Yes, you should congratulate Teen Moms

Recently there were posts going around that said graduated and pregnant. In response to this, a young lady made a video that stated you SHOULD NOT congratulate a young mother when she graduates high school because she got pregnant. She goes on to explain that she was once a teen mother, which in her opinion gives her the right to express this belief. Her point was that it would have been easier if the girl didn't have the baby. She said "its nothing to be proud of to be pregnant and graduating." I thought that any person should be proud to complete 12 years of schooling.

My response to her video was:

I agree with the MESSAGE she is trying to convey, if her motives is to prevent future teen pregnancy from occurring. HOWEVER, here's why you SHOULD congratulate a teen mom if she graduated. If you know a young mother who, despite having a baby, completed high school she went through twice the struggle to get there. It doesn't matter that she made a mistake, what matters is instead of getting an abortion, she accepted her responsibility and realized that now, more than ever, she needed to obtain her education. Not only for her, but for her child or children. Yes, you should dissuade girls from getting pregnant, but you SHOULD NOT talk down on the girls who are already pregnant or have children. Those are the girls who need the most encouragement because it's too late to talk about the shoulda, woulda, couldas. You can't tell someone I'm not gonna congratulate you for something awesome you did, because the mistake you made in the past. You congratulate them because in-spite of that mistake, they moved forward and completed a goal. It doesn't make sense to say to someone, "I'm not going to say congratulations for graduating because you got pregnant." Does that mean you won't say congrats when they graduate college either? What about when they obtain their masters degree? When is it ok, then, to congratulate a teen mom for any of her accomplishments there after?

If you agree or disagree let me know!