December 11, 2007
Abstinence-only programs and teen pregnancy
There was some bad news this week for the advocates of abstinence only programs. Per The Washington Post:
After falling steadily for more than a decade, the birth rate for American teenagers jumped last year, federal health officials reported yesterday, a sharp reversal in what has been one of the nation's most celebrated social and public health successes.
The birth rate rose by 3 percent between 2005 and 2006 among 15-to-19-year-old girls, after plummeting 34 percent between 1991 and 2005, the National Center for Health Statistics reported.
The new data reignited debate about abstinence-only sex-education programs, which receive about $176 million a year in federal funding. Congress is currently debating whether to increase that by $28 million.
"The United States is facing a teen-pregnancy health-care crisis, and the national policy of abstinence-only programs just isn't working," said Cecile Richard, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "It is time for everyone who cares about teenagers to start focusing on the common-sense solutions that will help solve this problem."
Key points:
Let me make my own opinion very clear: I am equally mistrustful of those who want to fill our schools with leftwing social engineering as I am of those who want to use the classroom as a venue for rightwing religious indoctrination. Ideally, parents would teach their children how to avoid pregnancy, and schools would focus on the three R’s.
But since it appears that society is determined to make sex a part of the school curriculum, let’s consider how it should be handled.
Abstinence obviously prevents pregnancy---when people abstain. History proves, however, that voluntary sexual activity is difficult to restrain with sermons. And make no mistake about it---abstinence-only is closely tied to a specific religious agenda.
Teen pregnancy is more a product of eternal human foibles than the specific times in which we live. There was no “good old days” when the average person wasn’t interested in sex. During the American colonial era, over half of all brides were already pregnant on their wedding day. Out-of-wedlock pregnancy has been common in Switzerland and other European countries for at least a hundred years. Even the Greatest Generation was less than pure: Google the words “victory girls” World War II if you don’t believe me.
Nevertheless, teen pregnancy is a problem that has numerous negative consequences for mothers, children, and society at large. Based on this realization, we should focus on what actually works---rather than indulging in wishful thinking about the minds of teenagers. I was a teenage boy myself once, and I know better.
The Netherlands has the lowest teen pregnancy rate in Europe, and a teen pregnancy rate about one-ninth the rate of the United States. Abortion rates in the Netherlands are also far below those in the United States or the UK.
What do the Dutch do differently? The Netherlands takes a liberal, secular approach to preventing teen pregnancies. According to a 1999 article from the BBC:
Children are taught openly about sex both at home and at school - and they are expected to deal with sex responsibly.
Contraception is promoted for its health benefits by Dutch doctors. Many young women start using the pill before they begin having sex.
I was raised Roman Catholic, so I have as many hang-ups about sex as anyone. A part of me earnestly believes that everyone would be better off waiting until marriage---which would ideally be followed by a happily ever after.
But the oldest members the 1960s generation, who celebrated the so-called “sexual revolution,” are now eligible for senior citizens’ discounts. Premarital cohabitation---controversial even in the 1970s middle America in which I grew up---is now commonplace. Sex and sensuality are everywhere: on our televisions, on our computer screens, and in every marketing message.
Maybe the genie of sexuality isn’t going to fit back into the bottle---if it was ever bottled in the first place, that is. And maybe the Netherlands’ way of preventing teen pregnancy is at least worth a serious debate. The proof, after all, is in the pudding.
