‘I Wouldn’t Change Having the Children—Not at All.’ Young Women’s Narratives of Maternal Timing: What the UK’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Hasn’t Heard

Teenage pregnancy has been the subject of recent policy development within the British government. Viewed from an overwhelmingly
negative standpoint, young parenthood is recognised as a feature of impoverished communities while policies focus on technical
and educational ‘solutions’ to reduce the levels of conceptions to under-18. Narrative research was undertaken to listen to
the experiences of a small group of young women within individual interviews, with the aim of understanding the meanings of
pregnancy for them. Childhood experiences and individual adversity were found to be the structuring features of most of the
narratives obtained from the young women. The narratives also revealed a highly restorative aspect to pregnancy and motherhood,
connected to overcoming earlier experiences. This appeared to suggest meanings for early pregnancy and parenthood for young
women at odds with governmental policy direction, calling into question the focus on reduction that dominates current policy
thinking.