Pregnant Teen on the Cover of Teen Vogue?

Well, I never thought I’d be blogging about this, but I am hoping that it will help me to sort out my feelings about this.  My daughter started high school this year and she tells me that there are PLENTY of girls at her school that are pregnant or that have babies.  Some are Freshmen, even.  This makes me nervous, but I feel like I’ve equipped my own daughter with the knowledge of what this means for the mothers, the babies, the entire family and how much your life changes when you have a baby EVER, let alone as a teenager.

While I realize that she knows this is reality, what is the point of putting a pregnant teen on the cover of Teen Vogue? I feel like first of all, it sets this girl up for a possible firestorm of controversy and while she may not be planning on “hiding” the pregnancy, there are few things more public than being on the cover of a magazine, particularly in a controversial way.  Yes, the issue of teen pregnancy is still controversial.

While I’ve browsed the contents of Teen Vogue and decided that there’s not a lot in it that my daughter would be interested in (she doesn’t care a LOT about fashion, she doesn’t crush on any cute by that she sees, and she doesn’t want to take a quiz on which Gossip Girl character she is), I know that many parents DO buy this magazine for their daughters and I bet many of them have subscriptions.   I wonder if they knew it would be in their mailbox this month.  I hope that this will prompt them to have discussions with their own daughters about the reality of this, but why are we putting a cautionary tale on the cover of a magazine that usually has some glamorous, fabulous, to-be-envied teen girl as their cover girl? I’m sorry, but as much as I think we need to SUPPORT girls once they’re in the position, I think our girls need to get the message loud and clear that it’s NOT ideal and NOT a good life choice.  Sorry, but that’s how I feel about it.  How about you? After you post your view here, please contact the Editor at Teen Vogue to let them know, too.