From a teenager who became pregnant unexpectedly and went to a crisis pregnancy center, as told on clinicquotes.com:
“The first time I stepped through the doors of the pregnancy center, I was 15 years old… And I was pregnant. I denied it until I couldn’t deny it any longer and I was already three months along when I finally told my parents.
“‘We’re going to go away for the weekend. Get it taken care of and no one will ever know,’ they said.
“By God’s grace, we were somehow sitting in a counselor’s office the next morning. She took time to speak with me alone – without the pressure of my parents. ‘I know that abortion isn’t the right choice for me.… Life is life no matter how it came about,’ I told her…
“During my pregnancy, I felt shunned. My classmates didn’t understand and friends didn’t know how to support me. I lost friends because of my choice to carry my child to term… I wasn’t allowed to visit my parents’ public workplaces. They were too embarrassed… We also stopped attending church, as my parents were afraid of feeling shame and being looked down upon…
“The pregnancy center staff gave me the emotional support I wasn’t getting anywhere else. For me, the pregnancy center was a safe place. They gave me the power to voice my concerns, questions and emotions. They treated me with respect and gave me open and honest feedback. At the pregnancy center, I shed tears of sorrow and then tears of joy as I proudly showed off the pictures of my son.… My heart broke on the day my son left the hospital in someone else’s arms. But while there was pain and sadness, there was never regret. I never regretted that I gave my son life – a better life, the best life I could.”
I believe that the proposed curriculum on pregnancy centers should be included in William S. Hart Union High School District health classes. Many health classes have a thorough discussion on sexual education and the different aspects to protection from pregnancy and diseases. However, despite the education system being thorough on this topic, it has not stopped many young teenagers and adults from having unplanned pregnancies. The World Health Organization also reported, “At least 10 million unintended pregnancies occur each year among adolescent girls aged 15-19 years in the developing world.”
Many teens and adolescents are facing pregnancy despite their education on safe sex. It may be too late to prevent this for these girls or change what they do in the future, but schools can still help them if this sudden life event happens. Since schools discuss sex education, it is important that they also provide information on pregnancy centers. Schools may not have the resources for pregnant teens, but they can guide them to places that can help and support them.
The SCV Pregnancy Center displays all the resources and services that their pregnancy centers do for the community. They also include many other community resources that have teamed up with them such as food assistance, financial assistance, homeless services and trauma/abuse services.
Pregnancy centers do not have enough awareness for a community that has a reputation of adolescent unintended pregnancies. This is a problem for girls who become pregnant and feel alone, confused, or scared. Many women do not think there are resources available and choose what they think is the only option for this complicated ordeal. I am not demeaning a woman’s choice for abortion but there are girls who do not feel comfortable with that option but think they have no other choice. I think it is the school’s job to inform young people about all their options if the time ever comes of an unplanned pregnancy. The advantage to pregnancy centers like SCV is that they will inform girls of all their options, which include becoming a mother, adoption, or abortion.
Although they do not do the abortion procedure, they will still inform girls of this procedure accurately without any judgement. With motherhood or adoption, they will help with the necessities the mother needs during and after pregnancy. The SCV Pregnancy Center also has a Bright Course, which discusses topics on sexual education, prenatal, labor and delivery, infancy, toddler, motherhood and fatherhood. Liberty Counsel explains the further steps the community took to make resources accessible to the target audience. The resources provided in 2017 were 400,100 free ultrasounds, 400,100 hours of free services, 679,600 free pregnancy tests, approximately 67,400 people volunteered at pregnancy centers, and 7,500 medical professionals offered their time and skills to conduct services for free.
These incredible services by pregnancy centers need to be taught to teens in their health classes. With the amount of adolescent pregnancy and the amount of services pregnancy centers provide, this information is essential to a community with unplanned pregnancies. Adding the discussion of pregnancy centers to the health curriculum would allow the younger generation to utilize the services through their teen and adult years. The costs that may be implemented would be handouts for every student if the teacher decided to do a collaborative approach to the lesson.
This solution is about information and the rest of the materials needed will be at the pregnancy centers for free. This lesson does not need to provide pregnancy tests or birth control because this lesson will inform students these materials are at the center for free. As far as stakeholders or the Hart district board or student, they will not need to pay any significant amount to the SCV Pregnancy Center for their contribution to inform students or be educated on their cause. School is a place where students can learn how to navigate life and pregnancy can be a huge part of that, so having the knowledge to deal with it is a vital piece schools should make known to their students.
Aubrielle Lucia
Canyon Country
