Yabby, this may come as a shock to you, but I do not have fear nor misgivings about teenage pregnancy, nor teenage brides, nor teenage grooms. Where's the horror in that?

Well of course there isn't any, unless you've been brainwashed by feminist Marxism.

Old song - "It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well..."

Nature gives teenagers the ability to reproduce. Why on Earth shouldn't they? You go grrrl, I say, you go get pregnant grrrl - make babies. That's got to be better than the daily tabloids whinging about the miseries and woes of the "thirty-something" career spinsters, who can't get a man - past their use by dates - and who are in a frightful race with that ol' ticking clock.

Pregnant at 18? It's got to be better than 30-odd and no prospects of husband, home and family, with just a lonely posh apartment, a cat and a TV.

I'll bet you never thought you'd ever hear anyone say that?

"Oh gosh," you'll say, "that's all so shockingly outside the politically correct square of post modernist mediocrity."

But happiness is not about career and money - only a fool would believe it so. Happiness comes from love and family and the kids, who give you eternal fun, and misery too, but a good parent overcomes that.

Now that's what they should be teaching in sex education classes. You kids go out and make babies and love and families. Not the opposite as will be taught by Lyn Allison and her cronies.

The question is: Is human procreation good or bad?

Do think deeply about it. But hey, I'm not going to tell you the answer. Our good BOAZ_David might. But I won't. You go figure it. It's just part of the test of life. Good luck.

"Nature gives teenagers the ability to reproduce. Why on Earth shouldn't they?"

Well if you want to stick to nature, then parents provide the resources to feed the offspring, thats what pairbonding is all
about. If teenagers can do that, thats fine by me. The role
of sex education is not to tell kids how to live their lives,
but to help them make informed choices. Sadly alot of teenage
pregnancies are accidents, not all those girls want to live
in semi poverty for the rest of their lives, things just went
wrong one night when the hormones surged and she was drunk perhaps.

Happiness means different things to different people, we each
have to decide what our purpose in life is and what our
priorities are. Some people think its kids, some people love
their careers. Give people a good education to cope with life
and make informed choices. Empower them with knowledge. There
is no need to indoctrinate them with any worldview, neither the
feminists worldview, nor the Maximus worldview :)

Maximus, you are sending yourself up, right? Teenage pregnancy is good, that is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Do you actually remember being a teenager? Does the word "immaturity" mean anything to you? I remember what I was like when I was 18, and I can tell you one thing for dead set certain, I would have made a pretty crappy father - or maybe no father at all given that teenage dads have a tendency not to stick around leaving teenage mum to struggle by on the governments largesse. Oh happy happy family indeed.

And as for your crack at "career spinsters", well you might find that the posh apartment (and the education, and the overseas holidays, and the well-maintained figure, and the nice car, and the restaurant meals) compare reasonably well with the tracky dacks and Happy Meals of your lucky lucky teenage mum.

And as for career and money not bringing happiness..well, no. But they help. Some peoples families don't bring them a hell of a lot of joy either.

And your final question, here comes the big one...drum roll.......IS HUMAN PROCREATION GOOD OR BAD!

Um... kind of depends on each persons individual situation.

That was kind of an anticlimax actually...bummer.

About pregnancy, it is no surprise to me that no time is the right time for many women. Didn't Jesus say, moments before his crucifixion, to the weaping women of Jerusalem, 'Don't cry for me, but cry for that time when a barren womb is celebrated as a good one.' (my paraphrasing, Gospel according to Luke, Jerusalem Bible, chapter 28, verses 28-30).

Apart from motherhood's total commitment of body, mind and soul, how many of us have been brain-washed to think that money and career-values are the yard-sticks of our worth? It can take years to unravell the harmful effects of this materialist view. For it actually takes time to begin to substantially acknowledge that one is worth something beyond this 2-dimentional view. Life is three dimensional, and includes death!
We can't take our wealth with us, that's for sure. But what we bequeath to the world will remain, and our spirits will wait-out the time until the last day, when we rise up in perfect body and soul!

To atheist or agnostic people reading this - bear with me - I like to discuss these matters, as they are of some consequence for the world's future. I'm sorry if my religiosity annoys you. Please accept that I need you to think (or if you're willing, to pray) for me also, in my unbelief!
Certainly Christians are not a homogenous totality. For although we enjoy communion, it is incomplete on earth, and will remain very humanly confusing until we reach life everlasting. Yet the Eucharist sets us free to live lives of thanksgiving to God, for his presence among us! By his death and resurrection he offers us his body and blood! 'Amen' is the response, and we have a duty to share our faith and to seek to encourage one another in faith.

The Bible is a living text. That is why I make reference to it. I am no literalist, but I perceive truth is living and active, and our understanding is activated by the holy scriptures!

'Teen-agers in the United States are far more likely to get pregnant and get an abortion than their counterparts in Western European countries.

Planned Parenthood officials believe that's because Europeans talk to their teen-agers about sex differently from Americans, viewing it as a public health issue rather than a moral, religious or political matter.'

For more, see:
http://www.clothesfree.com/pregnancy.html
[NB This website is nudist. I don't know what the attitude of On Line Opinion is to such things, but if you are offended by a very small amount of non-sexual nudity, then don't go to it.]

'European teens are taught that sex "is a healthy party of who you are, but it has responsibility."

"Talking about sex in a realistic and sensitive way is still in the closet in America," she said.

Europeans take a pragmatic and open approach to discussing sex, she said. And they've accepted that most young people are not going to wait until marriage to have sex.

Scientific studies and opinion polls have shown that 80 percent of young people will have an intimate sexual encounter by age 20, and that 90 percent of couples have not waited for marriage, Huberman said.

"Waiting for marriage may be a religious belief, but the American public by a majority does not believe it or act on it," she said.

A majority of American adults want their children taught how to delay their first sexual encounter and how to protect themselves when they do have sex, she said.

"It's morally wrong to send young people into the adult world without the knowledge, skills and values to deal with sexual issues responsibly," she said.'

My opinion. Perhaps we can at least to some extent substitute "Australians" for "Americans". Well worth the consideration of logical people who prefer to be well informed.

Rex, thanks for that post and the associated link.

R0bert