Teenage sex is in the news, between teen celebrity baby stories, movies depicting teen pregnancy and yet another statistical report showing an increase in teen pregnancy. What should Christian parents and pastors make of all this? Should we give up on teaching abstinence and just stay in bed with the covers pulled over our heads?  If we can conquer our embarrassment, we can view these developments as invaluable “teaching moments.”

First, let’s try to take an objective look at the data. The preliminary data from the CDC showed that the teen birth rate rose 3% in 2006, the first rise since 1991. US headlines confidently declared that this increase proves the end of abstinence education. But we can draw more subtle, and more hopeful, lessons from the CDC report.

First, the overall birth rate increased so substantially that we could call it another Baby Boom. The general fertility rate increased 3% between 2005 and 2006, to 68.4 births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, the highest level since 1991.  The increase in the teen birth rate is roughly this same 3%. The preliminary estimate of births in 2006 was over 4 million, the largest single-year increase in the number of births since 1989 and the largest number of births in any single year since 1961.

In my view, the overall rise in births is good news, a welcome relief from the seemingly relentless population collapse around the developed world. Every new baby is a sign of hope, a sign that someone believes in the future. You might even say that this is an implicitly pro-life message. Women are keeping their babies rather than aborting them.

Hollywood has gotten that message, even if the news media has not. The surprise hit movie Juno is profoundly pro-life. The title character, a pregnant 16 year-old, turns away from an abortion clinic. One of her classmates picketing outside the clinic tells her, “Your baby has fingernails.”  Juno can’t get the image of baby fingernails out of her mind. The movie tells the story of her determination to place her baby up for adoption. The story ends happily for her: her father supports her; her boyfriend comes to love her; her baby ends up in good hands.

While it is good news that the birthrate is up, there is reason for concern. The unmarried mothers’ birth rate rose over twice as much as the teen birth rate; the birth rate rose 7% in 2006 to 50.6 per 1,000 unmarried women aged 15-44 years. And this increase is not just among teens: in every age group, the percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers increased. Over all, more than one and a half million children were born into the family form that is statistically likely to leave them in poverty, jeopardize their chance for higher education and give them tenuous relationship with their fathers.

But the rise in unmarried births did not make the headlines.

Why are increasing numbers of women choosing unmarried childbearing?  Some women have not been able to find a spouse.  Others have come to the conclusion that men are a nuisance and unnecessary for their children. Still other women have focused so much on their careers that they allowed no time for marriage and children until their thirties. By that time their marriage chances may be reduced and their fertility impaired.

It is hard to describe these women who have delayed marriage and children as irresponsible since they are following the prescribed cultural script. “You are an intelligent, gifted woman. You can do anything you put your mind to. Get an education, then an advanced degree. Establish yourself in your career. Pay off your student loans. Then get married. Buy a house. Only then should you think about starting a family.”

By the time a woman has followed all these steps her biological clock is ticking. Loudly. Not all women will be successful at finding a husband and having a baby within the relatively small window of opportunity that remains open to her. With time running out, we shouldn’t be surprised if some educated, affluent women decide to skip the Husband Step and go straight to the Baby Step.

There is something seriously strange when society can't bring itself to tell kids to postpone sex until marriage but insists that women postpone marriage until they are nearly menopausal.

Tens of thousands expected in the 35th March for Life in Washington D.C.

Today demonstrators will make the 2 hour march past the Capitol ending in front of the Supreme Court in what is considered the most attended annual march in Washington D.C..

Reflecting on the anniversary of Roe v Wade, Father Jonathan Morris of FoxNews cites the Guttmacher study conclusion that today in the United States more than one in five pregnancies end in abortion. This is equivalent to about 1.2 million abortions per year, or about 3,300 per day. Since 1974, there have been an estimated 49,000,000 abortions in America.

The plots thicken: As Roe v. Wade turns 35, some in Hollywood changing minds about "choice."

In the movie Knocked Up, blond-and- beautiful television producer Alison is tapped for her on-air dream job, but while celebrating she gets pregnant during a one-night stand. She decides not only to keep the baby but also to build a relationship with the father.

In Bella, a soccer star's life is upended when he kills a young girl in a traffic accident. Realizing a new reverence for life, he convinces a friend to carry her unplanned pregnancy to term.

In Noelle, a priest whose job is to shut down ailing parishes encourages an unmarried woman to keep her baby, the fruit of a liaison with the arrogant heir of a wealthy family.

In the comedy Juno, the title character, a pregnant teenager, decides to carry to term and place her child for adoption—because a pro-life teen picketing the abortion clinic where Juno had gone to terminate her pregnancy points out that Juno's baby already has fingernails. The film is nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Has Hollywood tilted off its reliably pro-abortion axis? With the 2007 debut of these films, has the American abortion debate finally reached a tipping point, where more art now imitates pro-life?

Yes, says Steve McEveety, producer of Braveheart and executive producer of Bella and The Passion of the Christ. He believes moviegoers will see "a lot more films" with an underlying reverence for the unborn "and a lot more pro-life people coming into the film industry based on pure logic."

McEveety is among those working in Hollywood who say a subtle cultural shift, one that also reaches into television, is underway. Some peg the change to ultrasound technology, others to a changing of the guard among filmmakers. But all agree that Hollywood has awakened to this fact: Abortion is not only unarguably un-sexy, but also un-heroic. And without sex and heroes, Hollywood would have few bankable stories to tell.

WorldMag

Nickelodeon's Zoey 101 teenaged star, Jamie Lynn Spears, reportedly shocked by her pregnancy

Parents of young fans of Zoey 101 will likely find an opportunity to weigh in on questions of teen sex and childbearing as news of Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy spreads. MTV News reports that Spears will have the baby and remain in her home state of Louisiana. It is unknown whether she and the baby's father will marry.

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