14-year olds seek fertility treatment

[pne]

*boggle*

Comments

[marikochan.livejournal.com]

Even stranger after the first paragraph --

Girls as young as 14 are seeking fertility treatment on the NHS because they have been unable to become pregnant after up to two years of sexual activity without contraception.

So these girls have been trying to get pregnant since they were 12???

[timwi.livejournal.com]

Boys generally start their puberty at around 12-15 years of age. I don't know exactly for girls, but it was my impression that they tend to have it sooner. This would mean that, on average, a 12-year-old girl is already in the middle of puberty. At around 14, girls really should be capable of conception.

[karen2205]

For girls it's generally even younger. Most girls will be capable of conception somewhere between 11-13 (and some will be earlier than that).

[cadenzamuse.livejournal.com]

But aren't they being a little silly? Girls don't start actually ovulating until 3 or 4 years after their first menstrual period, and so until that point (which, apparently, more frequently happens with a bang than a whimper--apparently a lot of girls have a new set of troubles with the Wild Wacky Hormones the first few months that they ovulate) while they technically *can* get pregnant, well...I can't see how.

[bicoherent.livejournal.com]

It looks like I must register to read the article. :-( I guess it's about something really really stupid......

[timwi.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have thought so many girls would want a baby so badly, either, but if you think about it, there's no real reason why they shouldn't. This is just another example of society prescribing some sort of norm and then pointing fingers at people whose behaviour just doesn't happen to adhere to this norm. Some people are quick to conclude that something is majorly wrong with these girls (which, mind you, I'm not denying, but not suggesting either) when in fact there might just as well be something majorly wrong with the preconceptions of society at large (which, again, I'm neither claiming nor disclaiming).

Hahaha! Pre-Conceptions! LOL! Hahaha! OMG, what a pun.

[bicoherent.livejournal.com]

It's not just preconceptions. Do you imagine a 14-year-old girl in modern society will know how to responsibly look after her child?

[timwi.livejournal.com]

I didn't say (well, at least I don't think I did, if I did then I take it back) that these girls should be allowed their baby (except in the rare case where both a parent or guardian and the girl herself genuinely believe that she is already mature and responsible enough).

However, it is fallacious to take their wish as an indication that there is something mentally or otherwise wrong with the 14-year-old girl.

For all we know, it might just be a trend. It might decline again. On the other hand, it might possibly proliferate. In that latter case, I suspect society is going to shake their heads and go, "What is it with these girls nowadays?" and begin to develop an irrational aversion against 14-year-old girls. Prejudices are going to develop; 14-year-old girls are going to be perceived as whores or worse, when in reality all they want is a baby, which isn't such a far-fetched thing to want at all.

[timwi.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm seeing it: Where I said "there's no real reason why they shouldn't", I did not mean "there's no real reason why they shouldn't have a baby"; I meant "there's no real reason why they shouldn't want a baby".

[joyitude.livejournal.com]

...wow. I can't even fathom having a child right now. I just can't do it. ...totally stunned that people that young would want to have kids enough to seek fertility help. -boggles-

[pne.livejournal.com]

Yes, and some of them have been having unprotected sex for two years... since they were twelve. Trying to have a baby. Um.

Let's say it's not what I'm used to.