A state agency sent her a complete Thanksgiving meal and gifts at Christmas, as well as offering counselling on her legal rights and referrals for more state services after the birth of the baby. When she became too big to attend classes at her local high school, she was provided with a home tutor. Her friends threw her a baby shower. Obviously the answer to teen pregnancy is not to throw these girls out on the street. But we have to be very careful not to make teen motherhood seem attractive.
Girls are hard-wired to want babies.
Yet adopted children do so much better in life than children raised by single parents. They do far better in school, are much less likely to be depressed or suffer other mental illnesses, have fewer behavioral problems and repeat grades far less often. In fact, a Search Institute study of adolescents found that adoptees scored better on every measure of wellbeing than chidren raised by single parents and those raised by grandparents. Teen-agers who do put their babies up for adoption also have far better life prospects than those who become mothers. Even if Nicole and the half million other unwed girls who gave birth last year knew this, it probably would not change their minds.