Does 'Juno' Show Strength or Glorify Teen Pregnancy?

March 10, 2008— -- Ashley Wilkens of Carmel, Ind., got pregnant at 16, delivered a boy and placed the baby for adoption. Now 18, she works in retail sales, is studying for her GED and has filed paperwork to join the Navy.

She stayed in high school halfway through her pregnancy and says her peers seemed fine with it.

"It just seems like it's OK and it was accepted. People would say: 'Look, how cute. You have a little baby bump. That's adorable.' "

But even though friends and media portrayals may be more accepting of teen pregnancy today than in the past, the "baby bump" still generates a wide range of reactions when the mother-to-be is a teenager.

Think of the comments in the blogosphere when 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, star of Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, announced her pregnancy. She's reportedly due in May.

Or the barrage of conflicting opinions generated by the movie Juno, about a fictional 16-year-old with plenty of attitude who gets pregnant and finds her baby an adoptive home. It was nominated for an Oscar for best picture, but the kudos have been somewhat mixed, depending upon attitudes toward teen pregnancy.

"In some quarters, it's frowned on, and in other quarters, it may be discouraged but not so frowned upon," says Thomas Cottle, a sociologist and psychologist at Boston University.

Though many say society has become more accepting of all kinds of once-taboo issues, including teen pregnancy, Cottle says he isn't sure it's actually more accepted.

"There is not one culture in America," he says. "It is a very complicated and complex culture. With all these races and ethnic groups and social classes and religions, this thing called 'teen pregnancy' is experienced in very different ways and it's thought about in very different ways."

Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, is concerned about the message girls will get from Juno, which she believes is unrealistic. The movie paints a portrait of a pregnant teen who is not only extremely self-possessed but who also has a very supportive family.