Introduction / Food (?) for thought

So, here I am.

In a little more than two months, my life will get a little crazier. I will be starting graduate school. End goal: Women's Health Nurse Practitioner. You're thinking:

Oh, so you must be a nurse already, right?
Nope.
Oh, so you did your undergrad in biology/pre-med/generic science?
Nope.

I'm starting a Master's Entry nursing program, which is designed for folks with non-nursing Bachelor's degrees in any field. The first year of the program is a super-accelerated Registered Nurse prep year, and the second and third years are 'specialty years,' when I'll train to be an NP.

Basically, three years from now, I will be a mid-level health care provider. Does it scare the crap out of me? Yes.

So what is my undergraduate background, you ask? Don't worry, it's not even closely related to any science! I did a dual-degree in violin and Italian literature. I have been extremely successful in both fields, graduating with distinction and all that crap. Did I mention that I graduated last month? HA.

So yes, I've been in school non-stop since Kindergarten, but you know what? I'm not ready to stop! But I promise, this is my last journey. THIS is my career prep right here. Nursing. I'm so psyched. My undergrad was just training for making me a well-rounded, multi-faceted individual. Mission accomplished! So now I'm on my way to having a gratifying (and hopefully lucrative) career to accompany my many interests and hobbies. Let's get it started!!

And like I said, Women's Health is the deal. I am all about women's rights and empowerment and strength and individuality. This mentality translates to health, as well. We women must band together for the promotion of ourselves! There are too many societal influences bringing us down that we need to make an effort to preserve what makes us US. This means educating all women of all ages about caring for their bodies. Every woman should know all about sexual and reproductive health, and unfortunately this is not the case. There are unfortunately a whole bunch of cancers that are women-only, and we've advanced enough medically to start preventing and controlling the habits that lead to certain cancers. And for the women plagued by hereditary women cancers, they need to know that their lives do not stop there. That's my mini women's promotion rant, take from it what you will.

A current events issue for discussion/debate:
In a nearby high-school, the number of pregnant teenagers at the end of this school year clocked out at 17, which is four times the average of the past years. Further investigation reported that there were a group of girls (maybe 5-9 girls, don't quote me) that made a PACT to get pregnant and raise their babies together. The fathers are not necessarily fellow classmates, and include a 24 year-old homeless man. This situation is all over the news, including talk-radio banter and press conferences about where the responsibility lies and 'where do we go from here.'

My take: I am not an advocate of teenage/minor pregnancy (by the way, these girls were all minors). I am a strong advocate of pregnancies/parenthood as a result of a healthy, loving relationship between a man/woman, man/man, or woman/woman. I am very progressive in those respects. I am also an advocate of pregnancies/parenthood among those with steady incomes and consistent housing. Consistency and responsibility are on the top of my list. So, as a result, I feel very badly for these babies. I also feel badly for the parents of these teenagers, who will most likely end up with the unexpected responsibility of raising these children (while still raising their teenage girls!). I believe that abstinence is NOT an affective health education tool. Teenagers (some, not all!) WILL have sexual relations regardless of what they are taught in school. This is a result of society, not education. Sure, having a strong moral influence will help these students make right decisions. But even the most moral of kids will think they are in love at the age of 17. If in fact, abstinence education is not reducing the amount of sexually active teens, then isn't it our jobs (our: parents, educators, health providers) to inform these young adults on how to be SAFE and PROTECTED? It really gets under my skin that high schools won't even say the words 'birth-control' and parochial colleges and universities won't distribute contraceptives at their health centers! I know this has turned into a rant of sorts, so I'll cut myself off here and get to some questions for discussion related to the specific situation of the pregnancy-pact teens.

Questions:
-These girls did not get pregnant by accident. If there indeed was a pact to get pregnant, they were purposefully having unprotected sex. Would education about birth control options / STI prevention have even made a difference?
-If it wouldn't have made a difference, then what happened in these girls lives that made them think that the key to happiness was to prematurely have children and disrupt their young-adult paths? Was this a result of society? Home life? A void in the education system?

I really don't know the answer.

(And I have the feeling that the previous sentence is going to frequently spill out of my mouth during the next three years...)