‘I’m pregnant … what am I going to do?’ An examination of value judgements and moral frameworks in teenage pregnancy decision making

Abstract

Policy discussion of teenage sexual behaviour has been strongly influenced by a political agenda that characterises teenage pregnancy as a potential ‘risk’ of sexual activity. This presumed risk framework, however, depends upon an assumption of shared value judgements about the social undesirability of teenage parenthood, and the moral undesirability of teenage abortion. Drawing on three qualitative research projects undertaken in England between 2003 and 2009, this article looks at the complex processes of individual pregnancy decision making, in a context of competing values and moralities. It provides insights into, and understandings of, underlying tensions in the processes through which different degrees of personal autonomy may be experienced, and suggests that when autonomous decision making is compromised, often due to tensions in competing value systems, young women may experience ambivalence or regret about the decision they have made.

Keywords:

• risk
• teenage pregnancy
• regret
• abortion
• autonomy

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those young women who participated in these research projects, who were generous with their time and sharing their experiences. Thanks are also due to Bob Heyman, Ellie Lee and Rosemary Sales who commented extensively on early drafts of this article, and to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

Notes

1. In March 2012, a joint ministerial message from Sarah Teather and Paul Burstow to Local Authority teenage pregnancy leads and wider stakeholders declared: ‘this Government remains committed to reducing rates of teenage pregnancy still further and improving outcomes for young parents and their children. This is central to our aim to reduce inter-generational poverty and inequalities’. http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/healthandwellbeing/teenagepregnancy/a00205017/teenage-pregnancy-ministerial-message.

2. One participant was 22 at the time of giving birth, but she was included because she had become pregnant twice previously before she was 20, and terminated both those pregnancies. We also interviewed one teenager (non mother) who had terminated a pregnancy.

3. Cara was a teenage mother who had become pregnant a second time, and after terminating that pregnancy she was interviewed for the abortion study.