“BABIES HAVING BABIES”: MORAL OBJECTIONS TO THE RHETORIC SURROUNDING TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION
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Date
2022-08-24
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) rhetoric is founded on the idea that teen childbearing creates adverse economic, social, health, and behavioral outcomes for society, the mother, and the child. However, the reasoning used to show why teen pregnancy must be prevented is unsound. The claim that negative outcomes are caused by teen pregnancy is untrue. Even if the claim were true, the possibility of negative outcomes does not justify targeted prevention of teen pregnancy, considering that pregnancies among adults that would yield similar outcomes are not subject to the same treatment. Assumptions, individual moral values, and bias shape teen pregnancy prevention efforts, making them ethically unjustifiable.
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Keywords
teen pregnancy, teen pregnancy prevention, reproduction, social justice, public health ethics, ethics