How Teen Pregnancy Was Depicted On Screen and In Print Before ’16 and Pregnant’

Besides wining the award for most ridiculous title of a YA book (beating out Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging) this book shows how far we've come (or how far we've fallen, depending on your view) when it comes to pregnant teens. After briefly dating, Bo Jo and July (whose names undermine the supposed seriousness of the book) decide to sleep together, or as Bo Jo puts it "go off the deep end." When July finds out she's pregnant, they quickly marry and move into an apartment. Some of my favorite lines from this book actually come from the back cover: their summary of July's situation is "It's farewell to proms, expensive dresses, and the pretty life her parents have already planned for July Greher. But maybe she's one of the lucky ones: at least her child will be legitimate." Yes kids, it's all about perspective.

When For Keeps? was referenced on the Gilmore Girls, I thought they made it up - Molly Ringwald was involved in teen pregnancy narrative before Secret Life? But two years after Pretty in Pink she was Pretty and Pregnant (which I think would have been a better title). The only one on this list that has a love story between the teen mother and father, this movie packs in a lot of issues, including abortion, adoption, marriage, and post-partum depression. And what to do when your water breaks on prom night (I'm pretty sure you'll find the answer in any issue of Teen Prom after the article on how to deal with a prom night breakout).

Featuring an incredibly young looking Kirsten Dunst (really, she looks older in Jumanji) Fifteen and Pregnant is a Lifetime movie, which means it's chock full of script gems. Prizewinner for this flick:
OB-GYN: You're having a boy.
Tiny, tiny Kirsten Dunst: Thank you doctor, I love boys.
A quote for the baby book, right there.

Like the force, in the world of 7th Heaven teen pregnancy has a light side and a dark side. There's the long suffering teen mom, Mary's basketball teammate who keeps her child a secret for four years and can't go to parties or anything! (Though she can be an athlete and a full time student, apparently).
On the other side you have Frankie (aka Little Grey with too much eyeliner). Frankie smokes. Frankie drinks. Frankie abandons her baby. But most importantly Frankie is a very bad influence on Mary the aspiring teenage felon.

On the surface it's you standard girl-meets-boy-and-gets-knocked-up story. But, curveball! We're focusing on the boy. Who's stepping up! Getting a job, buying stuffed animals, and acing swaddling 101. Although I'm not immune to the adorableness of adorable Paul Dano getting all paternal, Too Young really shows the sexist attitudes that still exist when comparing teen fathers to teen mothers.
"This happened the night he lost his virginity. Will he ever be able to enjoy sex?" wonders teen dad's father.
The girl's parents would never, ever, ask that. Ever.

Adoption, abortion, motherhood; normally these are the three options open to pregnant teens, but with this Lifetime epic, we're given another one-sisterhood!
High schooler Jacey agrees to give up her baby for adoption, but after giving birth can't go through with it. So her mom hatches an ingenious plan-tell everyone her grandson is her son and raise him as Jacey's brother, leaving her daughter free to have a carefree adolescence without the distracting responsibility of motherhood or the sense of loss of adoption. Everybody's happy! Strangely, having her son/faux brother in the house does prove a little stressful for Jacey, but luckily her new swim coach and his wife the health teacher have her back, even though they were the couple she promised her baby to (small world, right?). Spoiler alert-it all works out in the end. Really.