Girls Have a Right to a Future

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Girls have the right to a future, with or without a baby. We need our families’ support to help us to be good parents. The baby’s dad should help out, too. We’re just like other girls–we want to finish high school, go to college, get a job. But it’s hard. Sometimes we’re told to go to a school for pregnant girls. That should be our choice. We should be allowed to stay in our regular school with friends and teachers we know. Schools should have daycare centers just like some businesses do. Some schools have special homebound programs so we don’t fall behind when we first give birth. People’s attitudes need to change, too. If people treat pregnant teens with respect, we will make better choices about pre-natal care, adoption, and abortion. If people accept the fact that teens have sex, we will get decent sex education, access to birth control, and be less likely to get pregnant accidentally. People have to stop treating pregnant teens and teen moms like sexual criminals.