Should teenage mothers have their benefits removed and/or restricted?

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Originally Posted by Catchy

@Tokyo; it wouldn't let me edit my original post, sorry for double post mods

I've just read your post properly and you're almost as ridiculous as the all mighty undertaker. In response to your points.

1. Are you freaking serious? This isn't job seekers allowance lol... A record of purchases would NEVER work. Plus all teenage mums are dishonest, idiotic silly girls according to undertaker... So there's nothing to stop people lying. Having to prove what you've spent money on seems more like an interrogation than any means of support.

2. Your second comment isn't even really worth commenting on because it's the most bizarre idea I've heard all day. Social worker taking the children into care? Just because money isn't 100% spent on the child doesn't make that mother a bad mother. You do know that? Right?

3. Need to be cut, you're going on like they get a lot of money when in comparison to having a full time career it's peanuts really. Plus do you know how expensive it actually is to raise a child? Like I said to undertaker, it's difficult to filter out the ones who abuse it and the ones who don't.

and the rest, I don't really give a toss about your life story lol.

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I admit I was rather stupid at the time, some of my ideas wouldn't have made sense reading through them again.

In response to 3:

Basically, in the area I live in, many people choose to live off JSA and Child benefits because you could get more money off them than having an actual job nowerdays. Your rent is payed for and you get £112 a week(or whatever it was).

I do beleive they should be cut, I do understand many people live off of these things though.

I have never raised a kid by myself, I know that would be hard also. Like I mentioned on my first point, possibly make mothers record all of the purchases they spent on the child in the week. It should come a minimal amount for a child's well being.

Also, I understand that you don't care about my life story, but there's no need to be rude.


Edit: Considering the second idea:

I am not saying they should take the kid away if it's not 100% spent on the child, I didn't explain it properly, sorry.

There should be a general boundary to show if the kid is having any money spent on it at all. It would make much more sense recording purchases on some device or machine because the child services would want to know if any money is being spent at all.

I am not saying any do, but I am sure some careless teenage mothers do not spend any of the benefit on the child and buy things for themselves.

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Originally Posted by Catchy

I have nothing else to add really otherwise it's just gonna go around in circles. Agree to disagree. OH BUT ONE LAST THING, just wanna share this with @Zak;

seems the 20-24 age group are the worst culprits for sti's. but that does lead me to wonder how many more younger people there is with STI's but just haven't been diagnosed.

http://i41.tinypic.com/v7sdbp.jpg

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Yeah that doesn't surprise me. I know of a lot of people who've have STIs.. which makes me think wow if I know this many admitting to a previous STI then how many people are hiding that fact. :P I've been to the GUM clinic numerous times and the woman told me 1 in 10 have clam - not sure on the age range she's talking about there :P

I can't believe how awfully narrow minded some of these responses are. This is the 21st century guys, girls do not "keep their legs shut" and I'm pretty sure guys are more than happy for them to open up. To put it bluntly so.

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Originally Posted by Catchy

First of all, the teen pregnancy rate in the UK is at it's lowest since 1969. The conception rate in the UK has increased though due to a lot more women in their 30's and 40's having babies. Back to the question anyway, should benefits be cut? The simple answer is no, whilst there will be some who abuse the system the overwhelming majority imo should be entitled to these benefits. Teenage pregnancy is 8 times more common in young women who come from routine or manual backgrounds than those from professional backgrounds, it's easy to blame it on the girl or her family but other factors have to be considered here. Education, upbringing even ethnicity (certain ethnic groups are more prone to teenage pregnancy). Cutting benefits imo is not the solution to combat teen pregnancy, "they get pregnant because they want a house" is the most ridiculous statement I've heard... Many of these young mums are scared as hell and should receive support instead of articles like this which stigmatise every single teenage parent. Should we stop all benefits because people abuse the system? Should we stop the tax system because people abuse that too? No. There's always going to be people who think they can cheat the system, but in the end I don't believe it should be generalized to everyone because it's simply not the case and it isn't black and white. From working on a maternity ward I've seen it all, you get these teenage mums who have so many social issues it's unreal, many of you wouldn't even be able to comprehend with some of the things that these teenagers have gone through/going through. Support needs to be in place for these women, education needs to be in place! Attitudes need to change.

Also @Shar; excited to see your response to this debate

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To be honest Jake, I couldn't have put it better myself. I completely agree with you.

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Originally Posted by Shar

I can't believe how awfully narrow minded some of these responses are. This is the 21st century guys, girls do not "keep their legs shut" and I'm pretty sure guys are more than happy for them to open up. To put it bluntly so.


To be honest Jake, I couldn't have put it better myself. I completely agree with you.

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There are plenty of girls out there who are like that.. I know plenty of them lol

A lot of my friends who go out on the pull will pull each and everytime they go out??

To say everyone is like that is stupid and that's certainly not what I meant....?

I also know of quite a few people who got pregnant to get a house :P So yeh, again it happens but is probably not in the majority. :P I don't know where some of you grew up and what schools you have been to but I think you should have went to school where I lived :P haha

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Originally Posted by Zak

There are plenty of girls out there who are like that.. I know plenty of them lol

A lot of my friends who go out on the pull will pull each and everytime they go out??

To say everyone is like that is stupid and that's certainly not what I meant....?

I also know of quite a few people who got pregnant to get a house :P So yeh, again it happens but is probably not in the majority. :P I don't know where some of you grew up and what schools you have been to but I think you should have went to school where I lived :P haha

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That's fair enough but my point is that older people also do it and no one is highlighting that matter. I think the issue of getting pregnant and benefit abuse is more common with the older demographic rather than the teens. While there is little change in teen pregnancies, there has been an increase in the number of older women having babies.

I believe benefits should be restricted. I'm from Georgia and here girls are practically payed to spit out babies. You spit out a kid, you get money for it. The welfare system is notoriously abused over here and it infuriates me. I'm a firm believer in education. These young girls, and boys, need to be educated about unwanted pregnancies and STI's. There are too many free clinics over here to where they can get their hands on protection for intimacy. If their parents or another family member is unwilling to give the talk, there's the doctor or the free clinic. If the benefits are restricted, it'll decrease abuse of the system, and IMO, the lazy attitude some young ladies decide to take on about their situation.