Drop in pregnancies – abstinence…or abortions?
Who knows?
by Becky Yeh
A new report shows that teen pregnancies in California have hit a record low — and the cause is up for debate.
A report released by the California Department of Public Health indicates that the birth rate for teenagers in the state decreased to approximately 32 births for every 1,000 girls from ages 15 to 19. Los Angeles County’s director of public health states the reduction proves teenagers are waiting longer to have sex for the first time.
Chad Hills, analyst of sexual health and policy for Focus on the Family, believes teenagers are now discovering abstinence is the best route. “I think teens are realizing now that their future can greatly be damaged, or their potential can greatly be derailed, by sexual activity,” he observes.
Experts are attributing the drop to sex education, the budget crisis, and television programs that portray a difficult life for teen parents. But Hills disagrees, explaining that California has one of the worst sex-education programs in the nation because it advocates for sexual freedom and abortion.
“If Planned Parenthood is saying that their sex-ed programs are causing this decrease in teen pregnancy and [that] this is through the mechanism of abortion, I wouldn’t necessarily classify that as success,” says the policy analyst.
The figures report that Latinos experienced the greatest drop in teen pregnancies in 2009, although the group still holds the highest birth rate among all ethnicities in California.
Found here.
Uh, Hills makes NO sense. California has a comprehensive sex ed program – how does that support abstinence as the cause of the drop in pregnancies? Perhaps it’s that, with all the information, the teens are making better choices and using more protection.
I’d like to point out this other article which states that the states that stress abstinence sex ed have some of the highest teen pregnancy rates.
http://www.newser.com/story/103447/abstinence-only-states-have-more-teen-pregnancy.html
@ Mark
I’ve have already addressed problems with the short article you cited:
First, this article mentions nothing about abortion. Were the numbers of initial pregnancies the same despite the sex-ed method? If so, did the states with lower teen pregnancies have more abortions for teens? Would this then say that abortion is just “back-up” contraception? Could it be that those states with higher teen pregnancies have teens more opposed to having an abortion? The article doesn’t even address this.
Secondly, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, the article itself said these states were “emphasizing abstinence-only sex education.” What does “emphasizing” mean? Does it mean that they learn all forms of “protection” but abstinence is “emphasized” or “stressed” (this term was used in the caption in the article you cited)? This needs to be cleared up.
Third, the article says: “Planned Parenthood immediately issued a statement noting the “crystal clear” education correlation.” Correlation doesn’t prove causation. I suggest finding answers to my questions above before asserting causation, Mark.
@Deb
Take a chill pill. This posting was a person citing abstinence as a cause for a decreasing pregnancy rate in California. I merely cited another article that brings issue with that.
Now, if you are arguing that abstinence-only education is superior to comprehensive sex ed, we can debate that.
@Mark
” This posting was a person citing abstinence as a cause for a decreasing pregnancy rate in California.”
No it wasn’t. Reread the posting.
“I merely cited another article that brings issue with that.”
Yes, but it’s flimsy.
@Deb
Perhaps you should reread the posting, not just the title.
“Chad Hills, analyst of sexual health and policy for Focus on the Family, believes teenagers are now discovering abstinence is the best route. ”
This pretty much says to me that the posting was citing abstinence as the cause of the decrease in pregnancies.
“Yes, but it’s flimsy.”
LOL actually less flimsy than this one.
@Mark
The posting says:
“Experts are attributing the drop to sex education, the budget crisis, and television programs that portray a difficult life for teen parents. But Hills disagrees, explaining that California has one of the worst sex-education programs in the nation because it advocates for sexual freedom and abortion.”
““If Planned Parenthood is saying that their sex-ed programs are causing this decrease in teen pregnancy and [that] this is through the mechanism of abortion, I wouldn’t necessarily classify that as success,” says the policy analyst.”
The posting is asking whether an increase in abortions is the reason the teen pregnancy rate has dropped.
@Deb
LOL, I am sorry that you seem to miss the essential point of this posting which is that abstinence is the answer. Oh it tosses in Planned Parenthood and experts but the whole point of the article is all about this Chad Hills’ false assertion that it’s abstinence driven.
This post is very unclear. There’s no actual findings beyond teen pregnancy has dropped. Everything else is just hot air.