Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Teen Pregnancy - Part 3 - Moms Talk Back

my name is Ivy, i'm 19. i have a daughter named arianna, she's a year and seven months.

i'm erica dubreuil, i'm nineteen years old, i have a nine month old son named zachary,

I'm jasmine, i'm 19,. i have a son named jaden, who's sixteen months. i'm from chicopee. and he looks just like me!

NONE OF THESE TEENAGE MOTHERS -- JASMINE JIMENEZ, IVY FOSTER, AND ERICA DUBREUIL -- PLANNED THEIR PREGNANCY. EACH SAYS THEIR PATH TO YOUNG MOTHERHOOD BEGAN WITH A SCHOOL SYSTEM OR HOME LIFE THAT, AT SOME POINT, STOPPED WORKING FOR THEM.
Ivy: I was in DSS custody and I hated the foster homes. I got stabbed with a screwdriver. I got beat a lot by other girls. ? so I ran away and kept running away, and then I found my boyfriend, my daughter's father.

JAS: junior year is when it all -- i started slacking. i skipped school all the time. i walked out of school if someone said the wrong thing to me. 0:20:20.5

[could cut: IVY: i had so many suspensions from fighting.0:22:12.7 ?. and finally i got expelled,

ERICA: if high school hadn't been so hard, i'd still be in highschool and i would've never dropped out. if me and my boyfriend would've waited to move in with each other, it would've been much harder to get pregnant bc we wouldn't have seen each other every day.0:18:34.5

HOW THEY ACTUALLY GOT PREGNANT....CAME DOWN TO A COMBINATION OF RISKY BEHAVIOR, AND LACK OF INFORMATION. THEY HAD LEARNED ALMOST NOTHING AT SCHOOL ABOUT PREGNANCY PREVENTION. AGAIN, ERICA, IVY, AND JASMINE.
Jas: I went to get my blood tested to get birth control.... she came back into the room and told me I was pregnant.

(Erica): that was my first time on the pill. I only took the first week. I didn?t know I was supposed to take the full package. so i kind of messed myself up.

Ivy: I cried for about a half hour, an hour. But I got over it, and I just starting picking out names and rubbing my buddha belly.

Erica: when I found out, I was about three months pregnant. I was so scared I cried.
AND WHEN THE BABIES CAME, IT FELT -- AT FIRST -- AS THOUGH THEIR FUTURES HAD JUST VANISHED. IVY WAS LIVING WITH HER COUSIN.
IVY: i was miserable every day. 0:29:42.3 i always thought, what am i gonna do tomorrow? oh, that's wash clothes, cook, clean, take care of baby,

Jas: i was sitting home at my mom's -- just watching TV all day with the baby. then she opened up my eyes one day, she goes, is this what you're going to do for the rest of your life? sit here and watch TV, waste your life. and I said, No. and she said, well school and jobs don't just come knocking on the door. and that's true. 0:34:02.9

WHAT FINALLY GAVE JASMINE -- AND THE OTHERS -- HOPE, WAS GOING BACK TO SCHOOL. THEY WERE REFERRED BY THEIR WELFARE CASE WORKERS ....TO THE CARE CENTER, A HOLYOKE PROGRAM DESIGNED TO PUT TEENAGE MOMS BACK ON A TRACK TO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION AND HOPEFULLY COLLEGE. CARE CENTER CLIENTS CAN LEAVE THEIR BABIES AT THE ON-SITE DAYCARE WHILE THEY TAKE CLASSES IN BASIC MATH AND ENGLISH, LITERATURE, HISTORY AND POETRY. SOME ARE PREPARING FOR THE GED TEST, OTHERS, LIKE IVY, ARE READY FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
IVY: the more opportunities you take, the more you get when you?re older. Like I?m going to college this summer....i took my GED and i passed it. I didn?t think I would. I thought my life was over at 19.

Jas: i think personally having a GED or diploma, it really helps, especially being a teen mom, that's a bad enough logo for us, never mind being drop out teen moms. and i want something for my son to look up to. 0:25:00.7 ? I don't want him saying, well you dropped out so i can drop out.

ERICA;.0:37:37.7 i really want to go to college and be a radiologist. That?s like my goal, I really want to make that goal happen.

ERICA, JASMINE, AND IVY KNOW THE ROAD WILL BE HARDER FOR THEM, WITH CHILDREN TO CARE FOR. BUT THEY NO LONGER SEE THEIR LIVES AS FOREGONE CONCLUSIONS, AND IVY, FOR ONE, RESENTS THE STEREOTYPES THAT PEG TEENAGE MOTHERS AS LOST CAUSES.

IVY: we do not have babies to stay on welfare, that is the most ridiculous, ridiculous stereotype of teen mothers...some of us don?t? have families, so the state does help us.
... we don't just take it for granted and spend it on shoes or cell phones. no, it goes to diapers. it goes to wipies. it goes to parents who are watching our kids.

Erica; i've heard us be called whores, we get called, we're too young we don't knw what we're doing to even have kids, 0:48:48 We can't support our kids bc we don't have jobs.

IVY: you sell your DVDs to get milk. they're two dollars, you buy them for 25 bucks and your'e selling them for two bucks, every one of them, so you can get milk. you're going down to the bodega and you're getting credit, just bc you need bread or formula. it's like, we do things, we're serious, we don't just let our babies starve, we'll work our asses off to get whatever we need for our children.

AMB: (moms with babies?.)
Say hi? Hello - what is that, wan?t some nummies? Wanna eat?

0:05:35.7 hi! hi big boy! uhhh. can i have a kiss, from my baby? give mommy kiss. mmmm!
(FADE UNDER)

THESE YOUNG WOMEN SAY THEY LOVE THEIR CHILDREN MORE THAN ANYTHING. BUT THEY DON?T WANT ANY MORE BABIES, NOT RIGHT NOW.

JAS: i'm waiting for grandkids. 0:27:17.6 definitely.
erica: i want to get the IUD for five years. 0:26:55.7 I?m still figuring how to raise my own child, i can't put another child into this world.
Ivy: Let me get rid of at least one stretch mark before i think about having kids again. I don?t really want to have any more kids, unless I fall in love down the road and it?s so much love that I can?t help it and want to have another one.

IVY FOSTER. JASMINE JIMENEZ, AND ERICA DUBREUIL. 19-YEARS-OLD. MOTHERS. AND COLLEGE-BOUND. FOR WFCR AND WNNZ, I?M KAREN BROWN.

Back