16 & Pregnant: When A High School Provides On-Campus Daycare

Last night’s episode of 16 & Pregnant took place in Asheville, NC, where teen mom Jamie was provided with free transportation for her infant as well as free on-campus daycare at her public high school. Free for Jamie that is. According to the North Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy literature, teen pregnancy cost North Carolinians $312 million in WIC, Medicaid, TANF and food stamps in 2004 alone. But it would seem that facilities like daycare within a high school—at which Jamie can take a break from her history exam to breastfeed her daughter—are in response to something of an epidemic, as the state consistently ranks ninth in the nation for teen pregnancy rates.

So do such amenities make being a teen mother more convenient? Well, it might make getting a high school education a more attainable goal, but as evidenced in the clip above, it still seems like it sucks an awful lot to be a teen mom.