In the year 2006 the birth rate among teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 rose 3%, the first increase since 1991. Some question whether or not the Bush administration's abstinence-only efforts are actually working. The federal government has spent over $150 million annually funding abstinence programs.
"Robert Rector, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, said that blaming abstinence-only programs was “stupid.” Mr. Rector said that most young women who became pregnant were highly educated about contraceptives but wanted to have babies."
What do you think about these stats?
Would you blame the Bush administration? Why or why not?
What do you think the government should do to decrease the amount of teenage girls who become pregnant?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/washington/06birth.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
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5 comments:
Personally, I think spending so much money on abstinence programs is a waste. I don't think they're very effective and I think we could spend that money in better places.
While I'm not sure that I believe Mr. Rector's evaluation of the situation, I think that if he is right then there is no problem. As long as people know what they are getting themselves into.
I don't think you can say much about the stats. It's not like the government can suppress those between the ages of 15 and 19 to not have babies; though the parents at those ages are probably not self-sufficient, they can choose to do whatever they want. The stats just fluctuate to reflect those changes. (I don't know if that made any sense at all.. it's hard to explain.)
Though, I think that the government should change its funding for abstinence-only efforts to funding for comprehensive sex education. If I remember correctly, California, along with a few other states, rejects this funding completely and instead funds its own sex ed. So, it might interesting to compare the birth rates of the states with different education programs.
Honestly, I agree with Justin and Wilson.
Oh please, if teenagers listened to adults....
Eh, the statistics could fluctuate from time to time. Personally, I don't think that the Bush administration can completely undo the progress made in sex education.
We shouldn't blame the government for everything. I don't know how much more the government can do about raising awareness about abinence and safe sex and stuff, but there's probably not much more useful things they can do. Some people just don't want to listen, and that's their own fault.
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