Written by Jasmine Carruth, 15, a struggling artist attending Towers High School and a teen staff member of VOX, a teen newspaper published by VOX Teen Communications (www.voxrox.org)

"Mom,"
"Yes, dear,"
"I have something to tell you."
"Make it quick, I'm a bit busy."
"I'm....I'm pregnant, mom"

As a teenage girl, telling my mom that I'm pregnant would be the most embarrassing, scariest conversation. It has to be the scariest because it didn't take long to get in this horrible position. It only took one time, one unprotected unprepared time to get in the most vulnerable state. And then we have to discuss, in depth, about this with our mom, the person whose opinion actually matters to us. What for? The worst part of it all is that we're barely halfway through high school.

I've seen friends of mine caught in this situation but the outcomes only had one thing in common. All the outcomes changed their lives for the worse. My friends won't be going to their high school graduation, go to college or live out their dream lives.

I had a friend, who was the same age as me. We were in the same grade (ninth). We had a lot of things in common but one. My friend messed up and got pregnant. Her mom kicked her out. I talked to my mom and she got me on birth control. We're pretty close. I believe that who we live around influences our choices, young or old. So, who we're friends with does help other people choose whether or not to be our friend.

Everyday I go to school, I see a pregnant teenager. Everyday I've been going to high school I've seen a pregnant girl or a girl that used to be pregnant. One day, I was in class and a senior brought her baby to class to say hi. And I just think to myself, 'when was it okay to have babies I high school?' when did adults begin to tolerate teen pregnancy? Two years ago? Five years ago? So, we tolerate it when it goes on the most just so we don't have to talk about it. Well, one day my school wanted to be above the lot who just ignored this growing issue. They had an assembly, for the girls only, to discuss teen pregnancy.

The administrators did an amusing skit of a 12th grade girl who got pregnant and was abandoned by her boyfriend. Her hard-working mother over heard her say that she was with child and her boyfriend began dating her best friend. The situations were serious but it was funny, and token lightly. One of the staff has a friend who is very famous and rich. The celebrity did a video for us especially, to let us know that she was caught in dilemma where she could have gotten pregnant but took the high rode so, she could live out her dream. The celebrity told us to have high self-esteem and don't fall for b.s told by a guy. At the end of the assembly, they passed out surveys to determine how effective the assembly was. There were questions like, 'did the skit help you better understand how to not get in that type of situation?' and 'did the video help boost your self-esteem?' then we were released back to class.

Although there were several flaws with the whole assembly, I do appreciate the attention and somewhat concern. High-self esteem is important and could help prevent teen pregnancy but there's one thing that will help prevent it. It's called a condom. Condoms aren't 100% guaranteed [to protect against all STDs] but they'll get the job done most of the time. Another helpful item would be birth control pills; medical technology is even so advanced that they can prescribe a shot that prevent pregnancy for 3 months. But guess what was passed out on our way back to class...bookmarks. That's right; a bookmark is suppose to prevent pregnancy. Who ever had that bright idea needs to go back to school.

Another big issue was that the boys didn't have an assembly. For some reason the adults at school didn't think that it took both a boy and a girl to conceive a baby. Apparently only a girl is responsible. The boys are left just as ignorant and cold-hearted as they were before our assembly but nobody seems to care. How do you expect the whole problem to be fixed when you only worked on half of it? That's like going to school or to work everyday but when you get there you don't do anything. It defeats the puprpose, you're just wasting time and you don't get anything accomplished in the end.

I was outraged the rest of the whole day. I said random things to boys that I talked passed like, "please wear a condom." my girlfriends agreed that the assembly was pretty lame and half-baked. But my best friend made a good point when she said that it's not the school's responsibility on whether or not teenage girls get pregnant. She was right but when the school had an assembly such as this, they make it their responsibility. And if they want to take make a difference they got to be whole-hearted about it and offer real solutions that make real changes. High self-esteem is nice but it only goes so far.

The day that we all, adults and young adults, sit and have a REAL conversation on how to help is the day we stop T.P. some adults and teens believe that not having sex altogether is best. If that's your way then go for it, but in reality we will have to decide to have sex and it won't be with our husbands or wives. We all need sex education to answer some of the questions that come up when we have to explain to our moms that we are going to have a child.

So, the conversation we should be having should go like this:

"Dear"

"Yea, mom,"

"I have something to talk to about."

"Yea, what's up?"

"I'm....going to talk you about sex."