'Juno' film and Spears story spark a moral debate on teen pregnancy

In "Juno," the spunky heroine continues attending high school even as her pregnancy progresses, and she scouts out a married couple who want to adopt the baby.

Spears, star of "Zoey 101" and younger sister of Britney Spears, said she plans to raise her child in her home state of Louisiana.

The news about Spears was greeted with mixed emotions by Leslie Unruh, a Sioux Falls, S.D., activist who has campaigned against abortion and for abstinence-only sex education.

"When I heard the story, I felt sad at first," Unruh said. "Already her life is not the norm of other 16-year-old girls.

"You have a lot of teens who look at those people as role models," she said.

The message from Unruh and others: It's not that simple.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said both "Juno" and the Spears pregnancy demonstrated to teens that there are costs to engaging in sex. "Too often, sex is presented as having no consequences," she said. "In both of these cases, the girls are pretty much admitting that they made some wrong choices, yet they are acting responsibly now that they're facing the consequences."

The Roman Catholic Church, while firmly opposed to premarital sex, embraces the message that adoption is among the best options if an unmarried teen does become pregnant, said Deirdre McQuade, a spokeswoman for the US Catholic Bishops Conference.