Sir, - We are writing to you regarding the recent announcements of pregnancy by Victoria Adams and Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls and Melanie Blatt of All Saints.
However their clothes, style and attitude may affect their fans, the suggestion that young teenage fans will follow suit and "think it's cool to be pregnant" is a serious underestimation of the majority of 12- to 16-year-olds in this country. Unbelievably, teenagers nowadays have minds of their own and are capable of making responsible decisions about their own actions. Clothes are one thing; getting pregnant is another.
Although some very young fans may get the wrong message, wouldn't it be worse if they decided to have an abortion? Whatever messages idols send out, parents cannot blame them for their own inability to teach their children right from wrong.
Personally, we feel if these famous mothers-to-be are happy about it, so are we. Let them live their lives as they please and in the future hope that they don't have to carry the responsibility for their worldwide fans as well as their own children. - Yours, etc., Helen D'Alton (14), Aoife MacNamee (14),
Skerries,
Co Dublin.
