“16 and Pregnant.” “Teen Mom.” The list of hit television series based off pregnant teenagers is pretty long.

This series of shows depicts how the girls deal with being pregnant while still in high school, and how their everyday lives are affected by pregnancy.

Maybe the shows are trying to make an effort to stop teen pregnancy by showing the hardships of a pregnant high school teenager. However, when an impressionable teenager sees that getting pregnant while in high school will get you your own series on television, what is that saying?

Throughout my four years of high school, more than five girls on the cheerleading team had to quit after becoming pregnant. My high school was about the size of BU and it probably had more students pregnant, or with babies, than Baker does.

While I agree that teen pregnancy is a growing issue in the United States, I also don’t think that “Teen Mom” is a way to fix it.

These television series show issues such as struggles with school and family and having a personal life.

While these series do show the hardships of being pregnant while in high school, the shows are also unrealistic.

The issue that bothers me is that the teenagers on the show get paid for being on the show, but they become celebrities. They are on the cover of magazines and have fan pages on Facebook.

In real life, the life where you are not on TV, no one makes a fan page for you after you are pregnant. No one just hands you a check for going to school and being pregnant. But that is what these shows portray.

I am by no means saying that mistakes don’t happen; getting pregnant can happen, whether you are a teenager or a married, 35 year old. I am not saying every teenage girl will make an unfit mother because, like I said, many of my friends from high school were great mothers while they were still in school. Many teenagers do find a way to juggle all of the responsibilities that come with a baby.

My point is television shows like “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” only depict a small portion of the true struggles a teenage mother faces, and while it may be making an attempt to stop teen pregnancy, it only encourages it more.