A Letter from the Publisher

By John A. Meyer

Pregnant teenagers and unwed mothers were once virtually invisible and unmentionable. But now the hush has ended: yesterday's secret has become today's national problem. Says Associate Editor Claudia Wallis, who wrote this week's cover story: "These kids are black, white, rich, poor. They live everywhere. What they have in common is little sense of their own futures."

For this week's cover, TIME correspondents talked to scores of expectant mothers in clinics, schools, teen centers, adoption agencies and welfare offices. Angela Helton, 15, the blue-eyed blond on our cover, attends the Teenage Parent Program of the Jefferson County, Ky., public schools and is now the mother of a son, Corey. Photographer Duane Michals, who took Helton's picture and those of many other pregnant teens, observes: "They came across as girls, not women. They seemed to be playing house. A lot of them did not understand the enormousness of having a child."

New York Correspondent Cathy Booth was amazed that supposedly sophisticated teenagers knew so little about birth control. Says she: "There is an astounding level of ignorance and embarrassment that I thought this post-sexual revolution generation didn't have. These girls were not prepared at all and told themselves that nothing could happen to them." Los Angeles Correspondent Melissa Ludtke found the teens she interviewed strangely reticent about sex. "The last thing they want to do is tell an authority figure that they are having sex. That rules out a doctor, pharmacist or parent who might give good contraceptive advice." She talked to Michelle, pregnant at 14, whose mother had given birth to her as a teenager. When Ludtke asked Michelle if she had consulted her mother on how to avoid becoming pregnant, Michelle responded, "My mom said she wouldn't get me birth control because it was the same as giving me her permission to have sex. I guess she was really giving me permission to have a baby."

What disturbed TIME's team most, though, was the dismal prospects facing these youngsters. Chicago Correspondent Elizabeth Taylor interviewed 30 pregnant teens and young mothers, including one named Stephanie. Says Taylor: "After Stephanie had her second baby, I wanted to bring her a present. I thought, what does she need? And I realized she didn't have anything. They have these babies because they want somebody to love. And they all echo that familiar American dream: they want to give their children more than they have had. But only a few will ever be able to do so."