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September 26, 2006
New reports have
been released, and the news is good for teens, their parents and our
families. The teen pregnancy rate in the United
States has declined by 36% between 1990 and 2002.
Since 1990, when
the teen pregnancy rate peaked at over 115 pregnancies per 1,000
females aged 15-19, the rate today has fallen below 75 pregnancies.
More good news follows.
While many preach
the hopelessness of teaching abstinence to sexually active teens, the
statistics prove otherwise. Hopeless? Among sexually experienced
teens, the rate for teen pregnancies declined 28% during this time
period. It is concrete validation of what other research has
shown…when teens reflect on their choice to become sexually active,
they are more likely than not to regret it.
We have turned the
tide in America. We are on a new course, moving in the direction of
healthy teens and a healthy future for our teens. Yet, much work
remains to
be done.
Today, still, there
are about 750,000 teen pregnancies annually. The costs are
staggering.
Sarah Brown,
Director of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy was in
Phoenix this week to present an analysis of those costs. For
Arizonans, teen childbearing cost taxpayers at least $268 million in
2004…or $3,822 per teen birth.
Importantly, most
of these costs are associated with negative consequences for the
children of teen mothers…our next generation. High costs for public
health care, child welfare, incarceration, and lost tax revenue are
all associated with children born to teens.
Add to this
economic analysis the well-known costs of teen sex related to sexually
transmitted diseases and the emotional and social consequences of
being sexually active, and we know there is more work to be done. The
news is good. It must be better.
When asked by her
audience why other countries are more successful than the United
States in preventing teen pregnancy, Sara Brown’s answer was
straightforward. In Asian countries where the rates of teen pregnancy
are lowest, there is a strong cultural taboo against teens engaging in
sex. Not surprisingly, as these cultures begin to adopt western
sexual standards, their teen pregnancy rates are rising.
Ms. Brown also
expanded upon the need to restore cultural norms supporting sexual
abstinence for teens. She explained the importance of linking babies
with healthy marriages. The body of research today documents that
healthy outcomes for children improve when they are born into families
where mothers and fathers work together to raise them.
Can single parents
be successful as parents? Absolutely! But when we consider society
as a whole, we all reap the benefits of encouraging teens to delay
sex…and childbearing…until they are ready to commit to a healthy,
happy marriage.
Parents and
educators are on a positive course correction. Working together, we
are restoring a common sense approach to sex, love, marriage and
families…rebuilding a personal and cultural expectation that once was
common place.
A lot of work has
been done changing the course of behavior for teens regarding sex, but
more has yet to be done. Our message is on track. Sex for teens is a
risky behavior that produces unhealthy outcomes. Or…said another
way…for teens, sexual abstinence until marriage secures the healthiest
outcomes for them physically, socially, emotionally and economically.
Our message is on
track…our results are on track. Now, we must stay the course.
Copyright © 2006 Jane Jimenez
June 5, 2006
Kaiser Embraces Abstinence Education?
October 24, 2005
TEENS AND SEX: How Many? So What?
See Archives
for past editorials.
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