MOVIES - Jan. 29, 1988

Illinois state officials are criticizing Molly Ringwald’s new movie “For Keeps” as a “glamorized, romanticized Hollywood version of a teen-age pregnancy.” The movie features Ringwald as a middle-class teen-ager who has a baby, marries her boyfriend, finishes high school and goes off to college with her husband--both on full scholarship. Linda Miller, head of the Illinois’ Parents Too Soon agency, said 80% of teen-age mothers nationwide do not complete high school, and 30% turn to welfare one year after their pregnancy. “I can’t imagine Hollywood making a movie about drug abuse that treats it as lightly as this one treats teen pregnancy,” Miller said. Ringwald has offered to appear in anti-pregnancy public-service announcements in the state.