e right to terminate her pregnancy. In Chapter 6 of Dubious Conceptions, Luker acts as a participant in Hume’s sympathetic process by trying to imagine herself as an unwed mother in order to better understand their predicament. Drawing from her conversations with actual teen mothers, Luker provides possible answers to the question, “Why Do They Do It?” She proposes a theory known as the “nice girl dilemma,” which attributes the problem of teenage pregnancy to society’s paradigm of the “nice girl”: the modest, unassuming, sexually inexperienced girl who is unprepared for sex. Though society expects sexually active teens are to practice contraception, the skills a young women needs in order to effectively prevent pregnancy are precisely those that are discouraged in “nice girls” (Luker 148). Though teenagers’ disregard for the use of contraception seems aimless, Luker suggests that their reasons for not taking preventative measures often involve serious, complex negotiations about the meaning of the relationship. In many cases, sexually active young women believe that using no contraception means that she and her boyfriend are sharing the risk: that “he must love her so much a that he is willing to have a child with her and stand by her if she does” (Luker 150).In an effort to dispel common misconceptions surrounding the issue of teen pregnancy, Luker offers examples of conceptions that are untrue yet accepted by the public. The public’s belief that pregnancy among teenagers is reaching epidemic proportions has long been supported by the media and politicians. However, Luker points out that the current rate that teenage women are having babies is about the same rate as it has been for most of the century, and that those that are having children are not young teens, (those under 15), but are rather 18 or 19 year-olds who are on the verge of no...
