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Re: Abstinence Classeds

They must be doing something right because teen pregnancy is way down.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/prelimbirths05_tables.pdf#2

Syngas, where in that set of tables does it contrast teen pregnancy between 2001 and now? I may have missed it, but all I saw was the difference between 1991 and 2004, and between 2004 and '05. Sure it's down since '91, I would guess since people have become much more aware of HIV.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf

The pregnancy rate reached an all-time high in 1990, during George Bush Sr's administration. It has been decreasing since then.

Check out this table of births per 1000 females aged 15 - 19. http://www.unicef.org/pon98/

Every single European country has significantly fewer pregnancies than the United States.

For example: U.S. 60 Switzerland 4 France 8 Germany 13

Hell, there are even fewer teenage births per 1000 teenagers in Rwanda!

Colin,

The stats for previous years are all available here:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm

I don't really care why teen pregnancy rates are down, I'm just glad they are down.

Jo Ann - I don't understand why you are so bitter toward me lately. What did I say that was so offensive?

Jo Ann - I don't understand why you are so bitter toward me lately. What did I say that was so offensive?

Wow...You care how I feel about you?

Sorry if I'm coming across as bitter. I'm just responding to what you say. I'll work on my manners and try to be more delicate in the future!

Well, it's a beautiful sunny day and I need to get out and enjoy my garden.

Warm wishes to you Syngas. ;)

Awww! Group hug! ^_^

You say now that you don't care why they're down, yet just mere hours ago you suggested that they were down because of abstinence only sex "education". Given that the effect of education on pregnancy is almost certainly mediated by actually having sex, and given the data showing that abstinence only sex education does not reduce the onset of sexual activity, it becomes very hard to argue that abstinence only "education" has the effect of reducing pregnancy.

Admittedly, there are two ways you could conceivably argue that: one, although refraining from teaching kids about safe sex practices doesn't discourage them from having sex in general, it somehow makes them more likely to practice safe sex. I don't have numbers at my fingertips but I strongly suspect that the reverse is true if anything. Second, although the age of first sexual activity is unchanged, the lack of knowledge about safe sex practices leads to less frequent sex after the first time. Again, difficult to see why that would be true, but please, show us the numbers if you've got 'em.

I, too, am very glad that teen pregnancy is down since 1991, but it's almost certainly in spite of the failure to teach kids about safe sex, not because of it.

"Fuck a lot of women, kid. Not one woman. A lot of women. Are you getting any? You can tell me. Are you getting any? No?! Jesus, you're what, 15? You should be getting that young stuff -- that stuff is the best in the whole world. She's jailbait, you're jailbat -- it's perfect! You turn 18, that's three to five! Fuck a lot of women kid. I've got no reason to lie to you."

Little Miss Sunshine?

"You say now that you don't care why they're down, yet just mere hours ago you suggested that they were down because of abstinence only sex "education"."

I did not. I said they must be doing something right. You bore me.

I see, so your comment was utterly irrelevant to the article then. Citing random statistics without any claims about how they relate to a topic is always a good form of argument. As is the assertion that someone who disagrees with you "bores you". Perhaps watching Teletubbies, with all the pretty colors and moving shapes, would be better stimulation for you. It's obvious your attention span isn't well suited to talk with the big kids.

This study only varifies what other studies have indicated. Abstinence Only miseducation has the opposite of the desired effect.

Compare all the stats between the US and countries with established comprehensive sex education programs. Canada, the Netherlands are good starting points for comparison. The Netherlands have had comprehensive sex ed for a very long time, Canada' program is much younger, compare the three then look further afield.

Abstinence Only 'graduates' start sexual activity earlier that those armed with comprehensive sex ed. Have more teen pregnances, more babies out of wed lock, and higher rates of stds and hiv among teens. The notable exception being clymidia which is more common among European teens.

Still the White House wants us to avoid "sweeping conclusions".

The only sweeping I see is the truth being swept under the rug by the president and his evangelical buddies.

The Abstinence Only programs are utterly fraudulent,a pay off for political support. The real world cost of the destruction of comprehensive sexual education in America will not be known but it is born by the young.

To these Republican Christians the youth of America are just future cannon fodder and tithe payers. Keeping them in line is much more important than their health and safety.

Thanks Thomas,

You seem well informed on this subject. Do you have an explanation for why teen pregnancy rates have dropped so dramatically over the last 15 years?

Frenetic, Group hug..lol

Syngas, Do you have an explanation for why teen pregancies are significantly higher in the U.S. than any other European country? (Jo Ann asked as gently as she could)

Sure Jo Ann,

We're dumber

The Swedes blame cell phones for sterility and teens in the US are constantly using cell phones. Check out the last couple paragraphs of this story:

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece

I don't really believe this but thought it was funny. I carry my cell phone in my pants pocket so I guess I can pass on the vascetomy!

Oops, I should have credited the Indians for that study, not the Swedes. I beg your forgiveness.

Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.

Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts

Hmmm.. what are the men doing with those cell phones? Or are they trying to say that men think with their penises?

"Or are they trying to say that men think with their penises?"

Was there ever any doubt?

Do you have an explanation for why teen pregnancy rates have dropped so dramatically over the last 15 years?

Less sex or increased use of contraception or a decrease in fertility, or some combination of the above.

agreed!

I've suggested the drop is because, since people have become aware of HIV, etc., they are more likely to use contraception. Don't know if that's true, but the time frame seems to fit.

I believe the awareness of HIV and the increased use of condoms is a large factor in the said birth decline among teens.

Condoms are now advertised on TV and elsewhere so the availability goes up, the stigma sometimes involved in purchasing them has gone down considerably.

It is also true that kids who have only had abstinence only garbage fed to them are less likely to use condoms when they first become sexually active. Because worth while information regarding protection is not part of abstinence only programs.

The nice Christian folks who often run these programs think it is dangerous to arm kids with such real world information. Information that might proctect them from disease and unwanted pregnancies when they do what they are going to do. As mentioned before, kids with abstinence only programs tend to begin sexual activity earlier than kids with comprehensive sex ed. So the abstinence only kids start a bit earlier and are less likely to use protection. But let's not make any sweeping conclusions.

In deed, American teens have a higher pregnancy rate than Europeans because they are less informed. They are less informed because their government has betrayed them with counterfiet education. For political reasons. A bloody pay off for political support. where is the morality in that? where is the evangelical jesus in all of this?

As long as all we're going to offer is our best guess, I'm going to credit the internet.

The girls on the internet don't have pimples, their dads aren't going to kick your ass, you don't have to buy them stuff, they won't break your heart, they don't care how big your unit is, they won't say 'no', they can't give you VD and you can't get them pregnant. For a teenage boy, it doesn't get much better!

Next time you go to the local mall, take note of the boy/girl ratio of the teens hanging out there. In the 80's it was pretty even (I was one of them).

Don't get me wrong, I don't think all the new porn is a good thing for young minds to be exposed to but I'll give credit where credit is due.

There is more than guess work involved. The increased acceptability and use of condoms is well noted in the literature on the subject. But of course trolls don't bother to learn anything they just shoot their mouths off for attention while pretending their ignorance is hidden behind glib meaningless retorts.

Thanks for providing all that literature tom. I guess I'm not the only one shooting my mouth off. you people suck

Well troll, it isn't up to me to educate someone who is just making meaningless noise. It's been a couple of years since I researched and wrote on the subject. I can find links to what I've written but you're stranger than I thought if you think I'm going to dig up all those strands of research for a troll who reads little, understands less, and makes empty arguments based on nothing but clever wit and a very small talent for misdirection. A small talent.

They have these things called libraries where you can find books and professional journals on just about everything. Check it out, spend a couple of years there. It will do you a lot of good.

A steady diet of entertainment news and internet forums clogs the brain with garbage leaving you with nothing worth while to say and no ability to stop saying it.