Teen pregnancy

About

Although there are probably many planned and wanted children born to teenaged mothers who are able to care for them properly, teen pregnancy statistics are often used as a stand-in for unwanted pregnancy statistics for the following reasons:

• They are apparently easier to obtain (not sure why, though one can make guesses)
• They are likely to have a higher correlation with sex education policies, which is one of the major topics when unwanted pregnancies are being discussed
• Any given teen pregnancy has a much higher probability (than an adult pregnancy) of being unwanted:
  • Teenagers (of the ages usually under discussion) are too young to be legally having sex.
  • Teenagers are almost never prepared (economically and otherwise) to raise a child.
  • Many teenage girls are not physically mature enough to give birth safely.

Goals

Ideally, when talking about the results of sex education policy we would be talking only about the rate of unwanted teen pregnancies; it is only the lack of such data that makes it necessary to lump all teen pregnancies together as an undesirable end.

Data

• teen pregnancy vs sex ed stats

Related Pages

• abortion
• sex education
  • abstinence-based education

Links

Reference

• Wikipedia
• Conservapedia
• dKosopedia: no information as of 2010-06-09
• SourceWatch: no information as of 2010-06-09
  • does have a page about the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

News

version 2

• 2010-05-29 [Talk|Index] Drop in rates of teen pregnancy is a good sign for the future § “according to a new study from the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada ... teen pregnancies decreased by nearly 37 per cent nationally and 35 per cent in British Columbia in the 10-year period between 1996 and 2006.”
• 2010-03-03 [Talk|Index] More sex education means more teenage pregnancies...always § “Sex education has failed. So the Establishment decrees that we must have more of it, and in fact that there shall be no escape from it.”
• 2009-01-07 [Talk|Index] Mississippi, A Hotbed of Abstinence Education, Now Boasts Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In America § “...one reason [why the state's teen pregnancy rate is increasing] may be the poor quality of its sex ed programs. ...Mississippi focuses heavily on abstinence education and teachers are prohibited from demonstrating how to use contraceptives...”
• 2008-12-29 [Talk|Index] Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds § “Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.”
• 2008-12-29 [Talk|Index] Many Teens Don't Keep Virginity Pledges § “Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.”
• 2008-03-28 [Talk|Index] Sex Ed Can Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy § “Comprehensive sex education may help reduce teen pregnancies without increasing levels of sexual intercourse or sexually transmitted diseases.”
• 2008-03-20 [Talk|Index] Comprehensive Sex Education Might Reduce Teen Pregnancies, Study Suggests § “New research suggests that comprehensive sex education might lead to less teen pregnancy, and there are no indications that it boosts the levels of sexual intercourse or sexually transmitted diseases.”
• 2007-11-05 [Talk|Index] Emerging Answers 2007 § Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

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