Teenage "Whale Rider" actress expecting

I was a teen mom. The only advice I have is just to think like an adult now. Make good choices for yourself and your baby. Always think of your baby first. Teenagehood is a time when most people are very self centered. Having a child turns that on its head.

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"If adoption I will make SURE she is ready to go through 9 months of having your body almost put through hell (I didn't have an easy pregnancy and don't know of many teens who did) and then give the baby to someone else and also if she did, does she want to grow up as the baby's aunt or something or just not know the baby ever."

I needed to point out that this is general mythology. You can make an "adoption plan' during pregnancy but you really cant decide until later.. You certainly cannot decide at the first month.. Also adoption is a decision you make twice... Once you have your baby you have to remake that decision and everyone should at the very least be minimally prepared for her to not be able to hand her baby to someone else one met. No matter how "sure" she may have been prior to meeting her child. Whatever you do.. always reinforce that this is her child and it is ok to change her mind.

Also, No, you do not grow up as the "baby's aunt" - at all. And the father also has an equal say in whether that baby is placed for adoption.

Once the decision to continue carrying the pregnancy is made... he now has equal rights.

I just wanted to be sure to clear that up.. I know there are a lot of myths in the non-adoption general population.

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I would advise her that life as she has known it will be forever changed. I would say, your childhood AND young adulthood is now over. If you are to be a good parent, put yourself on the back burner, and if you aren't a good parent, look forward to a lifetime of regret. This is serious, you need to take it seriously.

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I would not "advise" a 16-year-old on this issue, if by "advise" we mean "tell them what to do." I hope that my kids and I will have a trusting relationship, and that they will talk to me when the time comes for them to have sex, and we can talk about prevention. (BTW, I am much more concerned about my kid getting an STD than getting pregnant.) However, if my teen told me she was pregnant we would do a lot of talking, and in the end, I would support whatever decision she makes, whether that is abortion, adoption, or motherhood. Her body, her future, her choice.

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I'm quite stunned that a few of the comments are in regards to having a baby at such a young age. Did it cross anyone of those commentors' minds that "teenage" is a NorthAmerican concepts of life stages and that most cultures of the world don't have such a category. Because you are socialized to think that kids shouldn't be having kids in a North American context you're imposing your cultural-societal beliefs onto other people that you know nothing about. It wasn't too long ago that many of our grandparents used to have to milk cows and go to the market 10miles away and they were "kids" and or "teens". North Americans tend to want to perserve their children's youth, but that's not the case in many countries around the world. Not to mention the assumption is there that this was unplanned and unwanted.For those who are send supporting words, that's what people should be doing and kudos to you. To The others, don't you think it's hard enough being under the scrutinizing eye of the public sphere as an adult or "teen" without comments on the net patronizing you and incinuating thatyour parents lacked in their parenting skills and that you've made a bad life decision which will follow you forever??

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I certainly dont agree with the idea of teenage pregnancy but I disagree even more with abortion. Its amazing how we discuss and see teenage sex as a normal and even healthy activity.Getting pregnant and having a baby are not fun, cutesy things to do. It requires a great deal of patience, thought and responsibility. We all know that most teenagers dont possess a lot of those qualities. A teenager is between childhood and adulthood and still needs to grow physically, emotionally and spiritually. Just how stable a relationship do you think these youngsters have that they,at 16 and 19, can parent a child for life? So what if they have been together for 3 years,she was 13 when they started going out!!!! I'm sure her parents will support her, I mean, whats done is done and they have to focus on the future but I really dont think teens have any business having sex talk less of getting pregnant.

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Support her and help her and certainly tell her about what mothering is like and also about adoption. But let her decide after receiving good information about both and allowing her lots of time to think about it.
To suggest or urge her to abort would be cruel and wrong. Abortion is physically and mentally harmful to a mother. Women who abort have a huge risk of themselves dying within one year of the abortion. Also, the risk of drug and alcohol abuse and suicide after the abortion is huge in a mother who aborts. Abortion is simply the ultimate child abuse. So encouraging a young girl to abort will help set a pattern in how she treats future children who allowed to live.
A mother nurtures her child and protects it and does not let it be murdered. Many don't realize that women are strong, especially when receiving support and not rejection. My first were twins and you can't tell me that having one baby is too dificult for a 16-year-old. Yes, she will mature, but is that bad? No, it is a good thing to learn how to behave like an adult. Too many teenagers never grow up and continue to behave like adolescents when they're 50 and 60 years old.

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"Anecdotally I've heard bad and good abortion stories"

Missing something here:

If we took account of the interests of the defenceless slaughtered baby, then abortion stories are always horrors.

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Keisha is a New Zealand Maori. I myself coming from New Zealand know for a fact that her Whanau/family will be extremely supportive of her ALL the way through her pregnancy and birth and the raising of her child. She has absolutely nothing to worry about and I'm not sure why anybody would say 'ABORT IMMEDIATELY'. It is her personal choice and as she said herself 'She is thrilled'. A person who is thrilled to be pregnant does not need to hear from a perfect stranger that they should abort their baby. Regardless of the fact that she is young, she clearly wants this baby and will do the best that she can.

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Financially she cleaned up quite nicely for The Nativity, and made a nice chunk for whale rider. so money isnt an issue. Its only a morality issue and in fact only relevant to her, her family, and her God.

If it were my child in this situation and i believed they could handle it, then i'd wish them all the luck a be there supportively whenever needed. If they couldnt handle it, i would advise abortion or take care of the child myself. Adoption seems out of the question for me since i would be more than willing to raise the child myself. Hopefully i would do a better job in teaching responsibility to my grandchild though. As far as her "Growing Up" too soon, she is a child actor, that ship has already sailed.

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