“Juno” and Jamie Spears Open the Door for Communication
Let’s face it—it’s not easy to bring up the topic of teenage sex and unintended pregnancy. Luckily the headlines these days are providing you an opening to have the conversation with your kids or parents.
“Juno” is a movie about a witty, offbeat teenager who seems on her own in making a pregnancy decision. Scriptwriter Diablo Cody says there is no message about abortion in the movie, “She’s just a teeqqnager and confused,” but there is ‘so much more to work with’ if she makes an adoption plan.
Meanwhile, real life Zoey 101 star Jamie Spears, Brittany’s younger sister, is pregnant and intends to raise her baby in Louisiana. Some people are critical because she is a role model for teens and shouldn’t be making it seem so simple. Indeed, any pregnancy decision is complex, but for teens it is more so because they still have so much growing up to do and are still dependent on their families.
Use the opportunity to start a conversation. Here are some links to read:
MSNBC Write-Up
Do U.S. Family Planning Clinics Encourage Parent-Child Communication?
In a study by the Guttmacher Institute, senior researcher Rachel Jones surveyed 81 family planning clinics about their efforts to encourage teenagers to talk to their parents about their sexual health. In all states, teenagers