I was glad to read another view concerning the issue of teenage pregnancy in the Jan. 9 Maine Compass by Sharon Abrams/Martha Kempe, but I thought the tone was defensive.

I also thought the focus on programs that assist teen mothers and their children and how well some teenage parents succeed because of these programs misses the point established in earlier letters.

It is hard enough these days for adults to take on the task of raising children. For children to raise children has to be ever so much harder and more challenging even given the supports available for an unmarried mother and her child.

While I am pleased to know that some of these parents do well with their lives, and I hope the same can be said of their offspring, the fact remains that the plight of teenage parents is unnecessary, given the appropriate and adequate parenting and guidance every child deserves.

And to say that Maine isn’t as bad off as Mississippi is not reassuring to me. Such statistics tend to make less of the very real problem that exists here in Maine, and solving that problem would seem to be as important as dealing with the results of not solving it.

Charles Sawyer

Norridgewock