Duh! Tel
l a teen NOT to do something and you can bet your last dollar he/she will do it!
Think Progress
The number of teen births in the U.S. dropped again in 2010, according to a government report, with nearly every state seeing a decrease. Nationally, the rate fell 9 percent to about 34 per 1,000 girls ages 15 through 19, and the drop was seen among all racial and ethnic groups. Mississippicontinues to have the highest teen birth rate, with 55 births per 1,000 girls. New Hampshire has the lowest rate at just under 16 percent.
This is the lowest national rate for teen birthssince the Centers for Disease Control began tracking it in 1940, and CDC officials attributed the decline to pregnancy prevention efforts. Other reports show that teenagers are having less sex and using contraception more often. Studies have backed this up. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle found that teenagers who received some type of comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or get someone else pregnant. And in 2007, a federal report showed that abstinence-only programs had “no impacts on rates of sexual abstinence.”
But 37 states require sex education that includes abstinence, 26 of which require that abstinence be stressed as the best method. Additionally, research shows that abstinence-only strategies could deter contraceptive use among teenagers, thus increasing their risk of unintended pregnancy.
For example, take the states with the highest and lowest teen pregnancy rates. Mississippidoes not require sex education in schools, but when it is taught, abstinence-only education is the state standard. New Mexico, which has the second highest teen birth rate, does not require sex ed and has no requirements on what should be included when it is taught. New Hampshire, on the other hand, requires comprehensive sex education in schools that includes abstinence and information about condoms and contraception.
Related articles
- Utah Bill Bars Sex Ed Unless It’s Abstinence-Only (newser.com)
- Sex Education Delays Teen Sex, Study Finds (livescience.com)
- Utah Legislature Expels Sex Ed (newser.com)
- Conservatives Grasp At Straws To Support Abstinence-Only Sex Education With Math Scores (thinkprogress.org)
- Gov. Scott Walker quietly signs abortion, sex education bills | Wausau Daily Herald | wausaudailyherald.com (noroom4angels.wordpress.com)
- Utah Senate Passes Abstinence Only Bill (haleybehre.wordpress.com)
- Wellesley study shows income inequality a key factor in high US teen births (eurekalert.org)
- U.S. Teen Pregnancy Rate Raises Concerns (fromundermanyhats.com)
I believe in abstinence. The only two women with whom I’ve had sex are my wife and my ex-wife, and with neither did I have sex before we were married.
Not everyone lives that way.
I’m not afraid of people being informed, especially not when such information is so important.
Knowing what condoms are and how they work will not make a single teenager have sex. It might keep a teenage girl from getting pregnant, though, because her boyfriend tells her that you can’t get pregnant if he (insert popular myth here).
And moving on … Let’s say they do wait until they’re married. Why don’t they get to know about birth control options then? Birth control, both condoms and rhythm, are part of my marriage. That seems like appropriate educational territory to me.
Or, you know, I guess we could just spend our school time questioning climate change and evolution … sigh …
I admire your dedication to your beliefs and convictions WK.
Having raised six children who are all adults with their own families, it’s almost an unwritten rule among teens to do the opposite of what their parents, teachers and even clergy tell them to do.
I don’t know if you’ve heard this or not but one example is Scott Walker who recently passed an education bill with a provision that “abstinence only” be taught to students in Health Ed. He made it clear that there will be no talk of contraception as a birth control method at all!
Anyway, it saddens me that our country is almost on the brink of being a “Theocracy”. Thomas Jefferson, et al must be rolling over in their resting spots.
It’s absurd. While I have lived the abstinence lifestyle and encourage it, I did have a thoroughly-uncomfortable talk with my 15-year-old son about birth control and related issues. I know it was covered in school, but I wanted to reinforce it, and to tell him that if it’s a money question or one of being able to get condoms, to ask me. I’d rather buy my teenager condoms than have him go without and be a grandfather before my time.
Scott Walker really strains my commitment to avoiding name-calling. I hadn’t heard, but I’m not surprised, about the abstinence-only thing. Didn’t he have kindergarten de-emphasize sharing because it seemed like socialism?
My ex-wife’s neice was pregnant at 17. Her boyfriend convinced her that she couldn’t get pregnant if she was on top, because … well, … never mind. The point is, if she’d been taught more actual information, then that wouldn’t have happened. I’ve heard a number of pregnancy-preventing myths, all of which would be debunked by education.
Call me crazy, but I think it’s better that our students learn things in school rather than have information deliberately withheld.