anti natal in schools

[2shoes]

link here
not sure if I think this is a good idea or not

it is such a disgrace, we should be teaching our teens not to have sex! not praising them or helping them to actually get pregnant. if my LO came home to me at 16 and said she is pregnant, yes i would support her, but i would be distraught thinking how i hadnt done enough for her to stop it from happening. i think it all stems down to the parents really. why dont they know where their kids are? why are they able to get pregnant, i think more needs to be done to stop this from happening! im sorry if i offend anyone with my comments x

"we should be teaching our teens not to have sex! not praising them or helping them to actually get pregnant"

Now that last is surely illegal even in these degenerate days

"why dont they know where their kids are? why are they able to get pregnant"

Surely you cannot lock a 16yo up to the point where they could not have sex if they wanted? Do you never let them pop to the shops? go for a walk? They don't have to be out all night to get pregnant, you know.

Personally I am not sure about the wisdom of having ante natal clinics in schools, not because it seems to condone pregnancy, but simply because filling the place with cute babies might make the whole thing seem too attractive.

yy cory

tricky one, all tied up with balancing access to health care with fewer disruptions to education praps?

i think more that this is aimed at shools with more teen pregnancies than average - there wouldn't have been that much call for it (esp as the girls dropped out when visibly pregnant)

in a way, the fact ante-natal appts are at our children & family centre probably fulfills the same brief, as you are no longer in the doctors surgery being glared at by grannies.

Person on the radio this morning condoning the idea was asked if it was likley that they's have one at Roedean.

She had to admit it probably would happen there.

I think the 'antenatal in schools' is something of a Daily Mail-driven red herring. It's about identifying women that currently either choose not to or can't get access to ante-natal services and who suffer more with pre/post/peri-natal problems as a result. That includes women who don't speak English, have dependency problems, in abusive relationships etc. A worthy aim.

I can imagine that a pregnant single 15 year-old might feel so uncomfortable solo in room full of twenty and thirty-somethings + partners that they don't bother to show up.... I felt like an outsider in that situation and I was 35. So an after-school session for girls is a sensible idea. I'd be a little surprised if the average secondary school could drum up enough pregnant teens to run classes without being joined by others from the same area but that's by the by.

I was a teenage mum and I can't think of anything worse. I would have felt very uncomfortable going to school for this.

plus, it a bit patronising don't you think? I'm not stupid, I know what a hospital is and how to get there.

The idea that other mums will look down on young parents and/or be off - putting is a bit of a myth really. At ante-natal classes, the other mums are focusing on themselves and their own baby.

Not to mention, at my antenatal class, apart from one other, my DP was the only one there. Most people came with their mum or a friend.

Please don't assume that all young mums are single, stupid and have no self esteem. I feel that is what is being implied by this new idea. It's segregating us, as if we can't be in a room full of other mums ffs.

Its a daft idea, it simply sends out the message that its fine to be pregnant whilst at school. Not a message i'd want by son or daughter to have.

It's ridiculous - yet another attempt by the Left to drive up the teenage pregnancy figures. They actually want more babies born to very young women, because it increases the likelihood of unstable family life and creates more clients of the welfare state.

I think that ante natal care could be provided discretely at school. All you need is the community midwife to visit the school and the girl quietly miss a lesson. Many children with specal needs get taken out of lessons and pregnancy is a special need.

School children are immature and do not understand the importance of ante natal care. There are two children who are being looked after if you include the unborn child. Teenage pregnancies are high risk and teens often suffer from depression.

Barmy Army - "yet another attempt by the Left to drive up the teenage pregnancy figures."

That well known Marxist revolutionary organisation NICE?

And since when was one of the objectives of us crazy lefties to "drive up teenage pregnancy figures"

Surely ante natal would involve no 'cute babies'

It would ensure that antenatal care would be given to those young women who actually need good input who find it incredibly difficult to access clinics run at certain times (while they are at school) who cannot get to clinics (because they have no easy transport) and who find attending standard clinics too intimidating because they are instantly negatively judged by those others attending them who look down on them just for being young and pregnant.

SO yes Anti natal inschools is a very good idea because it may discourage young women from actually concieving but Ante natal for young women who are already pregnant, in a venue easily accessable, where individuals can get the care they need, where they won't feel bad about it is indeed a very good idea.

I agree reallytired. I don't think the proposals are about a pregnant teenage girl being made to sit and do breathing exercises in front of all her classmates!

It sounds more like a community midwife would be able to see the girl at school. This might be to minimise breaks in the girl's education (I remember having to wait around for half a day at the hospital for some of my appointments - if you lived in a rural area and had to travel to the hospital that could be a whole day of school wasted).

I also wholeheartedly support the points in the OP's link re. translation and interpretation for mothers who don't have English as a first language. I went to a hospital in the East End of London for a while and literally 99% of the women there didn't speak a word of English. I remember seeing some women coming in distressed and having to depend on their husband to interpret the simplest of instructions (eg. lie down). I can't imagine how scary that would be.

These girls need to grow up very fast, because they are about to be mothers, and on so many levels have to leave their own childhood behind.

I do not think there should be antenatal provision in school. It blurs the distinction between the estwhile child and the inescapable responsibilities of motherhood. The girls are moving to the world of adults, and that is where such services exist. Learning to put the baby before your own convenience is something we all have to get used to.

And as noted above,throwaway comments that make an individual feel cr@p can be aimed at any age group, and will continue throughout the DCs childhood and beyond. I doubt that will be averted, even if all services were to becomes age-segregated.

Pregnant teens are often in denial and have a deep sense of shame. Its not unknown for teens to try and keep their pregnancy secret.

A child does not being a child just because she is pregnant. She does need to grow up very fast and at a pace that most teenagers do not grow up at. To make matters worse some pregnant teens (not all) can be exceptionally immature.

Women have different levels of ante natal and postnatal care. Some women need minimal care and some need a lot of professional input.

"Learning to put the baby before your own convenience is something we all have to get used to. "

I found that hard at 26 years old inspite of being married and having a house and being able to financially support myself.

How on earth is a 15 year expected to cope? Why object to 15 year olds having special treatment. Its for the sake of the baby rather than the mother.

but special treatment is ok, but to make it seem all ok to other teens....

The reason for these proposals is highly elevated infant mortality and maternal mortality amongst mothers in certain high risk groups, including younger mothers.

If girls who are at school are getting pregnant and not accessing antenatal care and the result is elevated death rates, then I'm all for ideas to improve access.

All the people who are saying it is a bad idea, (on the radio rather than on here), I don't really understand the logic. Other ideas have been tried and failed, young mothers and babies are still dying. This might help that. Why not try it?

"but special treatment is ok, but to make it seem all ok to other teens...."

What do you mean by this statement. If it is done discretely I don't see how it will affect other teens.

It is not OK for teenage girls not to get ante natal care. They are too immature to make the decision to decline ante natal care. It is fairly easy for a midwife to find out if a girl is at school, so that her time is not wasted. The teenage child is cornered as the parents have a legal responsiblity to see that their daughter is either at home because she is off sick or she is at school.

If someone is preganant whilst still attending school ,then it makes sense to me to provide ante natal care at the school . This would mean she wouldnt have to miss lessons and tbh ante natal care is for most of pregnancy ,fairly routine ,blood pressure and urine dips ,so shouldnt take up too much time . Perhaps if it was timetabled before/after school or during lunch that might be better .Can i also say that the boy/man who impregnanted the teen should also be made to attend .

And if there is a big age gap and the girl is under 16 then the man should be answering some pretty serious questions frankly.