Memphis Officials Take Action After Spike in Teen Pregnancy

Its called WELFARE thats how we teach our young people how to care for thier young...

Why not have a baby?? They Get welfare checks, food stamps, housing, schooling and have boyfriend not working laying at house, waiting for check to come rolling in so they can buy their drugs, and if they dont pay for them when due, they get shot and killed then that baby or more and her lives on
Check for rest of life!!!

Don't be so obtuse......WE'RE going to pay for them. I begrudge them one thin dime to pay for their immorality and stupidity. Some spaying and neutering is in order here.

You only had two children because obviously you are a responsible person. If you pay taxes like I do, we are paying for all these kids to have babies. Even if the daddy is known, the baby can get medicaid until age eighteen not to mention that the pregnant mom gets assistance as well. As a nurse and a single mother of one child because one was all that I could afford, I am saddened by the number of parents of these pregnant teens who get caught up in throwing elaborate baby showers instead of using that money to support their own knstead of expecting others to foot the bill.

same here 2 kids been married 35 yrs, thats all we could afford with both of us working,,ha working is where we made the mistake, these girls and their bastard kids will never work will never be anything but takers from the taxpayers

Two kids (1) 30 & (1) 22 no grandkids. Why???? cause it's hard to raise kids and have a life of your own (life of your own and being a parent what the heck is that????). Both have great jobs and wonderful Significant others but they were raised to know babies are wonderful gifts from GOD but they are something you can return when times get hard and saying this not for me IS NOT AN OPTION. I absolutely HATE welfare. If a person has hard times and needs help that's one thing but to take care of babies that have had babies makes me sick and when you have another one here's some more money. Like so many of you have said "LACK OF PARENTING". If the kids won't be held accountable then the parents should be. Make them take care of their grandkids, pay for food, healthcare, daycare and everything else involved, maybe then then teen pregnancy will go down or stop....I'm just saying.

Yes i agree it is lack of parenting, or no parenting at all. However, no matter how much we try to positively guide our kids about life, some of them don't get it. these kids nowdays are a different breed, and so are the parents. it's like they are clueless.

This is Memphis for ya. They make it glamourous to have 4,5,6 or more babies all from different men. This allows them to collect food stamps, section 8 vouchers, utility assistance, free childcare, free health & dental insurance, free tuition, enormous tax refunds, etc. They live in nicer homes than most middle class and have the best healthcare. Yep, welcome to Memphis err I mean the Jungle!

You ask, don't these girls have mothers? That's only half of the problem. The other question is how many of the boys getting them pregnant have *fathers*? If what I have read is even remotely true, there is a huge lack of positive male role models in the community these young people live in. The greatest influence on any child is the same sex parent, mothers for the girls, fathers for the boys. And until and unless there's positive parenting for both sexes, the problem of teenage pregnancy will continue.

It is a community problem. Lots of teen and twenty-something boys are going around bragging about how many baby-mommas they have, the girls don't see this as a problem. Also, many of the teen parents, male and female, are children of parents who are in their thirties and still going around with a party mentality of their own and even partying with them. This is the mentality of their community and it is reenforced by their outlook on their music and other forms of entertainment.

Many of the girls mothers had the same behavior -- with the same welfare benefits. Cut the welfare.

Theur parents should be responsible for them NOT the state gov. I don't mean as a foster parent either, I mean the parents of these young girls should be responsible for fully supporting their grandchildren. Once you stop the checks from coming, the pregnancies will stop.

seriously? sluts is a little to far! shit happens and even though i dont aprove of teen pregnancy this is bullshit. i got pregnant at 17 and i had help but i worked my ass off for it and a lot of other teen moms are trying very hard also! you should learn not to speak inless u take a walk around in their shoes! and completely understand! thanks!

Sluts? I understand condemning their lack of forethought in the protection department, but it's not like you need to promiscuous to get pregnant or contract an STD. Just need to mess up once. If anything I feel bad for these little girls. They have a long life of difficulty and derision ahead of them and very little opportunity to improve upon that.

Sorry - that was actually a reply to Bridget who said: When I married we only had 2 children because that was all we could afford for the following 21 years. How do children have babies and pay for all the expenses for the next 21 years??