Data Show Need for Better Sex Education and Family Planning
February 03, 2010 4:04:42
by Karin
Web Correspondent
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund
Ten percent of all U.S. births are to teens. Wow. I did not know that until recently, when I read about a new study from the Guttmacher Institute (pdf). This study proves what experts had long predicted would occur – that teen pregnancy rates have increased after restrictions were imposed on sex education classes in schools during the Bush administration.
The news release about the study states that “The significant drop in teen pregnancy rates in the 1990s was overwhelmingly the result of more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens. However, this decline started to stall out in the early 2000s, at the same time that sex education programs aimed exclusively at promoting abstinence—and prohibited by law from discussing the benefits of contraception—became increasingly widespread and teens’ use of contraceptives declined.”
• The teen pregnancy rate declined 41% between its peak, in 1990 (116.9 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19), and 2005 (69.5 per 1,000).
• Teen birth and abortion rates also declined, with births dropping 35% between 1991 and 2005 and teen abortion declining 56% between its peak, in 1988, and 2005.
However, these trends reversed in 2006. In that year, there were 71.5 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19. Put another way, about 7% of teen girls became pregnant in 2006.
The reversal in 2006 also involved all demographic groups:
• Among black teens, the pregnancy rate declined by 45% (from 223.8 per 1,000 in 1990 to 122.7 in 2005), before increasing to 126.3 in 2006.
• Among Hispanic teens, the pregnancy rate decreased by 26% (from 169.7 per 1,000 in 1992 to 124.9 in 2005), before rising to 126.6 in 2006.
• Among non-Hispanic white teens, the pregnancy rate declined 50% (from 86.6 per 1,000 in 1990 to 43.3 per 1,000 in 2005), before increasing to 44.0 in 2006.
State-level data are not yet available for 2006, but varied widely in 2005. The highest pregnancy rates were in New Mexico (93 per 1,000 women 15–19), Nevada (90), Arizona (89), Texas (88) and Mississippi (85), and the lowest rates were in New Hampshire (33), Vermont (40), Maine (48), Minnesota (47) and North Dakota (46). Teen pregnancy rates declined in every state between 1988 and 2000, and in every state except North Dakota between 2000 and 2005.
If we continue to move forward, pretending that our teens are not having sex, we are merely sticking our heads in the sand. According to the Guttmacher Institute:
• By age 15, only 13% of never-married teens have ever had sex. However, by the time they reach age 19, seven in 10 never-married teens have engaged in sexual intercourse.
• Twelve percent of teen males and 10% of teen females have had heterosexual oral sex but not vaginal intercourse.
• A sexually active teen who does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
That last statistic was particularly jarring to me, because it should be easy for teens to acquire contraceptives. The study reveals that only twenty-one states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow all minors to consent to contraceptive services without a parent’s involvement (as of January 2010). Two states (Texas and Utah) require parental consent for contraceptive services in state-funded family planning programs. Based on that information, it is not surprising to me that Texas is among the states with the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation.
Ninety percent of publicly funded family planning clinics counsel clients under 18 about abstinence and the importance of communicating with parents about sex. What percentage of those clinics counsel teens about effective contraceptive use? Teens do not learn about contraceptive use and family planning unless someone takes the time and care to teach them. They DO, however, learn about sex without someone actively teaching them. Unfortunately, gossip, the media, and friends aren’t always the most accurate teachers.
The Guttmacher Institute’s studies make it clear that many teens do not feel they can talk to their parents about sex and contraceptives. In fact, one in five teens whose parents do not know they obtain contraceptive services would continue to have sex but would either rely on withdrawal or not use any contraceptives if the law required that their parents be notified of their visit. The effect of this would only be to further increase the rate of teen pregnancy: pretending that teens do not have sex does not mean that they won’t have sex. Only ONE PERCENT of all teens who use sexual health services say their only reaction to a law requiring their parents’ involvement in obtaining prescription contraceptives would be to stop having sex.
We need to face the fact that merely wanting teens to not have sex is not enough. Ignoring the fact that teens have sex is not enough. Pretending that teens do not have sex is not enough. We need to acknowledge it and provide better options for sex ed, contraceptives, and family planning counseling. It is only through education and knowledge that we will reverse this trend. According to Heather Boonstra at the Guttmacher Institute, “the heyday of this failed experiment has come to an end with the enactment of a new teen pregnancy prevention initiative that ensures that programs will be age-appropriate, medically accurate and, most importantly, based on research demonstrating their effectiveness.”
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