise my children with the knowledge, self esteem and love that they will never feel so worthless as I did and as Julie does. Just so you know, you have done more damage to that young girl. Your and that “man” have reinforced her beliefs of worthlessness, and I have the feeling it wasn’t just her but any young girl who is feeling the same that listened that morning. As much as I love you guys and as long as I have listened to you, this time you failed yourselves, your listeners and your community.
Once again bravo to you Alison, people like you are the unsung heroes of the lost and forgotten and trust me when I say what you do impacts many lives for the better.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:43:03 +0000

I take issue with this. You have a combined income of over $100,000 and can’t afford a child?? How is that possible? I know plenty of others that can raise a child for a lot less a year and have no problems. Unless you live well beyond your means and plan on feeding your child gourmet food with a gold plated spoon, there should be no reason why raising a child would be difficult. Sure, there are times that would be tough, but you make sacrifices and do what needs to be done. I would gladly take your income over mine when raising a child. On a different note, Julie didn’t have to make the phone call. Clearly, she makes poor choices. If I came home pregnant at 18…oh, wait, I wouldn’t. My father instilled fear in me, so that was never something that I was going to mess with. Parents need to take responsibility for their children, not enable them to make wrong choices. She could have considered an open-adoption. Maybe it would be hard to give up a child, but placing them in a loving home is better than struggling and accepting assistance the rest of your life. Enough said…

By: jamie

jamie — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:37:45 +0000

I was listening on my way to work the day you guys had Julie on the phone. I just have to say I’m a mother of 2 (3 and 5 yr old) I’m 23 years old.I’m having the hardest time being a single mom. my daughter’s father wants nothing to do with her,this causes a lot of problems for her and I. Anyways Julie kept pointing out that some teenage mothers can still be good mothers, that was her only defense. This has nothing to do with whether you are a good mother or not! her baby is only 6 months old, she has no idea how hard it’s going to be for her. Putting off school is the worse thing she could do, once the baby gets older and the longer you wait to go makes it all the more harder to go, and her thinking it’s ok to not have the baby’s father in the baby’s life is just aweful! Children need a father figure, they need to be able to associate the name daddy to a man, and if that man is absent, this is something that hurts the child. my daughter doesn’t know that her father wants nothing to do with her, but she does know about him and knows what he looks like, this may have not been too smart on my hands but i never talk down about her father because it would be her i would be hurting not him. She asks me every day “mommy can I call my daddy?” and instead of telling her no, I change it and tell her she can call my boyfriend (who suggested we have her call him)the point is it’s not good enough cause we don’t associate him as being her father. I also think that almost every young girl who doesn’t have a father in their lives feel the need and urge to have a baby, most of the time it goes away. when i found out I was pregnant when i was 18 it was definitely something I wasn’t ready for at all. I do my best every day but this is sooooo hard. I also want to say that my mom was 15 turning 16 when she had my brother and 16 turning 17 when she had me… my mom has a 17 year old(with a baby) and a 15 year old still living with her and is now selfish and doesn’t want the responsibilities of being a mother. Her lack of responsibilities and her selfishness has definitely made it difficult to even have a relationship with her. I don’t think that Julie understands that being a teenage mother isn’t the best thing because of the fact that you lose part of your childhood and spend so many years trying to make up for it. There are definitely days where I feel I want to be a 23 yr old and just go hang out with my friends or be in a bar because I rarely get to. which doesn’t make anyone a bad mother at all it’s just the fact that being this age and not getting to do everything that your friends get to do because you have kids and they don’t. I love my babies to death and am very grateful, but I sure wish it could have happened a little later. I bust my a@@ every day working in a factory just so i can pay for my apartment and everything else that comes along with being an adult and a parent, The only help i get from the government is food stamps and they give me not even enough to make it through the month. And with gas prices now being so high.. because i have a v8 i can barely make it through the week. Scott you were right about her being selfish. she is being selfish she needs to think about her and that baby’s future more, and i think she should better prepare herself for all those mountains ahead. She is lucky she has a mother who is there for her, my mother wasn’t she kicked me out and being 18 and pregnant and scared to death of what i was gonna do i got married at 19. I’m divorced now my sons father is in his life as much as he can but he is stationed in Hawaii. so he only sees his dad once a year when his parents fly up here from Texas to fly my son back with them for a month so that he can spend time with them as well.I only hope she doesn’t have to struggle like i did and do. And another thing she hasn’t yet realized is finding a good man to be with, because now she has to find one that wouldn’t mind dating her because she is a mother and that wouldn’t mind spending a lot of time with her and the baby. ok I think i said enough, and i apologize for this being so long. I don’t think I said all i wanted to, but I think this covers most of basis.

By: Pat

Pat — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:54:41 +0000

I think it’s rediculous. Pay attention to the quote, “Someone to love me.” How selfish is that? Having a child is not the way to find true love. When you have a child, you should give all your love selflessly, not expecting it in return. When you do receive it, it makes it even more blissful. But when girls have children for this reason, don’t have the maturity, experience, or financial ability to take care of one, the child suffers and then resents the parent. The result being the parent feeling as neglected and unloved as when they began. This passes the child. Thus, the cycle begins again to try to find love.

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:29:52 +0000

Geezus, such a big fuss over teenage pregancy. In the old days this was normal you were married and bearing children by the time you were 14. See what our society has done to us. We cast such judgement on people because we are following societies rules instead of mother natures. If we are not suppose to have children then why can we bear them at that age? The only thing that makes a 14 year old unfit to be a mother is the way society raises their children today. Is it their fault that we fill their heads with tv, toys and games instead of the fundamentals of life such has hardwork,good values, cooking, cleaning and raising children. We teach them that they can do anything and society will pick up after them, there will always be help and support for everything they do. Pregnant teenagers is not the issue. I don’t support anyone’s view in this case. Not even my own. Alison, in your email you tell them “you MUST respect others thoughts, morals, and beliefs. And it was so wrong of the both of you to persecute her and impose your beliefs onto her; regardless of how you feel”. You really should have stopped there but you didn’t you went onto say, “she has no idea how difficult it is the older you get; and also “for her to understand the importance of therapy”as well as “would be more than happy to help her find some services” and my favorite “it is a grim reality” It appears you too are trying to impose your beliefs. Becareful of the stones you throw, they do tend to come back and hit us. I apologize if this offends you and if it makes you feel any better, I’ve thrown those stones too and have also been hit by them, no ones perfect.

Here’s a stone comming at me now.