
Sisters Weigh Pregnancy Options on 16 and Pregnant
May 4, 2012
The new season of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant kicked off on Tuesday, April 3rd, highlighting the lives of 12 new girls with 12 different stories. One of the first episodes features Briana, a college-bound, high school graduate and teen mom-to-be.
Briana, 18, lives in Florida with her mom and sister. She was afraid of her mom’s reaction when she dropped the news that she was pregnant, and it didn’t help that Briana’s older sister Brittany got pregnant around the same time. Although they were both pregnant, Briana and Brittany made different choices.
Brittany, who had broken up with her boyfriend, decided it was best to have an abortion. She didn’t want to worry about the possibility of raising a child by herself. Later on in the episode, she admits to sometimes wanting to go back and change her mind.
When Briana made her decision to become a teen parent, she was still with her boyfriend Devon. One month and a breakup later, Briana wonders if she made the right choice when she decided to become a parent and tells her sister that she regrets not having an abortion.
This episode of 16 and Pregnant definitely highlighted for me that there are options for girls if they become pregnant. But, it is also easy to see from what Briana and Brittany experience how difficult it may be to make that decision. Abortion is the right choice for some girls, while parenting or adoption is the right choice for others.
In the end, it’s up to the girl whether or not she decides to carry a pregnancy to term or be a teen mom. But, whatever her choice may be, she needs support from loved ones. In Briana’s case, it was clear that both she and Brittany got that from their mom and each other.