Here's Why It's Ridiculous To Say Kylie Jenner Is "Too Young" To Get Pregnant

Ever since news broke last week that the youngest sister in the Kardashian-Jenner clan was reportedly pregnant, people online have been reacting to the news — and very often with more than their fair share of judgement. One of the most frequently heard sound clips of criticism out there is that "Kylie Jenner is too young to get pregnant" — a claim that's pretty ridiculous for several reasons.

First of all, no, biologically, Jenner is clearly not too young to be pregnant. But obviously, biology is not what critics are referring to in this instance. Instead, they're unleashing a judgement on pregnant 20-year-old women of all stripes, assuming that they're too immature to know what they want or to properly care for a child.

Rumor has it that even the Kardashian-Jenner clan was against Jenner getting pregnant. "They still think Kylie is too young to have a baby," an unnamed source reportedly told People recently. "Kylie said she wanted a baby. Between spending lots of time with her nieces and nephews, and being around Tyga’s son, she claimed she was ready."

Really, the reports should only start and end with the news that Jenner wanted a baby and is reportedly very happy to be expecting. After all, in the past she's spoken multiple times about her desire to start a family young — as part of her pretty wholesome goal of wanting to raise a family on a farm and have chickens — and she's always been clear about wanting children sooner, rather than later.

Jenner is not only an adult, but an adult with several businesses under her belt and a decided empire of her own (her cosmetics line alone has already raked in a reported $420 million in sales, according to Time). Her youth does not mean, in the least, that she will be relying on other people financially to help her raise her child.

Having a child is nothing but Jenner's choice, and those who are so concerned about a millionaire businesswoman having a baby at age 20 should, just perhaps, redirect their efforts into helping young women who really don't have a choice in their pregnancies. There are teens in the United States who need to have parental permission in order to terminate a pregnancy that they do not want, literally stripping them of their bodily autonomy and their choice in having a baby. There are states where politicians have actually passed laws requiring rape victims to notify their rapists of their decision to abort a fetus.

Are the many people who have rushed to criticize young Jenner's choice to have a baby supporting comprehensive sex education in schools? At the moment, only 13 states require that schools use medically accurate information in their sex ed classes and only 18 require information on contraception to be provided; while 37 states require schools to provide information on abstinence, and 19 states require teachers to stress the "importance of engaging in sexual activity only within marriage," according to the Guttmacher Institute. This seems like a good place to start, rather than with criticizing Jenner.

On that note, do Jenner's critics also support free access to birth control and abortion, especially among teens? Do they support international organizations that are currently fighting to bring women's reproductive rights to countries where they have none?

Jenner is, for lack of a better term, a grown-ass woman, and spending this much time focusing on her reported decision to have a child is ridiculous when other women who are not as privileged as Jenner are still being robbed of their right to choose. Let's trust women when they say they know what they want — whether that is a child at 20 or no children ever — and instead pivot our attention to the women who don't get a choice.

Let's use that righteous "too young" fire directed at Jenner to instead support young women who actually don't want children, but are forced to carry pregnancies to term anyway due to poor sex education, lack of access to contraception, or external policing of their bodies. Personally, that seems like a much better use of everybody's indignation right now.

Watch Romper's new video series, Romper's Doula Diaries:

Check out the entire Romper's Doula Diaries series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.