Baltimore Sun Column, Editorial Address Teen Pregnancy, Crisis Pregnancy Centers

November 3, 2009 — The Baltimore Sun recently published an opinion piece and an editorial related to reproductive health issues. Summaries appear below. 

• Susan Reimer, Baltimore Sun: "Those of us in middle-class, intact families have our heads seriously in the sand if we think" that giving birth or fathering a child as a teenager "can't happen to us," Sun columnist Reimer writes. She notes that a study released last week by the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy "reveals that most of us believe only teens from poor or single-parent families get pregnant." According to the study, 28% of teens who report having a child are from families below the federal poverty level, while 30% live with a single parent. "[N]umbers don't lie," Reimer writes, adding that it "would be statistically impossible for all those teen births to be happening only in poor, single-parent families." She adds, "After 15 straight years of declines, the number of teen births has risen in each of the last two years." Reimer writes that if it is the responsibility of groups like the National Campaign "to find a way to bring the spotlight back to the upward creep of teen pregnancies numbers, it is up to parents -- middle-class, intact, we're-doing-it-right parents -- to recognize that teen pregnancy is not somebody else's problem" (Reimer, Baltimore Sun, 11/2).
  
  
• Baltimore Sun: Legislation (FID 09-0406) before the Baltimore City Council that would require crisis pregnancy centers to post signs stating that they do not offer abortion and birth control services or referrals "has turned into a tempest in a teapot," a Sun editorial states. "At the end of the day, the legislation just requires a sign" and "doesn't say anything inaccurate or misleading, and the people who run the clinics aren't otherwise shy about their opposition to abortion rights," the editorial says. According to the editorial, crisis pregnancy centers "worry that pro-choice groups would use the law to harass them and rack up fines, but that's not realistic." The editorial says that women visiting crisis pregnancy centers are "going through an extremely difficult time, and it's hard to imagine the harm in making sure they know exactly what they can expect." The Sun says that the city council should pass the legislation "but not before amending it to place the same requirements on centers that do provide abortion and birth control services and referrals," concluding, "If the goal is truth in advertising, it should apply to everyone" (Baltimore Sun, 11/1).