Teens & Sects, Teens & Sex

Authorities in Texas have removed 53 teen girls from a polygamist compound and they report that 31 of them are pregnant or have already had children. That's 57% of the girls. Creepy, dangerous, sad, shocking, awful - it seems like everyone has an opinion. It also seems as if there are unlimited resources to deal with this problem. Child Protective Services, the foster care system, law enforcement, the news media, the healthcare system, religious entities, groups like the ACLU - all these and more are concerned, engaged, watching, helping, hoping.

These girls and their children are important, and their fates and futures hang in the balance to be sure. But what about the millions of other teenage girls in this country who are growing up in situations which lead them to teen pregnancy and childbearing? There are communities all over the United States where more than half of girls get pregnant as teens. Among Latina girls in this country, 53% get pregnant at least once as teens. Among African American girls, 51%. In fact, 30% of ALL teen girls in America get pregnant before age 20. That means every state, every county, every community, every high school, and more and more junior high schools too.

Where is the outcry about these girls? Where is the intervention? Where is the government, the news media, the cultural intelligentsia? Why are the little voices inside our heads that are asking so many questions about the FLDS girls - about their clothes, their lifestyles, their beliefs, their parents, their community - why are those voices so silent about the fates and futures of the girls elsewhere in this country?

One of those compound girls had a baby yesterday. She delivered her son while child welfare officials, state troopers, reporters, and others waited outside the hospital maternity ward. She is one of 750,000 teen girls who will have a baby this year. Who is waiting for them?