It's hard to imagine a more stinging indictment of the Bush administration policy that supports a "just say no" approach to sex education than the current collision of popular culture and real life. Teen sex and unintended pregnancy are everywhere -- from television to movies to the cover of People magazine. In fact, the only place these topics aren't being discussed are in health classes in high schools.
Despite a rising teen birthrate, and the fact that outside of Russia, the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate among Western industrialized nations, the current administration has spent more than $1billion in taxpayer money to proselytize to teens that they should just say no. It has been a colossal failure by every measure, including Congress' own 10-year study, which concluded that abstinence-only programs are completely ineffective at either delaying sexual activity among teens or in preventing pregnancy. And while it is too soon to know whether the government's refusal to allow health instructors to answer basic questions about birth control has anything to do with the first increase in teen births in more than a decade, it's very clear that this country is not on the right track to turning those numbers around.
In the coming year, researchers predict that 750,000 teens in America will become pregnant, and more than four million will contract a sexually transmitted disease. If that isn't an epidemic, it's hard to say what is.
This is one reason why every year, Planned Parenthood helps parents and teens communicate with each other about family values and responsible decision-making. It's also why we work with thousands of teens across the country who are trained as peer educators to be a resource to other teens in their community who need honest, straightforward information about prevention and contraception. Because without information at school, or for those teens who can't talk to their parents, sometimes the only sex education they get is on Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill, where sex is prevalent but birth control, not so much.
Ironically, all our experience shows that the more young people have their questions answered openly about contraception, relationships, and sexual health, the more likely they are to delay sexual activity. And when they do become sexually active, whether in their teen years, or optimally, later on, the more likely they are to have safer sex and use contraceptives correctly.
Congress just passed, and the president just signed, the new federal budget, which at the very least does not increase funding for abstinence-only programs. But it still authorizes $173 million in abstinence-only money, which by all accounts, has been stunningly unsuccessful and whose only supporters are the "Abstinence Only" lobby, who are profiting at our kids expense -- to the tune of more than $1 billion!
Three cheers for the 15 states and their governors -- from Montana to Massachusetts to New Mexico -- who have said no to the federal abstinence-only money for their young people. My fervent hope for the New Year is that reason prevails, and that we choose as a nation to set our young people up for success, by giving them the honest information they need to be responsible parents -- when they are ready.
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It seems like we have to re-learn that unions are good, that regulation over the banking and stocks are good, that pensions and insurance for all employees are good, that teen pregnancy is not a great thing, that Choice and contraception is a good thing.....do we really have to drive society into a ditch to relearn the fundamentals?
After a generation of the aftermath of teen pregnancies where the mother kept the baby, believe me, they'll be all sorts of things we'll do to so called "break the cycle."
Reading too much into trivial issues would take the focus away from real, burning issues. If a girl wants to get pregnant, that's her choice and none of our business.
they do our youth a great disservice by sending them out into the world completely unprepared for the realities of life. without sex we couldn't have procreation, at least not in the beginning, so making it this big no no is really stupid. everyone who has been a teenager (which is everybody older than that) knows that sometimes you do the opposite of what your parents tell you-- just because. just to rebel. it's a part of growing up, but i can't imagine a parent who would rather their child come home pregnant or with hiv than learn about birth control and condoms in school.
its sickening to think about the projected numbers of youth that will be pregnant or infected with an std in the coming year. you have to wonder if this just say no policy is part of some bigger plan?
i have a daughter who is about a year old. i know i've got some time till this point, but i would hope that she felt comfortable enough to talk to me without thinking i will judge her. i would rather she be honest with me and say: mom can we talk about birth control?
i may not be happy about it, but it's better than her hiding her life from me and then one day coming home 14 and pregnant. i don't understand how any parent could prefer that. wait, i know, they think it happens to everyone else's baby, not theirs.
take THAT lynn spears.
Americans need to mature in their approach to sex and stop pretending it is a choice as opposed to being a baseline physiological reason for our species existence.
Sex is not going to go away. I venture a guess that even if all Media relating to sex was eliminated ... people, including teens, will continue to have sex despite religious teachings or societal expectations.
The best thing to do is to provide children with an open understanding of their bodies and how sex is a normal and expected byproduct of their existence. Don't glorify sex, or make it taboo, so it inspires secreted investigation ... be open and honest. Do we trip about urination or defecation? Do we climb on an analyst's couch to confront our addiction to aspiration? Of course not!
The more we make Sex a normal, accepted part of life the less likely our children will get in troube because of it.
Give teens unrestricted knowledge of their bodies and the tools to protect them from disease and unwanted pregnancy and the majority of them will make good choices.
Children are wiser than we think so be honest with them, for if you tempt them with a taboo, they are more likely to go astray.
If you don't have sex, your chances of having a baby or fathering one drop pretty substantially. Its pretty much proven.
BTW, I saw Juno last night. The movie neither glorifies nor condemns the behavior. Great movie though.