By Danielle Capalbo
First it was Juno, a defiantly hip 16-year-old girl invented by screenwriter Diablo Cody. Next, Jamie Lynn Spears, the pop-perfect star of “Zoey 101,” a Nickelodeon show for pre-adolescents.
Late last year, the two stark opposites found common ground with each other and an estimated 750,000 other American girls between the ages of 15 and 19, according to a study from the Guttmacher Institute in New York. They got pregnant.
But unlike an estimated 34 percent of teenagers who terminate their pregnancies each year, Spears and Juno said they chose to give birth – decisions that reflect this country’s abortion rate, which has been on the decline since 1986 according to the study.
Though the teenage pregnancy rate has also declined – it’s currently at its lowest level in 30 years, according to the Institute – the back-to-back pregnancies of fictional Juno and real-life Spears have ignited a nationwide conversation about unprotected sex and abortion. The December announcement of Spears’ real-life pregnancy came less than a month after the strikingly similar situation in “Juno” hit theaters.
“It’s kind of a disturbing trend,” said sophomore communication studies major Natasha Kellett of multiple, highly-publicized instances in which unprepared teens dismiss abortion as a viable option.
Kellett was raised a Catholic, she said, and held pro-life views until coming to school. But at the end of last year, she joined Northeastern’s pro-choice student group. Though Kellett fears an emerging pro-life bias in the media, she said she doesn’t judge Spears’ decisions; instead, she judges what she sees as inadequate sexual education nationwide – a major catalyst of unwanted teen pregnancies, she said.
“Statistics show that [teen sex] is happening, and the best way to respond is to give people the information they need to be safe,” she said. “We don’t give teenagers and young adults enough credit to think they could take that information and still make choices based on faith, morality and their own views of the world.”
Middler international economics major Michael Casey said he doesn’t support unprotected sex, but – in the case of Jamie Lynn Spears – applauds pregnant teens’ decisions to have their babies.
“[Spears] could have done things better leading up to the pregnancy,” he said, “but in the long run, I think she handled [the situation] well.”
Casey is the treasurer of Northeastern’s pro-life student group Right to Life, founded in November of last year. With about 25 to 30 members, Casey said, part of the group’s initiative is to help pregnant mothers in need.
“A lot of them are underprivileged,” he said, “or teenagers like [Spears].”
He said he hopes girls struggling with teen pregnancy, and the issue of abortion, can find strength and comfort in the actions of Juno and Spears.
“They send a positive message,” he said.
To freshman criminal justice major Arielle Smitt, pregnant teens are not in a position to choose whether to have a baby or an abortion.
“Basically, if you make a choice to go and have sex, you should have to have the baby,” she said. “It’s not fair to the baby to kill it just because of your stupidity.”
Smitt lauded the twist in “Juno” – the female protagonist goes through with childbirth to give the baby to an adoptive family.
“Adoption is definitely a good alternative to abortion,” Smitt said.
The issue of abortion, in any instance of pregnancy, is necessarily complex, with many shades of meaning that hinge on the faith or spirituality of the individuals involved, said Shelly Jankowski-Smith, director of Northeastern’s Spiritual Life Center.
“The concept that life is very valuable, and very sacred, is common to most faiths,” she said. “But that sacredness can mean many things: a balance between the needs of the unborn child and the social group that may or may not be prepared to raise it, or that the sanctity of the unborn life takes precedence over all others.”
