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Teen Pregnancy in Pop Culture and Media Images of Teen Pregnancy

Television and Film Depictions of Pregnant Teens Range From Realistic To Idyllic

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What's life like as a teenage baby mama? If you've formed an impression solely from media and pop culture depictions, teen pregnancy on TV and in film is a lot more glamorous than the real thing. A look at some of the most influential images of pregnant teens in pop culture.

1. Teen Pregnancy TV Series - ABC Family's "Secret Life of American Teenager"

© Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

The story of 15-year-old "good girl" Amy who comes home from camp pregnant from her first and only sexual encounter forms the basis of this ABC Family drama created in collaboration with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

2. Teen Pregnancy Reality Show - MTV's "16 and Pregnant"

A no-holds-harred look at teens dealing with pregnancy, birth and the aftermath, this MTV reality show doesn't glamorize the situation. Instead, we see how pregnancy and motherhood turns girls' lives upside-down while very little changes for the boys who are baby daddies.

3. Teen Mother on Teen Pregnancy - Bristol Palin Says "Wait 10 Years"

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Shortly after Sarah Palin was chosen as the Republican vice presidential candidate in August 2008, her daughter Bristol's pregnancy was revealed, putting the 17-year-old high school senior in the spotlight. After giving birth, Bristol shared her thoughts about teen pregnancy and motherhood.

4. Hollywood's Take on Teen Pregnancy - Academy Award-Nominated "Juno"

Kevin Winter / Getty Images
One of 2007's most talked-about films, "Juno" featured a wise-cracking pregnant teen whose chooses adoption instead of abortion, and whose pregnancy and delivery offered more laughs than tears.

5. Celebrity Teen Pregnancy - Tween TV Star Jamie Lynn Spears

© Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Star of her own TV series on Nickelodeon and younger sister to pop star Britney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spear stunned the world when she announced she was pregnant in 2007 at age 16.

6. TV's Crash Course in Teen Pregnancy & Parenting - NBC's "The Baby Borrowers"

© Tommy Baynard/NBC

A behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 reality series whose tag line "It's not TV, it's birth control" accurately described the life of five unmarried teenage couples who were 'loaned' babies and children to give them a taste of parenthood.

7. Teen Pregnancy in High School - TV Documentary "High School Confidential"

Photo courtesy of WE tv.
When 12 girls at a suburban high school in Overland Park, Kansas, agreed to be videotaped over four years to reveal what the lives of teenagers are really like, the producers never expected that a third of them would face an unplanned pregnancy.

8. Teen Pregnancy & the 2008 Election - Candidate's Daughter Pregnant

© J.D. Pooley/Getty Images
When Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was chosen as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate in August 2008, nobody expected that less than a week later the campaign would announce that Bristol Palin, Sarah's 17-year-old daughter, was pregnant.

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