Of high-school girls pregnant, at one school alone, in Memphis…
One Memphis high school has more than it’s fair share of pregnant teen girls running around. A high ranking city official revealed that about 90 students at Frayser High School are either pregnant or have been recently. The community is thus planning to roll out a new initiative aimed at helping to combat the problem. Some graduates say though that the problem is nothing new. Memphis’ teen pregnancy rate is 15 o 20 percent, which is nearly twice the national average. The Frayser High zip code is even higher, at 26 percent.
It’s not really surprising anymore. Unmarried sexual relations are commonplace and pregnancy out of wedlock is as ‘normal’ in our depraved culture as seeing a Starbucks in New York. Nonetheless, let me go ahead and remind people that
1- sexual relations out of wedlock are immoral. and
2- pregnancy before marriage is similarly immoral.
I know, I’m just about the only person in the world who asserts such things- but morality still matters and immorality still deserves denunciation. So if I go to my deathbed believing what I believe, that’s ok with me. I’m not about to adopt immoral standards just to make other people comfortable or happy.
[Oh, by the way, there are no 'illegitimate children', there are only illegitimate parents].
Related Articles
- Teen Pregnancy Rates Rise Again (brighthub.com)
My wife interviewed for a teaching job in a Frayser elementary school. It should be recognized that these schools are significantly underfunded. The one we visited looked like nothing had been updated or repaired since the 1970s. I have little reason to believe anything would be different about this school. Frayser is one of the more destitute parts of the city. In contrast, she interviewed at two other “county” schools, one in a ritzy neighborhood and one in a formerly middle-class neighborhood. The former school was in top-notch condition, the latter was annexed by the city.
Money doesn’t solve everything (contra Eccl 10:19), but in this case I think we need to recognize that the city and its residents are implicated in whatever immorality we recognize in this situation.