Teen Pregnancy: Facts, Figures, and Sex Ed

I graduated from a low income high school.  The year I graduated roughly sixteen girls were pregnant.  Several of them were in my graduating class.  I live in North Carolina.  I love lots of things about my state.  I love North Carolina's rich history, beautiful architecture, unique coastal habitats, and most especially our beautiful mountain ranges.  I love our BBQ, our southern hospitality, and the way we follow insults with "bless your heart."  I love our sweet tea, our sprawling front porches, and our crazy weather.  I do not love our abstinence only sexual education policy.

 My one and only sex ed class was offered in fifth grade.  I learned that girls have a uterus, ovaries, and a vagina.  I learned that boys have testicles and a penis.  I learned that girls have periods and boys get erections.  We were told an erection was the result of blood flow to the penis. We were not fully informed about the import of sperm and ova.  We were informed that having sex could result in pregnancy, but we were not told what sex was. We were, however, told repeatedly that we should not have sex.  We were not informed at all about contraceptives, safe sex practices, or sexually transmitted diseases.  There was no discussion of condoms, birth control medication, or herpes (or any other STD for that matter).  We were, however, informed that our breasts my start to develop and we should not be alarmed by this.  We were also told that should we begin our periods at school our teacher had pads in her desk and we should let her know.  I remember boys at lunch making whooshing noises at the girls and telling us we were going to "wet our pants."  That was my sex ed.  That is abstinence only sexual education.  That's the education students at  35% of school districts in the United States still receive. 35 PERCENT.  

According to a study at UCSF only 14% of U.S. school districts currently have programs that are "truly comprehensive and teach both contraception and abstinence."  The rest of U.S. districts strongly favor abstinence education over contraceptive education.  The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy regularly studies teen pregnancy and reports statistics.  They report that 34% of women (in the U.S.) become pregnant before age 20.  That means 34 of every 100 pregnancies is a pregnancy where the 'mother' is 19 years old or younger. The Campaign reports that roughly 820,000 births every year in the United States are to a women  aged 19 or younger. So 820,000 babies are born to teen moms every year! That means if you are a teen girl sitting a classroom with 25 other girls roughly 8 to 9 of you will get pregnant.

Only 33% of teen mothers graduate high school, the other 2/3 (66%) drop out.  Only 1.5% obtain a college degree by age 30.  Most teen mothers, therefore, are not able to complete an adequate level of education.  As a result nearly 80% of teen mothers end up requiring state aid (i.e. welfare).  Their children typically require medicaid as the mothers cannot provide medical insurance.

You don't think it could happen to your child?  Well check out this statistic:  By age 16 22% of girls from two-parent (biological or adoptive) homes report they have had sex at least once.  That figure jumps to 44% when you ask girls from other home environments (one-parent, step-parent, foster care, etc).

So if your daughter is in a classroom with 25 other girls from in-tact two-parent households then roughly FIVE of those girls could get pregnant before they reach age 20.  If you have a daughter from a non-intact household and she is in a classroom with 25 other girls from similar familial backgrounds then roughly TEN of those girls could be pregnant before age 20.

Teen pregnancy may be declining, but it is still a real problem.  I believe part of the problem stems from abstinence only and abstinence favored sexual education.  Teenagers who are not properly educated about the consequences of sexual activity are ill prepared to make responsible decisions.  Further, lack of this education often leads to adults who are ignorant themselves. Abstinence only sexual education that does not include comprehensive discussion of birth control methods, safe sex, and STDs is not only ineffective, it is irresponsible.

Links:
http://ari.ucsf.edu/science/reports/abstinence.pdf


http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html


http://womensissues.about.com/od/datingandsex/tp/Teenpregancy.htm


http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/USTPtrends.pdf