ABSTRACT
A qualitative exploratory study with teenaged mothers who had previously had an abortion was undertaken to explore repeat pregnancy in the teenage years. The study aimed to examine the influencing factors in these two differing decisions, with the aim of informing best practice for an outreach model. The young women gave narrative assurances of ‘good citizenship’, that they were adhering to normalised pregnancy avoidance technologies for teenagers. There was, however, quiet resistance to the regulatory framework with an emergent desire for pregnancy. Neo-liberal policy locates teenaged pregnancy and parenthood in a framework of individualism and economics. Such policy disregards the wider context of these young women’s lives where job prospects are limited, gang-related mortality is a reality, and poverty significant. The outreach model should evolve to recognise teenage childbearing not as a personal or an organisational failure, but as a decision made within relational context.
