16 and Pregnant/YMMV

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• Accidental Aesop: This show (and its Spin-Off, Teen Mom) is quite possibly an unintentional deconstruction of Good Girls Avoid Abortion, as it shows very well the consequences of choosing to keep a baby, especially for a teenager. According to at least one study, 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have contributed to a rise in support for abortion rights for precisely this reason.
  • Arguably an intentional Aesop with Teen Mom; it doesn't pull much in the way of punches about how difficult it is to raise children, even with supportive, well-off parents.
• It Got Worse: Farrah. First, the father dies in a car crash. She's forced to live with her family, which is...less than ideal. Then, we learn her mother is physically abusive. If that wasn't enough, the father's family first tries to prove that he isn't the father...and then when the paternity test says he is, immediately sues her for not giving them enough time with the baby. The cherry on top? She wanted an abortion, and it's implied her mother used emotional abuse to make her have the child. How much of this is truth and how much is Manipulative Editing is up to the viewer.
• Memetic Mutation: At least among the people who watch it: "It's your baby, Matt. Just, like, get it through your head. We had sex a lot."
• Misaimed Fandom: Apparently girls are trying to get pregnant just to audition for this show. Ignoring the fact that most, if not all, of the girls state at the end of their episode that they wished they had waited because it's so hard to raise a kid.
• The Woobie: Catelynn and her boyfriend Tyler decide they can't raise a child and give her up for adoption. Most of the season is her family screaming at her, mostly because they don't think she feels guilty enough about it.
• Tear Jerker
• Unfortunate Implications: The show has been condemned for glorifying teen pregnancy, presenting the idea that if you do get pregnant that abortion isn't an option, let alone adoption....
  • Only two women (one couple and one single) have put their babies up for adoption, and only a few have discussed abortion on-camera. In all fairness, the girl is usually about six months pregnant when the filming starts, and who's to say she didn't consider having an abortion prior to that?
    • In the spin off, Teen Mom, Farrah's mom references the fact that Farrah wanted an abortion when she first found out she was pregnant, but her mom convinces her otherwise.
      • "Teen Mom" in general is a much better show in this respect: it follows the girls more closely and gets into details about their lives, which usually, well, stink.
    • 1 in 6 is actually an over representation because only 1-2% of teen pregnancies end in adoption. If anything this show is pushing the option with their extremely positive portrayal of those parents.
  • A one time only special, No Easy Decision, discussed abortion. It followed a girl from 16 and Pregnant who became pregnant a second time and decided to end the pregnancy, and interviewed two other girls, not from 16 and Pregnant, about their experiences getting abortions. It was surprising well done and managed to focus on the individual girls rather than on religious or moral issues. Personally, this troper sees why MTV wouldn't feature girls who decided to abort their pregnancies on regular episodes both due to safety reasons and avoiding controversy, as well as the pragmatic argument that there would not be much of a story in terms of being pregnant or a teen mom.