Posted on 11/30/2006 10:56:24 PM PST by Mrs Ivan
Sexual abstinence as an effective tool in reducing teenage pregnancy is a complete "myth", the Government's advisory body on the issue claimed yesterday.
The Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy said that research from the United States showed that contraception was the way to bring down rates. Researchers from Columbia University and the Guttmacher Institute examined the relative roles of abstinence and contraceptive use in the "remarkable decline" in US teenage pregnancy rates, which dropped 27 per cent from 1991 to 2000. They said that 86 per cent of the decline in teenage pregnancy was due to improved use of contraception.
Only 14 per cent of the drop amongst 15- to 19-year-olds was linked to reduced sexual activity, according to the study, published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Public Health
Gill Frances, the chairman of the British advisory group, said: "Providing young people with good information, advice and contraceptive services, is the way to reduce teenage pregnancy.
"It is a myth that abstinence is a better approach and this US study confirms it."
Her group's comments provoked a furious response from those who believe that it is better to encourage young people to abstain from sex until they are older, or even until they are married.
Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said that in its zeal to promote contraception as the mark of sexual responsibility, the sex education establishment had "cheapened sex and lost sight of its purpose as an expression of the total self-giving of a husband and wife to each other in the context of life-long marriage". He said: "Parents have a major part to play in protecting their children from sexual imagery in the media and mitigating peer pressure, but their role is being severely hampered by Government policy."
In Britain, experts say that the Government missed its target of cutting the under-18 pregnancy rate by 15 per cent from its 1998 level in spite of the £150 million campaign to reduce pregnancies among young girls. It was also likely to miss its target of halving teenage pregnancies by 2010, probably achieving a reduction of about 17 per cent.
Wish it was that noble, huh?
Why wasn't there a duct tape alert with this! Now I gotta clean up the mess in my office.
In their defense (which I really don't like to do), I think the point is exactly as you already indicated:
The TEACHING of it isn't effective.
Not that actual ABSTAINING isn't effective.
I.e., teaching abstinence is not getting through.
What we need is a wholesale societal change away from the baboonish hippie approach. Just teachers aren't going to be able to fight what has been jammed down all these kids' throats from the time they were toddlers - on TV commercials, in print, now on the 'net, everywhere. Sex is "the thing" and all-important!
The TEACHING of it isn't effective.
Except that there has NOT been any TEACHING of abstinence in reality. Where this approach has been "applied", there has been no earnest attempt to really get children to accept abstinence. They've only used lip service on this. Then they can make the claim "See, it doesn't work". If the values were to be taught and reinforced at a young age (from birth), then a study conducted to determine viability, we might have some actual useful data. But, that has not been done.
> ... there has NOT been any TEACHING of abstinence in reality...
That's because abstinence can't be taught in schools. That's my fundamental objection to calling "abstinence" a means for preventing pregnancy equivalent to contraception. PRACTICING abstinence requires a life-size philosophical or spiritual attitude toward the place of sexual activity in a person's life, whereas all a condom requires is a buck and a drugstore. Things like the pill don't even require that much thought or effort.
There's no way to teach abstinence after a kid hits puberty -- they're listening to their glands at that point. Either you teach them values and morals BEFORE puberty, or you give 'em a buck and point 'em at the drugstore.
> Where this approach has been "applied", there has been no earnest attempt to really get children to accept abstinence.
Children who've reached the age of puberty without a solid philosophical and spiritual grounding FROM THEIR PARENTS are already past the point of no return for teaching abstinence -- your words will fall on deaf ears.
> If the values were to be taught and reinforced at a young age (from birth), then a study conducted to determine viability, we might have some actual useful data. But, that has not been done.
EXACTLY -- but the bad news is that it CANNOT be done. Who in this forum wants the government schools brainwashing our children from birth?!? IT'S THE PARENTS' RESPONSIBILITY.
My daughter is 13 and if all goes well, the values and morals that my wife and I have taught her SINCE BIRTH will guide her in making suitable choices with regard to any sexual activity she pursues before marriage. She says she's not interested -- but she's 13. She'll face a lot of pressure in the next 5-10 years.
The decisions are hers to make, and she'll sometimes make a poor decision (such is life) but I take comfort that she knows right from wrong, safe from dangerous, and knows she can always come to Mom and Dad for advice and we won't let her down.
IT'S THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PARENTS TO TEACH THE CHILD. I don't want the government or its schools having their way with my daughter, any more than they already do.
I don't give a damn if that makes a study of the effectiveness of "teaching abstinence" meaningless. Studies are a dime a dozen. I've only got one daughter. The important thing is that I taught her right from wrong, how to make her own decisions, and how to ask for guidance from Mom and Dad, or from God if we're not around.
If the child has been taught properly, they will not want to get pregnant before marriage, and they will know how to avoid it. It's not rocket science.
Gee, Mrs. Ivan, don't you know that such solid Common Sense has NO PLACE in scientific research?
I bet they did measure 'the teaching of abstinence' as opposed to the practice thereof.
...thus putting us right back at square one.
The leftists can't have it both ways. Still, they utterly fail to realize that instead of being part of the solution, they're perpetuating the problem (often for their personal benefit) at the expense of the nation and its traditional mores...
The left could care less about morality, personal responsibility or the overall wellbeing of society. They are solely interested in fulfilling their own personal desires. They do not seem to realize that what separates humans from other animals is our conscience and ability to have self-control.
And what's worse is that nobody in authority is adequately explaining why abstinence is indeed the safest and surest choice a person can make.
For example, on campus, there's a lot of talk of using condoms and getting your contraceptives. But is there any word of abstinence? Not one peep.
IMHO, the issue is that the message isn't getting out, period. And what is being said isn't why kids should be abstinent--it's all pretty much a hyped "Just Say No" campaign.
Further, human experience shows that the more you tell a person NOT to do something, the proportionally more likely he is to do it anyway. With my generation (and especially so on campus, this seems to be the rule rather than the exception).
Perhaps part of it is precisely that people my age are simply being told "Don't do it" without any precise, solid reasoning why they should heed that advice.
Of course, I'm not trying to dictate what we should do--but rather as a twenty-something college student--just my two cents...
Of course they don't.
Two words describe the whole of liberal thought quite nicely IMHO: self-centeredness.
[lib]To heck with anything else. I want what I want, and I want it NOW [/lib]
Suffice it to say, our society was based in large part on morality, personal responsibility, common sense, and tolerance. That is the table of our country. Sadly, the Left has willingly yanked three of those legs and burned them to ashes--and expect the fourth leg to hold up the entire table.
I did say highly unlikley! ;)
I'm sure you both know the young 16-year-old star of "The Nativity Story" is pregnant in real-life.
All these parents will be bringing their daughters to this movie....
Good points. Reminds me that without moral absolutes based on eternal religious principles, do's and don't's lose all meaning.
"What's right for me is right for me, and what's right for you is right for you".
If it feels good, why not do it?
There is no meaning to anything any more. We are witnessing what happens when religion is rejected and a truly secular based culture triumphs. There will be nothing to stop a repeat of Roman gladiators, slavery, legal child prostitution, and worse.
Your points are well given and received. My comments were not meant in intimate that the "government" should be responsible for the teaching of those values and morals you very eloquently alluded to. I was only speaking to the stupidity of the claim that this study "proved" anything, since they did not really "study" anything in earnest. Parents are the ones who must be responsible for the teaching of morals and values such that their children make informed intelligent decisions regarding their own bodies and their behavior. The unfortunate reality of the world we live in is that our children are being "bombarded" with all the wrong messages on a daily basis, and even the best of parents find teaching their children extremely difficult. We need to have a grass roots movement in this country that involves boycotting those businesses whose advertisements are not appriate, or who advertise for programming/movies/music that is not appropriate. They will not change unless their bottom line is affected negatively. Our family refuses to patronize Carl's Junior because of their inappropriate overly sexualized commercials. We must take that a step further and contact the company's home office and tell them why we won't patronize their franchises. And, we must do this for any company that fails to meet those standards we all can agree on.
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