Recently the clothing line Forever 21 came out with a new maternity line which has of course caused controversy saying that it promotes teen pregnancy due to many of it’s consumers being teens. While I see this as a valid concern, I don’t feel that a maternity line promotes teen pregnancy.

Not all of their consumers are teens, they also have “21″ year-old’s and up which do have clothing needs as well. There are plenty of stores now that offer maternity lines like Old Navy for example who typically have “younger” shoppers. I think that it’s a good thing that women seem to have a wider selection of maternity clothes versus back in the good ole days where you had to go to a maternity specific store and spend way too much or go to a larger department store where most of the items were less than stylish. In actuality, most of the teens who are pregnant, don’t even show and wear their normal clothing until late into their pregnancy. Often “maternity” clothing doesn’t get worn until the very end.

I do agree with many people who say that with a store like Forever 21 creating a line like that, it is an opportunity for them to bring some consciousness to their consumer about teen pregnancy. However, ultimately the weight of teen pregnancy falls on the shoulders of the families and the teens who choose to have unprotected sex or take those chances. Unless there is some type of mandatory birth control that parents or laws can enforce, then teen pregnancy is going to be around. Of course businesses are going to see that market and take advantage of it.