Jamie Lynn Spears

It's been about a month since Jamie Lynn Spears announced her pregnancy to the world but the press coverage has yet to die down. Read the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy's take on the issue below:

1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036
TheNationalCampaign.org

In response to the news that Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old star of the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 is pregnant, Bill Albert, Deputy Director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy encouraged parents and teens to consider the following:

• The Spears pregnancy provides parents with a teachable moment and serves as a perfect opportunity to discuss with their kids the important topics of sex, love, relationships.

• That Spears is a celebrity with a “good girl” image underscores that teen pregnancy can happen to anyone. In fact, one in three girls in the United States gets pregnant by age 20.

• Spears is 16 and her boyfriend is 19 years old. While an age difference of three years means little in an adult relationship, age differences of even two or three years can be significant in teen relationships. Teens who are in relationships with partners three or more years older are far more likely to report that sex was unwanted, are far less likely to use contraception, and far more likely to get pregnant than those teens who are in relationships with someone their age or
slightly older.

• That Spears was shocked that she was pregnant suggests that she wasn’t ready to have sex. Anyone who has sex can get pregnant and if you don’t know that you probably shouldn’t be having sex. Zoey 101 needs sex education 101.

• Jamie herself now says that she thinks that it is better to wait to have sex—a sentiment that is shared by most sexually experienced teens. In fact, 60% of sexually experienced teens say they “wish they had waited longer” to have sex.

“We hope that Jamie’s pregnancy encourages her young fans to think carefully about sex and contraception, the possibility of pregnancy, and the lifelong challenges of being a parent,” said Albert.