“Did you know? The only 100% foolproof way to prevent pregnancy is
not to have sex?”
This is front page news heralded by the National Campaign to Prevent
Teen Pregnancy on its website home page. Recognizing the
significance of America’s problem with teen pregnancies, they have
set a goal to “reduce the rate of teen pregnancy by one-third
between 1996 and 2005.” This is the final year…a time to measure
success…or failure.
The National Campaign website goes to great lengths to explain the
urgency of this goal. “A basic tenet of the Campaign is that
reducing the nation's rate of teen pregnancy is one of the most
strategic and direct means available to improve overall child
well-being and, in particular, to reduce persistent child poverty."
Connecting cause to effect, their website points an official finger
at the cause of teen pregnancies…having sex. Ah…well…yeah…mmm…but…well,
then what?
So…you don’t have sex? And you don’t get pregnant? This is news?
Ah…well…yeah…mmm…but…sex…well…then…what? You don’t have sex?
Forever? A lump forms in our throat. Forever? No sex?
The problem with the problem of teen pregnancy in America is our
reluctance to deal with the solution. We get as far as telling
teens to not have sex…telling them this will prevent teen
pregnancy. But we have yet to settle as a nation on the time when
they get to have sex.
If teens are going to be willing to abstain from having sex, we owe
them a standard for the defining time when having sex is OK. When
can they start having sex?
There is a long list of answers that have been trotted out over the
years…you can have sex…
…when you’re in love
…when you’re responsible
…when you’re mature
…or my favorite…
…when you’re ready…to have sex.
For thirty years, giving teens approval to have sex at the moment
when they felt responsible and mature and ready, we pushed teen
pregnancy rates to an all-time high in 1990 of 117 pregnancies
per 1000 girls ages 15-19.
Then a change began. In the early 1990s, maverick trend-setting
teachers, bucking the “truisms” of sexual “enlightenment,” began to
teach students the truth. Sex causes pregnancy. And if you take
this truth seriously, the only time to begin having sex is when you
are ready to bear the responsibilities of being pregnant…giving
birth…and raising a child…when you are married.
Doctors and legislators began to connect the dots between the cause
and the problem of teen pregnancy. In 1996, Congress allocated its
first small sums of money to encourage innovative educators to find
effective ways to teach this truth to students and to help them
achieve success in remaining sexually abstinent until marriage.
In 2000, the last year reported on the National Campaign’s records
for teen pregnancies, we can be heartened by signs of success. From
the high of 117 pregnancies per thousand in 1990, we achieved a low
of 84 pregnancies per thousand in 2000.
Teens are getting the message. They are responding. But is this
enough?
It is 2005, and we are reaching for the prize. If we are to reach
the National Campaign’s goal of a reduction by one-third in teen
pregnancies from 1996 to 2005, we are looking at fewer than 65
pregnancies per 1000 teen girls.
If we truly desire to reach this goal, we must reflect once more
with urgency on the messages we give teens about when to not have
sex…and when to have sex.
When do we want them to have babies? When do we want our children
raising our grandchildren? How many of us will feel blessed if our
children are lucky enough to be unified with a spouse…together as
mother and father, husband and wife…two parents who love each other and are committed
to building an enduring relationship for the benefit of their
children?
If we want to solve the problem of teen pregnancy, we will have to
do more than tell teens when not to have sex. We will have
to set the standards for having sex…abstinence…until
marriage…a good choice for this generation…and the generation of
babies they will bring into the world.
