They've seen Juno, the box office hit about a pregnant teen. They've heard Jamie Lynn Spears, sister of Britney, say she was carrying at age 16. They tune in for The Secret Life of the American Teenager, an ongoing ABC drama about a pregnant 15-year-old.

So when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced that her 17-year-old daughter was five months pregnant and engaged to the baby's teen father, some teens found the revelation less than shocking.

''It's just another girl pregnant,'' said Tiffany Schiessi, 15, of a Fort Lauderdale, while shopping with friends at Sawgrass Mills. ``It should be her choice.''

Pregnant high-schoolers aren't as uncommon -- or as shunned -- as one may think, say teens like Tiffany. The number of teen pregnancies, which had steadily decreased since 1990, has leveled off in recent years, and the percentage of those teens choosing birth over abortion may have slightly increased, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

About 729,000 teenagers get pregnant annually, and 435,000 give birth. In South Florida, about 7,000 teens get pregnant a year. It's unclear how many of those teens give birth.

For 13-year-old Autumn Putnam, the news about Bristol Palin came while watching TV with her mother and continued with chatter at school and home this week.

''It's not surprising to us. Last year, in seventh grade, there was a pregnant girl at school,'' said the eighth-grader at Bair Middle School in Sunrise. ``It's bad that it's not surprising. You don't know what you want and who you love at 17. I don't think she should be marrying that guy.''

Autumn's mother, Laura, had her first child at 20 and said she can relate somewhat to Bristol Palin and other pregnant teens. ''You wouldn't have a pregnant middle-schooler back then,'' she said. ``I was considered young. Girls are growing up quicker today.''

For parents such as Putnam, a pregnant teen in the news provides a chance to discuss sex and pregnancy with their children.

'All the time parents say `I want to talk to my kids, but I don't know how.' Well, the starter's gun has gone off,'' said Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

The presence of a personal issue in the public arena also has given teachers a chance to spark discussion. For 17-year-old Steve Pierre, it came up in an English class on Beowulf.

''At my school it's pretty common, I've seen at least 10 pregnant girls'' over the years, said the junior at Miami Edison Senior High School.

Before the first school bell rang Tuesday at the Dorothy M. Wallace COPE Center -- a school for pregnant teens and teen parents in Richmond Heights -- Assistant Principal Andrea Loring made sure to stop by the social studies classroom. ''I questioned the teacher on how she was going to handle the subject,'' Loring said.

''The girls had all kinds of opinions. They were extremely empathetic toward the candidate's daughter,'' Loring said. About 100 teens from Miami-Dade attend.

''Their connection to her cut across all lines. I hope she doesn't let anybody stress her out. She should hold up her head and be proud to be a teen mom,'' Loring said.

Yet, while some teens have felt that connection to Bristol Palin's situation, they also are looking at the turn of events with a keen eye.

''On one level, we're relating to it because we know pregnant teens,'' said 17-year-old Savanna Stiff, a Miami Springs resident and student at the School for Advanced Studies in downtown Miami.

''But it's also another thing for it to come from the daughter of someone who is running for vice president. In some ways you will expect her to set the standard,'' she said.