Today’s teen culture has evolved greatly over the past few decades regarding several issues. One of these issues is teen pregnancy. With the arrival of shows such as 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and several others, it is clear that teen pregnancy is not only happening more frequently, but also society’s reactions to it are changing as well. In the movie Juno, the main character, Juno, is a sixteen year old who becomes pregnant while having casual, unprotected sex with her friend, Paulie Bleeker.    

     When Juno learns of her pregnancy, her immediate reaction is to have an abortion. According to her friend Leah, it is what Juno’s peers are doing as she (Leah) had called an abortion clinic for a friend last year, “Want me to call for you? I called for Becky last year” (Drake, et. al.,2007). However, Juno could not terminate the pregnancy once presented with the opportunity to do so at a clinic because her conscience took over and forced another decision. Without further thought, she then decided to have the baby and give it up for adoption. Juno’s decision about continuing her pregnancy, like many other teenagers, was based on knee jerk reactions and showed that (in her mind) being pregnant and having a baby is no big deal because she had found a solution which suited her for the moment- adoption. Continuing or ending a pregnancy is a life altering decision that today’s teen culture takes too lightly. According to Douglas Kirby (2001), “Many experts have concluded that adolescents have access to the means to avoid pregnancy but do not use them or use them inefficiently because they do not appreciate the consequences of pregnancy.”

     Many years ago, teenage pregnancy was frowned upon, and a girl who found herself pregnant was considered disgraced and an outcast. She would have been sent away to a different school until after she delivered the baby, and then once the baby was born, would have been allowed to re-enroll in school. Today’s teen culture presents an attitude that is more lax towards teen pregnancy. As shown in Juno, the pregnant teen in this case is not only assisted by her parents, but also does not change schools and seemingly returns to what we would consider a “normal” life by the end of the film. While teen pregnancy still is not what our culture would consider a “best case scenario,” it certainly is not a death sentence for life.  

     Additionally, the teen culture in the movie portrays a very nonchalant and lackadaisical disposition about sexual intercourse and its purpose. Juno feels it is not critical to have protected sex and be in a meaningful relationship. Thus, once when Juno learned that she was pregnant, she had no problem with the idea of an abortion. Not until she went to the Women Now Clinic did she begin to feel reservations about having an abortion. When this action became something “real”, she could not pursue the option any further. Although the possibility of ending her baby’s life became “real”, Juno still had no qualms about giving her baby up for an adoption. In her mind, this option was honorable, while abortion simply meant death.

    Today’s teen culture continues to prove themselves quite different from that of the teen culture decades ago. However, just because Juno became pregnant in high school and had the support of her best friend and family, it is still important to note that her situation was still frowned upon. Juno still had feelings of insecurity about her body and did not want to see the baby even after birth. Therefore, even though we may not exile pregnant teens so quickly, as we did a few decades ago, teen culture still upholds that teen pregnancy should be avoided at all cost and girls are still judged more harshly than boys since they are the ones who must bear the weight, both literally and figuratively, of the decision to have unprotected sex. Therefore, while it is clear that teen culture has evolved to be more accepting of teen pregnancy, it is still not encouraged.