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Saturday, January 05, 2008

Opinion: A disquieting increase in teen births

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT)

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Wednesday, Dec. 12:

Starting in 1991, the teenage birth rate declined steadily for a decade and a half, showing that young people were getting the message to avoid parenthood before they were ready for it.

Yet a federal report released last summer said that sexual activity among high school students is no longer declining. After dropping in the 1990s, the numbers of young people who said they had engaged in intercourse leveled off between 2001 and 2005.

Now another federal report, from the National Center for Health Statistics, shows an increase last year in babies born to mothers from age 15 to 19. This comes after a 34 percent decrease between 1991 and 2005.

The 2006 hike is worrisome, and could signal a trend starting in the wrong direction.

Most experts have linked declines in the birth rate to school-based comprehensive sex education, which includes information about contraception. However, the Bush administration has championed abstinence-only programs, at the expense of contraceptive information. That's a mistake.

Most research shows that abstinence-only programs do not work for many young people who already are engaged in risky behavior. They need information that tells them how to protect against pregnancy and disease.

Last year's increase in the teen birth rate could be an indication that several years of federal outlays — at $176 million a year — for abstinence-only programs are failing young people. They apparently aren't having less sex. And a trend toward more babies born to teenage mothers may be starting.

Sex education programs should be geared toward making sure young people get all the information they need to prevent disease and unwanted pregnancy. That starts with schools offering comprehensive sex education classes.

(c) 2007, The Kansas City Star.
Visit The Star Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.kcstar.com
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Posted by courier at 07:11:36. Filed under: Opinion

Comments

this makes a very valid point. teaching solely abstinence is no substitute for teaching contraceptive methods. it will only lead to more and more ignorance among todays youth. if teachers in schools don't teach these methods, who will? and when? there will not be any other time that will be as effective.

one question i would have liked to seen answered is, how have the abortion rates changed? if birth rates have gone up, have abortion rates gone down?
ya, that's all.
do what you will, but stay safe.

Posted by csbjk at Sunday, January 06, 2008 12:44:50

you can't even ask those questions because the article is not about overall birth rates but rather the pregnancy rates of high school aged females. abortion is only available in certain states and is not limited by age. so if you really want to be specific, you would ask questions that are age specific and perhaps demographically as well.

abortion rates change rapidly due to federal court and state regulations and there would be a difficult time identifying a correlation between a spike in teenage pregnancy and abortion.

Posted by sav at Monday, January 07, 2008 22:00:58

i meant how has the abortion rates among teenage girls changed? because it could be that less people aregetting abortions, causing the increase in births.

Posted by csbjk at Tuesday, January 08, 2008 11:59:21

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