Is There Something in the Water?

When I was younger there was a phenomenon that occurred in my high school.  It scared naive girls, made fathers everywhere nauseous and caused a lot of people to quit drinking the water (figuratively speaking of course).

The phenomenon was... (drumroll please)... teen pregnancy!

Before you protest, I am aware of many things:

1) This does not just happen in the south, but we do have the highest rates
2) Thanks to similar childhood experiences and shows like Teen Mom, most people are jaded about the subject
3) It isn't really a phenomenon

All that aside, let's continue on.

Now in my high school, the girls were not particularly slutty and the boys were not particularly promiscuous... at least no more than the kids at other high schools in the area.  Our parents taught us strong family values and most people went to church real regular.  Yet, somehow, our school had exponentially more pregnancies.

Some schools were good at football.  Some schools were good at basketball.  We were good at masonry, baseball and pregnancy.  Two out of three isn't bad, right?

The other fact that still intrigues me is that most of the girls who got pregnant did not marry the "baby-daddy."  When people think of teen pregnancy, or at least when I think of teen pregnancy in the religious south, I always assumed that marriage was a given.  With that said, I applaud those girls who did not rush into a marriage just because of a child.

But given that the only thing that outnumbered churches in our town was... well nothing, I also assumed that most father's would have strongly encouraged these young men to "do the right thing."  And since we're talking about redneck country, "strongly encouraged" means aiming a shotgun at the boys private parts.  Nothin' like a little gentle persuasion.

It's also intriguing the way teen pregnancy is viewed where I'm from.  I have 3 best friends from my high school with whom I am still close.  I'm in graduate school, one girl is in law school, one girl is getting her CPA and the other girl has a culinary degree and is also in cosmetology school.  We're the cream of the crop for our county.  And amidst stunning academic records and bright futures, the thing we are most proud of is the fact that we managed to make it through middle school, high school, college and early adulthood without getting pregnant out of wedlock. (And yes, in today's society, it was necessary to include middle school)

I'm not sure why that is such a feat.  I'm also not quite sure how we managed to not get pregnant given the obvious fertility of our teen counterparts.  Personally, I think it's because we never drank the water.

For those who made North Carolina an abstinence only state, bless your heart.