Life Is Just So Daily

Saturday, August 23, 2008

BabyLand on 20/20



Did any of you catch Friday night's 20/20?

Well I did...
I found the show to be very sad, but interesting. I wish it had been longer. I feel like some subjects were touched on, but not fully discussed or addressed....

For example...it was touched on that many of these babies who die are also born prematurely. But, I don't recall it ever noting that babies born to teenage mothers are at an increased risk of being born prematurely, nor did it ever specifically talk about the rate of teenage pregnancy in that particular city that has the highest infant mortality rate.
Catching the problem at "how to save the babies" is great, but not enough. What efforts are being made to prevent teen pregnancies? What education is being offered at THAT level? Where's the follow up special about what Memphis is doing to prevent teenage pregnancy?
The reduction in the teen pregnancy population would in turn reduce the number of babies born at term or prematurely to teens, and would then in turn impact the infant mortality rate.

Overall, I still think it was an excellent program, if only to open the eyes to the issue & raise awareness of not only the primary issue, but also the contributing factors. I think that the in-depth investigation to the contributing factors is more of what I was looking for & wanting, but would have perhaps been tangential for many viewers, and certainly would not have fit into a one hour slot.
I just wish this were a multi-segmented program that took a much more macro-approach to the subject.
I'm just sayin'.

5 Comments:

At 4:07 PM , Blogger Beth said...

I missed the show so I don't know what all was covered but I agree with you - preventing teen pregnancy would go a long way to reducing infant mortality rates.

 
At 6:33 PM , Blogger Hester 5 said...

Missed it...thinking that maybe I am thankful.....

 
At 7:39 PM , Blogger Pregnantly Plump said...

I so agree with you! We watched it as well (I used to live in Memphis and was born not far from there.) It was shocking and very eye-opening and I was railing on about the same thing -- preventing pregnancies. I also wanted to know if these girls had considered adoption, but that was never talked about either.

 
At 10:36 AM , Blogger gina said...

I didn't see the show but will say this...as soon as people get the fact that "preventing teen pregnanceies" doesn't mean sex ed. but establishing programs that give girls a sense of worth and love they'll stop going looking for it by having their own baby.

 
At 2:42 PM , Blogger Kate said...

That sounds really interesting, but I agree with you that preventing pregnancies is very important. I think it's good sex ed and access to birth control, but I agree that girls need to value themselves and realize that there are other options for their lives.

On a happy note, one of my pregnant students from last year who gave birth at the end of the year and quit coming to school is back on our rosters. She's such a smart kid, but so dumb when it came to boys and sex. It looks like she's going to graduate this year and then hopefully get out of her parents' house (the source of a lot of her problems).

 

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