This week it was reported that the US population is experiencing a "baby boomlet." More than 4.2 million births were reported for 2006, the highest number since 1961. Reports broke the numbers down by race, pointing the finger at Hispanics, who reportedly account for one-quarter of that total. The issue is not the race, but the religion -- Catholicism. Followers are simply adhering to their archaic, illogical church doctrine.
Throughout the 'eighties and 'nineties as AIDS infected millions, it was scientifically proven that condom use could save lives. Pope John Paul II sat on his papal throne never supporting empirical evidence with a life-saving change in church doctrine. And now Pope Benedict is following that dogmatic path steadfastly. That heinous genocidal legacy leaves little chance that the Church will ever change its stance simply to curb global out-of-control numbers.
The questions of healthcare, better education, and a stronger national infrastructure have gone unanswered as American census exponentially soars -- numbers that further tax our stressed system. A healthier planet doesn't stand a chance against the burgeoning world population.
Choice doesn't just mean abortion; it means total reproductive rights. As shameless as the Church's stance has been, sexual health under Bush's "abstinence only" policy has reduced sex education to a Sunday school class.
The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the industrialized world. Abortions in the U.S. have reached their lowest level since 1974. Forced to provide for their child, fifty percent of pregnant teens drop out of out high school, facing life on necessity's terms, rather than from freedom of choice. It's not the happy experience that FOX is giving teen pregnancy in its widely praised child-mommy fairy tale Juno.
Juno stars Ellen Page as the 16-year-old title character who gets pregnant by her best friend. From the moment she gives herself a pregnancy test, there is never a sense of sexual responsibility, just non-stop quick-witted quips. Maybe she just doesn't understand how screwed up her life might be because of her misstep, and judging from their reaction, neither do her parents.
Juno tells her parents of her unwanted baby; she has decided not to get an abortion. Instead, she's planning to search for a suitable couple advertising to adopt. In one the film's most frustrating scenes, her parents never question Juno's lack of sexual responsibility. After Juno tells her dad the name of the boy who has fathered the child, he responds, "I didn't know he had it in him." That singular line reeks of the core problem in teenage pregnancy -- men of every age who think it adds to their machismo to father a child.
The story goes on to make pregnancy look easy, if not fun. The writer, director, and actors make it seem Juno is doing a good thing because she is giving a parentless couple a baby. Repercussions are nil. She attends school throughout, getting weird looks, with her pregnancy never compromising her carefree youth; the non-stop funny quips keep coming rapid-fire, making Juno sound like all the Marx brothers rolled into one. I can't imagine a 16 year-old-girl handling an unplanned pregnancy with so little angst.
Certainly, over the course of generations, family dynamics have changed. However, the one truth that remains in our modern society is that children having children is a bad idea. This film is an inexcusable Disneyfication playing down Hollywood's intrinsic social responsibility. Ellen Page's portrayal is off the social responsibility mark. Awards and accolades for this irresponsible portrayal should be snubbed.
Director Jason Reitman has said, "It is not really about pregnancy. Pregnancy is kind of a location. This is a movie about the moment you decide to grow up and the moment you decide to become an adult." Mr. Reitman is wrong. For the handful of young men and women who will be influenced by his film, their teen pregnancy will be real. In the real world, the location will be an abortion clinic or a maternity ward, which is precisely where pregnant teens will find themselves. And when they do, they will be part of this film's irresponsible legacy.