NEW! Sexual Reproductive Health of 10-24 year-olds in the U.S., 2002-2007
£6 Million Government Reduction Program Resulted in More than Twice as Many Teen Pregnancies
Planned Parenthood is all about Sex…
Know the Truth: Abstinence Education Works!
NEW! House Subcommittee Further Strips Funding for Abstinence Education Efforts / Update: More Funding being Introduced
Commentary: An Unhappy Trend
Number of Unwed Mothers Has Risen Sharply in U.S.: Women in 20s, 30s Are Driving Trend, Report Shows
Abstinence Education Funding Being Reduced by Federal Administration
Comprehensive Sex Ed Doesn’t Do Better than Abstinence Ed When Measured by Same Standards, Institute Says
IPPF’s UN Petition Drive Targets Youth, Demands Broad “Sexual Rights”
Sarah Palin's Husband Todd, Daughter Bristol Promote Abstinence For Teenagers
OH Affiliate Defends Abstinence Funding
Study: Children Who View TV Targeted for Adults Engage in Sexual Activity Earlier
Abstinence Education Backers Present Evidence of Success to Congress
EDITORIAL: Just Say Yes
EDITORIAL: Porn – The New Tobacco?
Abstinence Resources…
SEXUAL REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OF PERSONS AGED 10-24 YEARS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2002-2007
A new MMWR on Sexual Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10-24 Years in the United States, 2002-2007 was recently added to the CDC website. This is a very comprehensive document that contains valuable information for youth-serving organizations. (22 July 2009, www.abstinence.net: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5806.pdf)
[ed. note: teen pregnancy rates have begun to rise, coinciding with many states discontinuing abstinence education in public schools.]
Summary
This report presents data for 2002–2007 concerning the sexual and reproductive health of persons aged 10–24 years in the United States. Data were compiled from the National Vital Statistics System and multiple surveys and surveillance systems that monitor sexual and reproductive health outcomes into a single reference report that makes this information more easily accessible to policy makers, researchers, and program providers who are working to improve the reproductive health of young persons in the United States.
The report addresses three primary topics: 1) current levels of risk behavior and health outcomes; 2) disparities by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and geographic residence; and 3) trends over time.
The data presented in this report indicate that many young persons in the United States engage in sexual risk behavior and experience negative reproductive health outcomes.
In 2004, approximately 745,000 pregnancies occurred among U.S. females aged <20 years.
In 2006, approximately 22,000 adolescents and young adults aged 10–24 years in 33 states were living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), and approximately 1 million adolescents and young adults aged 10–24 years were reported to have chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis.
One-quarter of females aged 15–19 years and 45% of those aged 20–24 years had evidence of infection with human papillomavirus during 2003–2004, and approximately 105,000 females aged 10–24 years visited a hospital emergency department (ED) for a nonfatal sexual assault injury during 2004–2006.
Although risks tend to increase with age, persons in the youngest age group (youths aged 10–14 years) also are affected. For example, among persons aged 10–14 years, 16,000 females became pregnant in 2004, nearly 18,000 males and females were reported to have sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in 2006, and 27,500 females visited a hospital ED because of a nonfatal sexual assault injury during 2004–2006.
Noticeable disparities exist in the sexual and reproductive health of young persons in the United States. For example, pregnancy rates for female Hispanic and non-Hispanic black adolescents aged 15–19 years are much higher (132.8 and 128.0 per 1,000 population) than their non-Hispanic white peers (45.2 per 1,000 population).
Non-Hispanic black young persons are more likely to be affected by AIDS: for example, black female adolescents aged 15–19 years were more likely to be living with AIDS (49.6 per 100,000 population) than Hispanic (12.2 per 100,000 population), American Indian/Alaska Native (2.6 per 100,000 population), non-Hispanic white (2.5 per 100,000 population) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.3 per 100,000 population) adolescents.
In 2006, among young persons aged 10–24 years, rates for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were highest among non-Hispanic blacks for all age groups. The southern states tend to have the highest rates of negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes, including early pregnancy and STDs.
Although the majority of negative outcomes have been declining for the past decade, the most recent data suggest that progress might be slowing, and certain negative sexual health outcomes are increasing. For example, birth rates among adolescents aged 15–19 years decreased annually during 1991–2005 but increased during 2005–2007, from 40.5 live births per 1,000 females in 2005 to 42.5 in 2007 (preliminary data).
Conclusion
The data presented in this report indicate that the sexual and reproductive health of America's young persons remains an important public health concern: a substantial number of youths are affected, disparities exist, and earlier progress appears to be slowing and perhaps reversing. These patterns exist for a range of health outcomes (i.e., sexual risk behavior, pregnancy and births, STDs, HIV/AIDS, and sexual violence), highlighting the magnitude of the threat to young persons' sexual and reproductive health.
These findings underscore the importance of sustaining efforts to promote adolescent reproductive health [ed. ??… Where is the promotion of sexual abstinence?].
Effective screening, treatment, and referral services exist, and a growing number of evidence-based sexuality education, parent-child communication, and youth development programs are available to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health. A key challenge is to ensure that these services are delivered so all youths can benefit.[they could benefit the most from RISK ELIMINATION]
Continued support also is needed to monitor trends in sexual risk behavior and to promote research on new ways to help young persons achieve reproductive health. [ed. abstinence has been shown to work very well]
The data presented in this report are subject to several limitations. First, self-reported data are subject to social desirability and response bias. Second, cases of disease often remain undetected and are unreported. Third, estimating pregnancy rates is challenging because of the difficulty in measuring the number of abortions and fetal losses. Finally, the data summarized in this report describe risk behaviors and negative reproductive health outcomes among young persons, but the data do not explain the causes of sexual risk behavior nor what interventions are most effective. Research is needed that identifies both the key determinants of sexual risk behavior and those interventions that are effective in reducing risk behavior.
[CDC, MMWR, Surveillance Summaries, July 17, 2009 / 58(SS06);1-58, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5806a1.htm?s_cid=ss5806a1_e ]
£6 Million Government Reduction Program Resulted in More than Twice as Many Teen Pregnancies
More than half of UK teen pregnancies end in abortion
A scheme to reduce teenage pregnancies that cost British taxpayers £6 million ($9.8 million US) has backfired, with girls in the program ending up more than twice as likely to become pregnant than those in the general population. The Young People's Development Programme (YPDP) cost £2,500 ($4,085 US) per person and involved giving teenagers sex education and advice about contraception. At the end of the project a total of 16 percent of those involved became pregnant compared with just 6 percent in a comparison group.
A Department of Health spokesman said, "This pilot was based on a successful American program. It did not appear to reduce teenage pregnancy so we will not be taking it any further."
The program ran in 27 parts of England between 2004 and 2007, based on a similar model in New York, and was designed to offer education and support for 13 to 15-year-olds who were deemed at risk of exclusion from school, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy. A total of 2,371 teenagers took part in the program over the three years.
A study evaluating the program published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that young women in the YPDP group were more likely to have not used contraception when they most recently had sex.
The study concluded, "Among young women, YPDP participants more commonly reported teenage pregnancies, early heterosexual sex and expectation of becoming a teenage parent, as well as temporary exclusion from school and truancy. No evidence was found that the intervention was effective in delaying heterosexual experience or reducing pregnancies, drunkenness or cannabis use. Some results suggested an adverse effect."
At the same time, recently released statistics show that after decades of sex education programs in schools combined with easily available publicly funded abortion, more than half of the children conceived by unwed teens in Britain are killed by abortion. Of around 40,000 pregnancies among girls under 18 years in 2008, more than 20,000 were ended by abortion.
According to figures released this year from the Office for National Statistics, 41.9 girls per 1,000 aged 15 to 17 became pregnant in 2007, compared with 40.9 in 2006. Among girls aged 13 to 15 the rate rose from 7.8 per 1,000 girls to 8.3. Around 8,196 girls aged under 16 became pregnant in 2007.
As these figures were released, the government announced an increase of £20.5 million in funding for "reproductive health" clinics, long-term contraceptive implants and advertising campaigns. More recently, the government announced that it will make explicit sex education a compulsory part of the school curriculum in all grades.
Faced with an ever rising number of teenagers conceiving children, the Labour government has insisted that only more and more explicit "sex education," wider availability of artificial contraception and abortion is the answer.
Phyllis Bowman of Right to Life slammed the government's failed attempts at curbing the problem of teenage pregnancy. "The young have been deliberately sexualised in a culture which sneers at the idea of telling teenagers they should not have sex," she said.
She pointed to "contraception campaigners" who look to unwed teenagers for the bulk of their revenue. "We have the highest level of sexually transmitted disease in Europe and the highest level of sexual activity among teenagers in Europe. UNICEF says we have the unhappiest teenagers in Europe.
A Department of Health spokesman, however, defended the government's approach, saying, "One of the key aims of this Government, as set out in the Sexual Health and Teenage Pregnancy Strategies, is to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and consequently abortions, through better access to contraception.
"Prescribed contraception is available free of charge under NHS arrangements, and the Department of Health has recently invested additional funds to allow for improvements in contraception services."
The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, launched by Tony Blair's New Labour, has received more than £300 million in funding. It was meant to halve the number of conceptions among girls under 18 in England between 1998 and 2010. At the time the government started the Strategy, fewer than four out of ten pregnant teenage girls opted for an abortion. [9July09, Hilary White, London, www.LifeSiteNews.com]
PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS ALL ABOUT SEX
By Jim Sedlak
The International Planned Parenthood Federation has just released a document that espouses a right to sexual pleasure. I have asked Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, who has been fighting Planned Parenthood for over 25 years, to comment on this document as today’s guest commentator. Here is what Jim had to say:
In talks around the world over the last 25 years, I have always emphasized that Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood based on three underlying philosophies:
< span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana,geneva">uninhibited sexual activity to achieve unlimited sexual pleasure;
birth control, including abortion, to achieve universal small family size; and
eugenics to achieve a human race devoid of any dysgenic stock.
In recent weeks, there has been an event clearly calculated to advance the first of these above-listed philosophies and thus revealing that it is very much alive and well in Planned Parenthood today.
That event is the release, by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, of a document which the news media is referring to as “the world's first declaration of sexual rights.”
Specifically, the Inter Press Service reported the following on June 10, 2009:
LATIN AMERICA: "Sexuality Is an Essential Part of Humanity"
Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Jun 10 (IPS) – In an effort to promote the free enjoyment of human sexuality, separate from reproduction, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) launched the world's first declaration of sexual rights in the Argentine capital on Wednesday.
"We want states to commit themselves to protecting these rights, and for the United Nations to adopt them in future meetings," Carmen Barroso, IPPF regional director for the Western hemisphere, told IPS.
"Sexual Rights: An IPPF Declaration," the result of two years' work by a multi-disciplinary team, proposes that "sexuality is an essential part of our humanity," and that its free expression "is a component of human rights."
The Declaration espouses "the entitlement to experience and enjoy sexuality independent of reproduction."
So, here you have Planned Parenthood clearly stating what we have known to be its intent since its beginning.
That the act of sex, in and of itself, with no regard for its procreative powers, should be recognized as a “right to pleasure.”
IPPF elaborates on this in its 29-page document, Sexual rights: an IPPF declaration, when it states in Principle 4,
Sexuality is not merely a vehicle for individuals to satisfy their reproductive interests. The entitlement to experience and enjoy sexuality independent of reproduction, and reproduction independent of sexuality should be safeguarded, paying particular attention to those who, historically and in the present, are denied such an entitlement.
All persons are entitled to the conditions that enable the pursuit of a pleasurable sexuality. Pleasure is based on individual and relational autonomy, for which the existence of public policies on sexuality education, health services, freedom from coercion and violence, as well as the development of a field of ethics on issues of justice, equality and liberty must be ensured.
Given that pleasure is an intrinsic aspect of sexuality, the right to seek, express and determine when to experience it must not be denied to anyone.
It is clear, then, that Planned Parenthood believes it has reached the right time in its development and the world’s moral condition to brazenly proclaim this “right” to sexual pleasure as a goal for everyone.
Of course, in typical fashion, Planned Parenthood doesn’t see these rights as being just for mature adults.
The IPS article quoted above also contains the following:
[IPPF’s] Barroso, an expert on sexual and reproductive health, said human rights in general gained ground in the mid-20th century, and expanded in the 1990s with the recognition of children's rights. In the mid-1990s, the U.N. affirmed reproductive rights, "but sexuality was tagged on as an afterthought," she said.
"People talked about sexual and reproductive rights, but in fact they meant reproductive rights only," she said. In 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, sexual rights were introduced in the negative, as "women's right not to suffer harm, violence or coercion" in sexual intercourse, she said.
"It was a step forward, but no one talked about the positive right to sexual pleasure, which is only now beginning to be discussed," she said. "That's why the IPPF is offering this Declaration as a tool for progress toward a specific concept of sexual rights."
The Declaration also recognises the sexual rights of persons under 18, who need individual protection based on the idea of their "evolving capacity to exercise rights on their own behalf." According to this idea, parental authority eases off as young people progressively gain in decision-making autonomy.
In addition, the Declaration says that "all persons are entitled to the pursuit of a pleasurable sexuality."
Planned Parenthood takes the position that young children have the so-called right to sexual pleasure in its 29-page document when it says this:
IPPF understands that the rights and protections guaranteed to people under age eighteen, as a matter of international and national law, sometimes differ from the rights of adults. These differences relate to all aspects of human rights but require particular approaches in regard to sexual rights. IPPF begins from the premise that persons under eighteen are rights holders, and that at different points within the spectrum of infancy, childhood, and adolescence, certain rights and protections will have greater or lesser relevance.
Under Article 5 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is stated that the direction and guidance provided by parents or others with responsibility for the child must take into account the capacities of the child to exercise rights on his or her own behalf.
The concept of evolving capacity of children requires a balance between recognizing children as active agents in their own lives entitled to be respected as citizens, as people and as rights-bearers with increasing autonomy, while also being entitled to protection in accordance with their vulnerability.
The concept recognizes that the levels of protection from participation in activities likely to cause children harm will diminish in accordance with their evolving capacity. In addition, the principle of evolving capacity combines respect for children, their dignity and entitlement to protection from all forms of harm, while also acknowledging the value of their own contribution towards their protection. Societies must create environments in which children can achieve their optimal capacities and where greater respect is given to their potential for participation in, and responsibility for, decision-making in their own lives.
Several key principles govern the interrelationship between children’s rights and other interests.
Among these are: the view of persons under 18 as rights holders; the best interests of the child; the evolving capacities of the child; non-discrimination; and the responsibility for ensuring conditions for thriving.
In the context of sexual rights, these principles require an individualized approach, informed by demonstration of maturity and consideration of particular circumstances, such as the specific child or adolescent’s understanding, activities, physical or mental health status, relationship with parents or other interested parties, the power relations among those involved, and the nature of the issue at hand.
The key to understanding all this bureaucratic-speak is the last sentence.
Let’s restate that line…:
In the context of sexual rights, these principles require an individualized approach, informed by demonstration of maturity and consideration of particular circumstances, such as the specific child or adolescent’s understanding, activities, physical or mental health status, relationship with parents or other interested parties, the power relations among those involved, and the nature of the issue at hand.
What this means is that your child will not be safe from this ideology. If Planned Parenthood can convince, for example, a judge that your child is mature and that the child is being stifled because of the Christian morality you are attempting to bring to bear on his or her life, then the judge can declare your child to be emancipated in the area of attaining sexual pleasure.
It means that once the attainment of sexual pleasure is declared a right, you will be helpless to enforce any rules restricting your minor child’s sexual activity.
Perhaps a final quote from the main IPPF document will drive this point home.
Planned Parenthood says,
All persons have the right to be recognized before the law and to sexual freedom, which encompasses the opportunity for individuals to have control and decide freely on matters related to sexuality, to choose their sexual partners, to seek to experience their full sexual potential and pleasure, within a framework of nondiscrimination and with due regard to the rights of others and to the evolving capacity of children.
With this latest document, Planned Parenthood has declared war on our children and on traditional God-given morality. It is doing everything it can to get government approval for leading our children into lives of sexual sin. We must recognize this for what it is: an all-out effort to steal the souls of our children and lead them into lifestyles that will end with an eternity in hell.
We dare not be silent.
[ALL Pro-Life Today, 22June09, www.all.org]
KNOW THE TRUTH: ABSTINENCE EDUCATION WORKS!
http://ezinearticles.com/?Know-the-Truth—Abstinence-Education-Works&id=2241995
Why cut a program (Title V) that has been proven to work? Because of one flawed study? Because the "Abstinence" word is not popular wit certain groups? Think about it. Teen pregnancy rates went through the roof during the 70s and 80s when comprehensive sex ed (condoms) reigned supreme. They only started to decline in the mid-nineties after abstinence education came on the scene.
(Source: By Keith Deltano, http://ezinearticles.com/?Know-the-Truth—Abstinence-Education-Works&id=2241995; 3Jun09, www.abstinence.net))
House Subcommittee Further Strips Funding for Abstinence Education Efforts
A House subcommittee last week further stripped the ability of community abstinence education programs to obtain federal funds for their work. Led by pro-abortion Rep. David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, a House appropriations subcommittee stripped even more funding from the federal budget.
The House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor HHS passed the Fiscal Year 2010 appropriations bill but not before it further targeted abstinence education.
Although both sides of the abstinence debate say the language in the bill needs more analysis, the first glance makes it appear that abstinence education funding will be eliminated or severely curtailed.
Obey included $114.5 million for a new teenage pregnancy prevention initiative that Obama is calling for, but the funds are expected to go to groups like Planned Parenthood that perform and promote abortions.
The budget language will likely place requirements on the funding that only groups that do not take an abstinence-only approach can qualify for funding.
Little if any of the funds are expected to go to groups like the National Abstinence Clearinghouse.
"Proponents of contraceptive-only sex education have long awaited the day when they are given free reign over the sexualization of our children," its president Leslee Unruh told LifeNews.com.
The National Abstinence Education Association also decried the move.
“NAEA will continue to work in a bipartisan fashion to assure that the final bill sent to the President includes funding for these important programs,” promised Valerie Huber, its executive director. "It is important that politics not be permitted to trump the health of America's youth."
Abortion advocates have targeted the elimination of abstinence funding for years even though studies have shown such programs effecting in helping teenagers.
Unruh says the preponderance of evidence supports abstinence-only education.
"There is a small minority of very well federally funded groups who try to give the perception that contraceptive-only sex education programs are effective at protecting teens from the problems related to sexual activity," she explained. "Studies of contraceptive-only sex education reveal that there is no evidence that condom programs are effective at decreasing teen pregnancy or STDs."
"It was also found that abstinence programs have produced broad-based and sustained increases in the percentage of youth who remain sexually abstinent, Unruh added.
"There is evidence that abstinence education is an effective primary prevention strategy. The research does not support abandoning abstinence education in favor of a contraceptive-only sex education strategy that has not been proven to be successful," she continued.
NAEA said that supporting the bill as written, without abstinence education funding, "seriously jeopardizes the ability of community-based programs to offer the skills youth need to resist sexual pressure and to avoid the potentially serious consequences of sexual activity."
"This move ignores the overwhelming support for abstinence education among parents of all ideological and demographic constituencies. The committee’s action disregards the 2.5 million young people who depend upon these services to empower them to make healthy choices regarding their sexuality," Huber added.
Related web sites:
National Abstinence Education Association – http://www.AbstinenceWorks.org
[13July09, Ertelt, Washington, DC, www.LifeNews.com, http://www.lifenews.
com/nat5212.html ]
COMMENTARY : AN UNHAPPY TREND
http://www.informz.net/pfm/archives/archive_787790.html
When most Americans hear the expression “unmarried mother,” what nearly always comes to mind is a teenage girl. But that’s not what’s driving the recent increase. In 2007, only 23 percent of the out-of-wedlock births were to unmarried teenagers. The rest were to women in their 20s, and now increasingly, in their 30s.
(Chuck Colson, http://www.informz.net/pfm/archives/archive_787790.html; 3Jun09, www.abstinence.net)
Number of Unwed Mothers Has Risen Sharply in U.S.: Women in 20s, 30s Are Driving Trend, Report Shows
Katrina Stanfield, 25, is raising her 3-year-old daughter in Middletown, Md., without a husband because she and her boyfriend decided that marriage would not work for them.
Heidy Gonzalez, 21, is living with her two children and their father in Mount Rainier, but tying the knot is not a priority for them now.
Emily Smatchetti, 38, is a single mother of a toddler in Miami because she had not found the right man and worried that time was running out. So she found a sperm donor.
The mothers are part of a far-reaching social trend unfolding across the United States: The number of children being born out of wedlock has risen sharply in recent years, driven primarily by women in their 20s and 30s opting to have children without getting married. Nearly four out of every 10 births are now to unmarried women.
"It's been a huge increase — a dramatic increase," said Stephanie J. Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics, which documented the shift in detail yesterday for the first time, based on an analysis of birth certificates nationwide. "It's quite striking."
Although the report did not examine the reasons for the increase, Ventura and other experts cite a confluence of factors, including a lessening of the social stigma associated with unmarried motherhood, an increase in couples delaying or forgoing marriage, and growing numbers of financially independent women and older and single women deciding to have children on their own after delaying childbearing.
"I think this is the tipping point," said Rosanna Hertz, a professor of sociology and women's studies at Wellesley College. "This is becoming increasingly the norm. The old adage that 'first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage' just no longer holds true."
The trend has unfolded despite decades of political and social hand-wringing over the issue, such as Vice President Dan Quayle's attack on the unmarried television mother Murphy Brown, President Bill Clinton's revamp of welfare and President George W. Bush's focus on "family values." President Obama has said that one of his priorities is reducing abortions, in part by helping women who become pregnant and want to keep their children.
Some experts said the trend represents a positive change for many women, allowing them to avoid becoming social outcasts, being forced to give up their babies for adoption or having abortions, and letting them raise children in nontraditional families.
"Women can have children on their own, and it's not going to destroy your employment, and it's not going to mean that you'll be made a pariah by the community," Hertz said. "It's much more socially acceptable."
But others said the trend is disturbing because children who grow up without stable, two-parent families tend not to fare as well in many ways.
"I look at this and say, maybe this trend is what young adults want or stumble into, but it's not in the best interest of children," said Sarah Brown, chief executive of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
About 1.7 million babies were born to unmarried women in 2007, a 26 percent rise from 1.4 million in 2002 and more than double the number in 1980, according to the new report.
Unmarried women accounted for 39.7 percent of all U.S. births in 2007 — up from 34 percent in 2002 and more than double the percentage in 1980.
"If you see 10 babies in the room, four them were born to women who were not married," Ventura said.
Although experts have been concerned about a recent uptick in births to older teenagers after years of decline, that is not the driving force in the overall trend but more likely a reflection of it, Ventura said. Instead, much of the rise is due to significant increases in births among unmarried women in their 20s and 30s. Between 2002 and 2006, the rate at which unmarried women in that age group were having babies increased between 13 percent and 34 percent, the report found.
The rates increased for all races, but they remained highest and rose fastest for Hispanics and blacks. There were 106 births to every 1,000 unmarried Hispanic women in 2006, 72 per 1,000 blacks, 32 per 1,000 whites and 26 per 1,000 Asians, the report showed.
The percentage of babies born to unmarried women in the United States is starting to look more like that in many European countries, the data shows. For example, the proportion of babies born to unmarried women is about 66 percent in Iceland, 55 percent in Sweden, 50 percent in France and 44 percent in the United Kingdom.
In many of those countries, couples are living together instead of getting married, which is also the case in the United States. Previous research indicates that about 40 percent of births to unmarried women occur in households where couples are cohabitating.
Gonzalez, the mother who lives with her children's father in Mount Rainier, said marriage has not loomed as a necessity for them. "Time goes by and we think about other stuff — and we think about rent," she said. This holds true, she said, for most of her friends. "Most of the people I know just live with their baby's father or boyfriend and don't get married," she said.
Other couples today feel less compelled to marry just because they are having a child.
"It seems to be more wrong to be in a marriage with someone who you don't love and consider to be your best friend than not to be in a marriage at all," said Barbara Katz Rothman, a professor of sociology at the City University of New York. "It's not that people care less about marriage. In some ways, it's because they care more."
Stanfield and her boyfriend tried living together after she got pregnant, but he moved out when it became clear to both of them that they were not compatible, she said.
"He's a good dad and a good person, but he's just not right for me," Stanfield said.
In New Carrollton, Natrice McKenzie, 25, a teller supervisor at a bank, said she did not set out to become a single mother but has no regrets.
"Getting married was something I had in mind, but that basically was not what happened," said McKenzie, pregnant with her third child. She said it can be difficult, and she knows she is far from unique. "Nowadays it's becoming more like, single moms are everywhere," she said.
Alana Hill, 33, sees family history as
an important influence. A single mother in Silver Spring who works as a dancer and a dance teacher, Hill was raised by a single mother and was part of a large extended family in which most of the mothers were not married. Except for grandparents, "I didn't have a role model of a husband and a wife who were married for years," she said. Even when she was very young, her foremost wish, she said, was motherhood, not marriage. "I knew I wanted a child," she said.
Smatchetti, who works as a U.S. attorney in Miami, said she is glad that she had the option of using a sperm donor after a long-term relationship ended.
"I didn't want to pick the wrong person just to have kid, so I just decided to go ahead and do it and work on the relationship later," she said. "It's hard, but in a good way."
[14May09, Rob Stein and Donna St. George,
Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/13/AR2009051301628_pf.html; N. Valko RN, 14May09]
FEDERAL ABSTINENCE FUNDING. There is no visible abstinence funding in Obama’s budget, but a White House official that some abstinence education programs might qualify for teenage pregnancy prevention money as "community-based and faith-based efforts to reduce teen pregnancy using evidence-based and promising models.” There would be stringent evaluation requirements for such programs. (12May09; http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/12/white-house-may-seek-funding-for-abstinence-only-education)
Comprehensive Sex Ed Doesn’t Do Better than Abstinence Ed When Measured by Same Standards, Institute Says
A sex education researcher reported in a Congressional briefing on April 29th that when measured by the same standards of effectiveness, comprehensive sex education programs in America’s classrooms do not show more evidence of success than abstinence education programs. This conclusion contradicts recent claims made by journalists and Congressional representatives that abstinence education is a proven failure.
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE: ABSTINENCE AND COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION IN OUR SCHOOLS
There is a common perception that school-based comprehensive sex education programs are effective at protecting teens from the problems related to sexual activity while abstinence education programs are not. In fact, some have called for the complete abandonment of abstinence education. With 1 in 4 teen girls in the U.S. now infected with an STD,1 there is clearly a need for more effective programs to protect adolescents. However, before a program can be called effective it is necessary to clarify what “effective” means. This document offers basic criteria for effective programs and presents evidence about the effectiveness of both comprehensive and abstinence-based sex education in our schools. [http://www.abstinence.net/pdf/contentmgmt/IREevidencepaperAnotherLook3609.pdf, WASHINGTON, DC, May 13, 2009 ; www.abstinence.net, 13May2009]
IPPF’s UN Petition Drive Targets Youth, Demands Broad “Sexual Rights”
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) recently launched a new petition campaign that aims to pressure governments to “promote, protect and fulfill their promise to provide better access to sexual and reproductive health services” for all young people “regardless of age.” The petition was launched in commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994).
The petition promotes the message “Count Me In: Sexual Rights For All.” “Sexual rights” are not included in the ICPD program of action that the IPPF petition campaign is centered around. According to the official conference report, not only is the term not included in the ICPD program of action, but it only appears as part of reservations from countries objecting to any inclusion in the text. To date, the term “sexual rights” has never appeared in any binding, negotiated UN document – attributable to controversy over attempts by some to include abortion within its definition.
IPPF also lists advocacy objectives that include pressuring governments “to recognize the right of all young people to make decisions about their own sexual and reproductive health” and to “build momentum for universal access to sexual and reproductive health services around the world.”
IPPF’s new campaign portrays “family planning” as a human right and emphasizes the need for governments and the international community to provide resources. The “15 and Counting” literature states that the campaign was launched not only to mark the ICPD anniversary, but to pressure governments to provide “access to affordable condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.”
Dr. Susan Yoshihara, director of the International Organizations Research Group [research arm of Friday Fax-publisher C-FAM], has written about the attempts to link family planning, sexual and reproductive health and rights to HIV/AIDS in order to siphon off HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment funding to use for family planning and abortion.
In her report on the 2007 Women Deliver conference which was supposed to focus on maternal mortality, Yoshihara recounts how prominent UN officials like Nafis Sadik, special advisor to the UN Secretary General for HIV/AIDS, and Thoraya Obaid, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), stated that UNFPA seeks to obtain and use money earmarked for fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by linking HIV/AIDS to reproductive health.
IPPF executive director, Dr. Gill Greer has been a vocal supporter of this approach. Just last week at an event in Ottawa addressing the lack of access to contraception and family planning, Greer lamented the drop in foreign aid funding for family planning from 40% in 1996 to 5% in 2006 and told a group of Canadian policymakers that “we must emphasize the importance of linking HIV/AIDS to sexual and reproductive rights.”
In the three months that the campaign has been running, less than 1000 people have signed the petition. This is far short of the “hundreds of thousands of signatures representing every country on the planet” that the 15 and Counting campaign plans to present to the UN Secretary-General by November 2009. [7May09, Friday Fax, Volume 12, Number 21, C-FAM, Samantha Singson, New York]
Sarah Palin's Husband Todd, Daughter Bristol Promote Abstinence For Teenagers
Sarah Palin's family continue to raise the issue of abstinence education in prominent media interviews about her daughter Bristol's teen pregnancy. Bristol said abstinence is a realistic option for teenagers while her father Todd said in an interview that teen pregnancy is a "mistake."
Palin, the 19-year old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate last year, told ABC's "Good Morning America" she wishes she would have waited before having sex.
In New York City to promote National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day, Bristol said
abstinence is the best choice for teenagers despite her own decisions. She has signed on as a national spokeswoman for the day.
"Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only way you can effectively, 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy," she said on the show.
The young Palin talked about her new son Tripp, whom she called "the love of my life," and said he is starting to giggle. Though she loves her son, she told ABC she wished she had waited to get pregnant until later in life.
She told Matt Lauer a baby “is not just an accessory on your hip. This is hard work.”
“It’s completely changed,” Bristol told ABC about having a child. “I'm up all night with [Tripp]. I'm constantly changing diapers and making bottles. Your priorities change 100 percent.”
But she called her 4-month-old son Tripp “not a mistake at all. He’s a blessing.”
Meanwhile, Todd Palin told the program about why his daughter is involved.
“It’s kind of a fine line that we're walking on,” he said. He said the involvement was a way of “sharing Bristol’s experience with other teenagers — sharing the mistake she made a year ago,” and helping other girls to learn from it.
“We're very proud of Bristol,” he said. “She’s tough. She’s a great mom. We're proud of her for taking on this national responsibility.”
He said teenagers should think about the consequences of having sex first and about the responsibility afterwards of becoming a parent.
“This is a huge responsibility, and you don't have time for friends.”
[6May09, http://www.lifenews.com/nat5025.html; Ertelt, Washington, DC www.LifeNews.com, 7May09, #4605; ]
OHIO AFFILIATE DEFENDS FEDERAL ABSTINENCE FUNDING
In this local story on a national issue, Rosie Prier of Elizabeth's New Life Center in Dayton, Ohio defends abstinence funding based on practical experience: "[Our] goals, although common-sense from a health point of view, fly in the face of our current cultural norm that tells kids the toxic message, 'Your sexuality is so powerful that you are not expected to keep it under control.” Interestingly, even the health teacher who believes in comprehensive sex ed is quoted in the article as a supporter of continued federal abstinence funding: "Contrary to popular belief, it works," he said. "…I've had kids tell me it's just changed their whole outlook on things and how they look at themselves, especially females, how they value themselves."
http://www.ohio-share.coxnewsweb.com/News-share/Local_News-share/abstinence-education-funding-may-be-in-jeopardy-106085.html; 6May09, abstinence.net)
Study: Children Who View TV Targeted for Adults Engage in Sexual Activity Earlier
Early onset of sexual activity among teens may relate to the amount of adult content children were exposed to during their childhood, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston.
Based on a longitudinal study tracking children from age six to eighteen, researchers found that the younger children are exposed to content intended for adults in television and movies, the earlier they become sexually active during adolescence.
The findings are being presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meetings on Monday, May 4 in Baltimore.
"Television and movies are among the leading sources of information about sex and relationships for adolescents," says Hernan Delgado, MD, fellow in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston and lead author of the study. "Our research shows that their sexual attitudes and expectations are influenced much earlier in life."
The study consisted of 754 participants, 365 males and 389 females, who were tracked during two stages in life: first during childhood, and again five years later when their ages ranged from 12 to 18-years-old. At each stage, the television programs and movies viewed, and the amount of time spent watching them over a sample weekday and weekend day were logged. The program titles were used to determine what content was intended for adults. The participants' onset of sexual activity was then tracked during the second stage.
According to the findings, when the youngest children in the sample–ages 6 to 8-years-old–were exposed to adult-targeted television and movies, they were more likely to have sex earlier when compared those who watched less adult-targeted content.
The study found that for every hour the youngest group of children watched adult-targeted content over the two sample days, their chances of having sex during early adolescence increased by 33 percent.
Meanwhile, the reverse was not found to be true–that is, becoming sexually active in adolescence did not subsequently increase youth's viewing of adult-targeted television and movies.
David Bickham, PhD, staff scientist in the Center on Media and Child Health and co-author of the study commented: "Children learn from media, and when they watch media with sexual references and innuendos, our research suggests they are more likely to engage in sexual activity earlier in life."
[BOSTON, MA, May 5, 2009, www.LifeSiteNews.com]
Abstinence Education Backers Present Evidence of Success to Congress
Abstinence education backers took their positive message to Capitol Hill last week to tell the success stories of abstinence programs to lawmakers. In Congressional hearings on April 29, leading experts presented evidence showing these programs use an evidence-based approach that works for young people.
The hearings featured new evidence-based analysis called Abstinence Works, which identifies 40 national studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of abstinence education among students.
Lawmakers heard about a study by nationally known researcher Dr. Stan Weed which debunks the myths about abstinence education and shows that abstinence programs actually outperform "comprehensive" sex education programs.
Two students spokes about the positive effects of abstinence education that extend to all areas of their lives.
Valerie Huber, the director of the National Abstinence Education Association, told LifeNews.com that the goal of the hearings was to bypass the major media's generally negative portrayal of authentic abstinence education.
She wanted to deliver the truth directly to lawmakers as they gathered evidence for future funding decisions.
"After today, it can no longer be said that the so-called comprehensive sex education has more research of effectiveness, nor can it be said that abstinence education is a failed approach," she said.
"An honest analysis of the evidence is decidedly on the side of abstinence. If policy makers care about funding programs with promise and effectiveness, then abstinence education should continue," Huber added.
Related web sites:
Healthy Resp
ect – http://www.healthrespect.org
Abstinence Works – http://www.abstinenceworks.org
NAC – www.abstinence.net
[5May09, Ertelt, Washington, DC, www.LifeNews.com,
http://www.lifenews.com/nat5023.html]
Purity is not a Myth! NO Regrets!
Watch Lakita Garth energetically defend a healthy sexual lifestyle that doesn't result in regrets. She is a guest in this video on MSNBC with Jessica Valenti, author of "The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession With Virginity Is Hurting Young Women."
Go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30353377/.
April 22, 2009
EDITORIAL: JUST SAY YES
Surely it’s time to throw the towel in on school drug prevention programs, anti-tobacco campaigns and anti-drunk driving programs. Frankly, we just aren’t getting the results we need fast enough. Our schools need to quickly revert to Plan B. Instead of risk-prevention programs, we should promote risk-reduction programs.
What would these risk-reduction programs look like? Anti-drug campaigns in school should start passing out how-to manuals along with clean needles for lunch bags. Anti-tobacco programs should install cigarette machines in the cafeteria with high-tech filters on the cigarettes for those teens who are going to smoke anyway. Anti-drunk driving programs should emphasize wearing a seatbelt to keep teens safer when they drink and drive.
This thinking would fall right in line with liberal anti-abstinence group, Texas Freedom Network (TFN), which just released a report about its perceived failure of abstinence education in Texas. The group’s long-time rallying call is to replace the primary prevention health and safety message of abstinence with a risk reduction message of, “just show them how to put on a condom safely.”
Despite the TFN accusation that abstinence is not working, teen pregnancy has fallen 35 percent and sexual activity among high school students has dropped from 54 percent to 48 percent since the early 1990s when abstinence education began in the America, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Unfortunately, while the article accuses abstinence-centered programs of promoting fear and misinformation, the report itself was littered with falsehoods, attempting to create fear in Texans and propagating major distortions of the truth. The report used quotes and comments from isolated towns and painted all abstinence-centered programs with the same tainted brush.
While Just Say YES has not received government abstinence funds, we work with groups in 29 states that do. Our primary focus is helping Texas public and private schools develop risk avoidance programs that encourage and equip teens to say “yes” to their dreams and goals and “no” to risk behaviors such as sexual activity. Our experience has been that groups with government funding comply with federal guidelines for abstinence education through quality assembly programs, classroom education and core curriculums.
The problem is not excessive funding for abstinence education but a lack thereof. Last year, the government allocated $176 million to abstinence-centered education, which compares to $700 million for contraception-centered education, (approximately $1 to every $4). The TFN report states that Texas leads the nation in abstinence funding. But isn’t it logical that a state educating almost 10 percent of the nation’s children should receive 10 percent of the abstinence funds?
The primary concern should be how few teens can be effectively reached through the limited funding. Fewer than 300,000 of the state’s 2.2 million secondary age students received federally funded abstinence programs – a mere 14 percent of Texas students.
Meanwhile, smaller school districts are forced to rely on community volunteers to deliver their abstinence programs without access to funding for approved curriculum and staff training. Additional abstinence-centered funding is obviously needed. According to the TFN report, 94 percent of the districts have independently chosen abstinence education over contraception-centered education. This clearly is what the local communities want taught. Additionally, a 2007 Zogby poll concluded that parents prefer abstinence education over comprehensive sex education, 2 to 1.
Our philosophy is that teens need schools and educators to set the bar high. Students want the best health and safety message delivered in a respectful way without lecturing or shaming.
Abstinence programs are positive, encouraging teens to focus on their futures. Students receive life skills, refusal skills, media awareness education and medically accurate information. Those who are not familiar with abstinence-centered programs should witness such a program in action. A majority of young people are embracing the message. Now we need more informed adults on board.
Dan Bailey
Executive Director
Just Say YES – Youth Equipped to Succeed
PO Box 670863
Dallas, TX 75367
www.justsayyes.org
972 437 0002
[6May09, abstinence.net]
COMMENTARY : PORN: THE 'NEW TOBACCO'?
We've taken a "full turn" in the last century in regard to tobacco and porn. "Yesterday, smoking was considered unremarkable in a moral sense, whereas pornography was widely considered disgusting and wrong — including even by people who consumed it. Today, as a general rule, just the reverse is true.
Now it is pornography that is widely (though not universally) said to be value-free, whereas smoking is widely considered disgusting and wrong — including even by many smokers."
(http://townhall.com/columnists/KathrynLopez/2009/04/24/porn_the_new_tobacco?page=1, Kathy Lopez; abstinence.net, 6May09)
ABSTINENCE RESOURCES
Bookmark Posters
These 7×23 inch posters are a perfect complement to any abstinence presentation. They look great in lockers and carry a message to remind every teen to stay pure! Three designs available. Order online at http://www.abstinence.net/store/00512.html.