Well pregnancy is not a sin. Teenage pregnancy is also not a sin. In fact, Mary, the most revered woman in the church, was pregnant as a teen.
The Church cares a lot more about why a teen is pregnant. Regardless of why though, the Church recognizes the life of the child in the womb and advocates against abortion. The life of the infant can also be seen in the case of Mary when she visits her cousin Elizabeth and John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb at the presense of zygote Jesus.
Here are some reasons that the Church finds to be acceptable for being pregnant as a teen:
- You didn’t have sex, but instead God told you that you’ll have a child, and that child is the Son of God. Unsurprisingly, this one is a little rare.
- You are already married (young marriages can be a thing, they’re just not common in our culture)
- You got raped. Rape is one of the most horrifying crimes that a person can commit against another. But if a woman is pregnant because she was raped, then she is not at any fault. Of course, society has the unfortunate masogynistic tendency to disagree, even within the Church.
There is only one unacceptable reason, but this is the most common today:
- You had consensual sex outside of marriage. If this is the case the Church strongly desires that both the father and the mother go to Confession and work to amend their lives to be lives of virtue. Two requirements of that new life of virtue include a renewed committment to chastity and a committment to care for the child to the best of their ability.
Regardless of the circumstances of the child’s conception, the Church urges all involved to acknowledge the child that is coming into the world as a gift from God and not as a problem. True, there may be some difficulties associated with his or her entrance into the world, but ultimately it is good. Pregnancy is a beautiful thing, and it’s one thing that is uniquely exclusive to women. Pregnancy doesn’t always happen in the best of circumstances, and can be a product of sin, but is in and of itself a beautiful thing which should be met with joy and not condemnation.
