It was a really shocking story. An ordinary middle school student, who was only 16 years old, gave birth to a baby boy at home alone before Christmas.

When the baby didn't make any noise, she was afraid that he was dead. So she put the baby in a plastic bag and hung it on the steel security bars outside the window. But the bars broke and the baby fell on to a window ledge two stories below. As a result, the baby died and the teen mother was sent to hospital.

One could not help taking an interest in the background of the teen mother to find reasons for the event. Reports revealed that she was brought up in a broken family without love and care. Early in her childhood, her parents were divorced. Since then, she has lived with her grandmother, who is more than 80 years old. Further reports also revealed the lack of concern for her at school. Some even pointed out that lack of privacy in hospitals also created barriers for the girl to see a doctor in time.

Despite all these various factors contributing to the tragedy, there are two undeniable facts, which might make us ponder. One is that there is no one or no organization that is practically qualified or able to help such teen mothers. The other is that there is a tendency to more teenage sexual activity and early pregnancies in our society, whether we admit it or not.

I'm not suggesting that teenagers themselves do not have to take responsibility for their actions. Neither am I encouraging them to continue their wicked conduct. Of course, we need to teach middle school youths how to resist and manage sexual activities.

Moreover, education with respect to sex and contraception is necessary. At any rate, we should first make teenagers understand that it is their fault if they get pregnant and that they have to pay the price for their indulgence and ignorance.

However, when pregnancy occurs, a down-to-earth approach is to be preferred to one that just blames teenagers or anyone else. Although their wrongdoing is unforgivable, the teenagers themselves must be cared for. For those troubled teenagers, there may come a time when talking to friends of their own age isn't enough, while talking to parents or teachers may make them scared or ashamed.

And there are even worse situations, like that of the teen mother in this tragedy, who had no one to lean on and therefore kept her pregnancy secret until the birth of her baby.

Hence, those troubled teenagers should have access to services, which can provide a supportive, confidential, non-judgmental counselling environment. Clearly, there is a need for the government to set up a special organization to reduce or avoid unplanned pregnancies and unwanted births. The function of the organization may include giving suggestions about options available to pregnant women, providing psychological therapy, helping to develop positive attitudes towards the future, and so on.

In spite of their misguided actions, those teenagers should still be accepted by society. After all, there is still a long way for them to go in life.

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