SALON

Tuesday, Mar 5, 2013 9:37 PM UTC

NYC uses shame, petty insults in new teen pregnancy campaign

But city officials have been mum on the impact of the campaign that really helps -- bringing Plan B to city schools

By

Topics: Reproductive Rights, reproductive health, Teen pregnancy, teen moms, Contraception, Condoms, Plan B, ,

NYC uses shame, petty insults in new teen pregnancy campaign (Credit: Human Resources Administration via Flickr)

The New York Human Resources Administration launched a new ad campaign this week that uses “straight talk” in an effort to prevent teen pregnancy. The ads feature images of sad-looking children alongside messages like “Honestly, Mom … Chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?” and “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen.”

The ads have already been harshly criticized for using these statistics to shame teen mothers rather than educating sexually active young people about where they can access condoms and other contraceptive care. But the subway and bus shelter ads aren’t actually the worst part.

As reported by Miriam Pérez for RH Reality Check, at the bottom of each ad is the message: “Text ‘NOTNOW’ to 877877 for the real cost of teen pregnancy.” Text the number and you’re directed to a choose your own adventure “game,” which includes “scenarios about Anaya being ignored by her ‘baby daddy’ and shunned by her parents,” but no information about how not to get pregnant. Instead, the texts use threats of social isolation, the prospect of losing your boyfriend and petty fat-shaming to drive home the message that teenagers who get pregnant are deserving of hardship and ridicule.

One scenario includes:

“OMG! My BF Louis and I got pregnant. He was going to take me to prom, now I will look HUGE in my dress. Should I go? Text ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’”

If you advise Anaya to go to prom anyway, this is her response: “My BFF called me a ‘fat loser’ at prom. I was devastated.”

The message from the ads and the cellphone campaign is clear: If you get pregnant, it’s your own damn fault if you’re struggling.

Statistics around teen motherhood are sobering, but a campaign that places the blame for complicated social realities squarely on the shoulders of teen moms without looking at factors like access to the pill and abortion care, record unemployment rates and insufficient support from partners and family members is, at best, downright mean and counterproductive. At worst? It won’t do a thing to reduce unplanned teen pregnancy rates in the city.

And, as Pérez notes on RH Reality Check, very few 16-year-olds think becoming a mom before they graduate high school will be a walk in the park. As teen mom and blogger Natasha Vianna’s writes of the ads:

When I was a teen, I knew how hard it was to be a teen mom because I saw it in my family and in families around me. My mom was a teen mom, my grandmother was a teen mom, my aunt was a teen mom, my cousin was a teen mom, and so many more. Yes, I saw girls drop out of school and struggle with many aspects of their lives. I didn’t need a lame ad with a picture of a crying baby (who of course had to resemble a minority) to tell me that. Yet, at 17, I still became a teen mom and it was NOT what I wanted for myself. I never thought to myself, “Ahhh yes, statistics say my kid would be twice as likely to not graduate than kids born to moms over 22. SO, I will have a baby now before 22 and accept the challenge.” So what makes you think most teens are going to think the opposite? Pregnancies are usually unplanned and accidental. These ads don’t prevent unplanned pregnancies.

The campaign is particularly strange considering the fact that New York health officials already know what prevents unplanned teen pregnancies: Better access to condoms and contraception like the morning after pill.

And they’re actually doing a pretty good job of it. But the city doesn’t want you to know that. Really.

The New York Post broke a story last month that the initiative to bring the morning after pill to New York City schools was actually much more widespread than initially reported. Despite claims from the city that only 567 Plan B pills were distributed among 13 schools, the truth is that close to 13,000 doses were given out.

And as the Huffington Post notes, publicity surrounding the successful birth control initiative has been quiet from the get-go. The pilot program, Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health (CATCH), grabbed fleeting national attention in September of last year, but it has actually been active since January 2011.

Active and successful. As it turns out, putting contraception in the hands of teenagers who want it is a surefire way to reduce unwanted pregnancy. It’s really as simple as that.

But rather than a subway ad from the city health department that reads: “Hey, we distributed 12,721 doses of Plan B in New York City schools over two years and guess what? Unplanned teen pregnancy rates are down,” we have one that demonizes teen moms.

It seriously makes no sense.

So why not stick to what works in reducing rates of unwanted teen pregnancy and save the shaming for the New Yorkers who really deserve it: Those who don’t stay to their right while ascending or descending subway stairs. (Just kidding! Don’t shame them! OK, maybe shame them just a little?)

 

Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 8 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
252 points253 points | 28 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
183 points184 points | 79 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
47 points48 points | 18 comments
vote
"New evidence reveals big banks still illegally foreclosing on thousands of homes – and weak settlement allows it."
28 points29 points | comment
vote
Are millennials delusional? New research suggests that members of "Generation Me" are warped by a profound sense of entitlement
27 points28 points | 23 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations