The end of May brings an end to Teen Pregnancy Prevention month, a designation designed to showcase an entire movement that has been formed around the idea that preventing young motherhood is one of the most important adolescent health issues of our time. Statistics are bandied about regarding high school drop-out rates, dependency on public benefits, and increased rates of poverty for women who become parents when they are young. But what’s the real problem? As reproductive health and justice advocates, can we really stand behind the sentiment that motherhood should ever prevent anyone’s success?

These were the kinds of questions that my colleagues and I at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health began asking ourselves a few years back, and we knew right away what our answer had to be. As part of the reproductive justice community, we share a set of values that we believe will allow all persons to live their lives freely and in good health; we value sexual freedom, integrity of the body and personal autonomy, and we reject any system of reproductive coercion. Because of these values, we believe it is important to change both the discourse surrounding young motherhood and the policies meant to address the issues young mothers face.

read the rest here: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2011/06/01/teen-pregnancy-prevention-reproductive-justice-what-real-problem