Because I’m A Blogger, I Must Weigh In

I picked this flyer up at the local library, and I must pontificate upon it because I am a blogger.

Happy teen pregnancies

You know, if you’re designing a flyer about teenage pregnancy, perhaps you should choose an image aside from one that depicts the pregnant teen and a friend in a mall photo machine smiling.

I’m just saying.

I understand that the point is that said female with child is not alone. Even her friend who was at the mall with her that day when she would later begin to miss a period after some unprotected loving from the eleventh grader who loved her truly and wrote rhyming poems in pencil to her convinced her they would be together “forever” in a time period where “forever” meant “after graduation” is kinda freaked out by the new revelation that her underage drinking buddy ought to shut it down for a while until the child comes out with fingers instead of flippers.

I feel bad for any young woman who faces pregnancy at a time when some of us are trying to figure out whether Band X equals Band Y in authenticity or intensity. But it’s a damn big decision, and I don’t think a couple smiling kids atop the flyer captures the weight.

If you’re going to go with a photo at all, maybe someone looking worried or freaked out. Because having the child is going to lead to a couple months at least of not smiling or sleeping followed by a lifetime of responsibility that will include a lot of joy, but all of it adult joy. Having the child and putting it up for adoption will lead to a lifetime of wondering and what-iffing. Aborting the child should lead to a lifetime of guilt and what-iffing. Regardless of the resources and the choices available, unplanned pregnancy is not a time for smiling.

What a foolish design choice. A disappointing choice, actually, as it sends a very wrong message about the emotions of the timeframe and underplays the seriousness of the situation.

But I do go on about nothing.

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