Perhaps they just need to pray harder to McJeezis, and he will give them the power to abstain. You know, much in the same way that evangelicals and various Republican politicians can "pray the gay away."
Then again, maybe McJeezis is too busy granting Emmy awards to rap singers and punishing metropolitan areas with large gay populations to worry about teens having sex. Maybe if we can get lots of old poor people to send their life savings to Pat Robertson, he could talk to McJeezis personally and find out the answer.

Duh, duh, duh, duh...oh how much longer can we go on like this? OF COURSE ABSTINENCE DOESN'T WORK - DID IT WORK FOR YOU?

Children, whether we find it "comfortable" or not are born sexual creatures. Nothing wrong with parents telling their children that their family's values are to wait until marriage (or until the child is in college, or 18, etc.) But we need to tell them about birth control, how it's used and where to get it because teens/young adults are very short term oriented in their goals/objectives. This age group, as a whole, doesn't do as well looking at long term consequences. It's not just pregnancy and "the clap" anymore. It's life and death.

What's our problem - it seems we just don't get it. The notion that there should somehow be a direct relationship between the president's actions, pronouncements, etc. and the efficacy of his programs is nuts. We all might as well give up on any expectation that what he says is true and can be depended upon. Isn't it a waste of our emotional energy to be reminded time after time on CD by each new opportunity to be aghast at his lack of compassion, his readiness to be impolite, his unwillingness to listen to any truth outside of that supposed "truth" which is nothing more than a figment of his tortured imagination? Sheesh! There is almost no correspondence at all between the Bible that he claims to read and the man himself.

Hey Editor of CD,

Is this the correct article?? I think you copied the same article from the one that shows a picture of pregnant teen a few articles down on the left side of the webpage and put it under the wrong title. This article says nothing about military families no longer supporting Bush.

"The national policy of abstinence-only programmes just isn't working," Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, said.

The abstinence-only program is fighting an impossible battle, biologically speaking. The drive to procreate is so basic and so strong that it's a wonder we are able to force youngsters to wait past the onset of the sexual maturity-age 12-14 for females and a year or two later for males. Even with the strong social taboos and legal sanctions that proscribe against teenage parent hood, look at how many still become parents. Obviously another layer of proscriptions just can't work. Best to play it safe with some education about birth control and hope the kids apply that knowledge to the real world of love and romance. Lot's of luck on that one!

Maybe we should look at the reality and accept that fact that some youngsters will become parents; then deal with that by allowing them to consider legal marriage and methods for them to normalize their lives as under age parents.

Obviously if people chose to draw on their religious values to face these issues they should be encouraged to by the community in which they live and the government, as in all religious issues, should get its butt out.

There is nothing at all wrong with an abstinence message, as long as it's done from church, from charities, from volunteer groups, and from parents. And those folks ought to be doing a LOT of it, as many of them are.

Public school, however, is a place for learning facts without spin or opinion (including for instance, the opinion of the President, or the opinions of school board members). In a court of law we require witnesses to be sworn to tell the truth, the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth, so that the jurors and judge can reach proper conclusions. Why should our children not deserve the same from us adults who are their witnesses about life (provided what we tell them is age-appropriate) so they too can reach proper conclusions?
And, yes, that WHOLE truth does include how boys have hurt girls with sex too soon, and why boys, especially, should be expected to be the first ones saying "No, not yet."

But children are too "impressionable" for the truth some say. Nonsense. Most middle-school and older kids have a finely-honed BS radar, and would appreciate knowing there was nothing at all in the way of honest information that was intentionally hidden from them by their elders. And knowing that the boys and the girls were all told exactly the same things, even if not in actual coed sessions.

problem is, once you get them on their knees, anything can happen...its a short trip from kneeling in front of "god" to the doggie position.

Daniel David-you are wrong.
Abstinence should be taught in schools... right before you talk about condoms, pregnancy, AIDS, clamydia, and show huge picture of genital warts on the projector.

In reality, abstinence is the only way to completely prevent all STD's, STI's and pregnancy. That IS an important thing for kids to hear, but they are still gonna have sex, so they need the skills to deal with that when it happens. Abstinence shouldn't be looked at as a religious answer to sexual health, but religious imperitive should not demand it be the only choice for sexual health.

I lived in a state with the largest teen pregnancy rate in the country, Utah. and thanks to our state constitution, in order to talk about condoms in 'health' class, students actually had to get signatures to say it was ok from %80 of their parents. You can't even get %80 of kids to do their homework in high school. needless to say, there was no discussion, and 3 kids in my graduating class of 800 got pregnant. and 2 of them were mormons. Dumb.

Well pregnancies are up but at least they aren't using those evil contraceptive devices!
We need more church oriented social programs for youths. If we have a nice squaredance and some punch and cookies I'm sure that lots of teens will want to attend!
If you tell a teenager not to do something then they are likely to respect you and not do it.

flashpoint,

You're right, and I guess I did not explain my view well. I agree with you that abstinence, and the many good reasons for it, are part of "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" and should be part of the school curriculum. Just not ALL of the school curriculum.

It's the abstinence-only message that belongs in church and such, with the abstinence-plus-everything-else messsage in the schools.

Daniel David: Good take on the situation. But how are we going to get it past the religeous nuts on the school boards?

Here's a thought...Why don't we spend some time on researching "reversable sterilization"? ALL kids at the appropriate age could be put in the position of having to make the conscious decision to have a baby BEFORE they actually make one! Then the only sex education they would need is how to avoid STD's. What a deal! I wonder what the right-to-lifers would think about this idea?

Gheeze, President Clinton got himself impeached, by explaining to our kids and to the entire world, means of having sex that will prevent pregnancy. Didn't they listen?

Oh, ___ never mind, I forgot. He did not have sex with that woman.

'"The national policy of abstinence-only programmes just isn't working," [says] Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood...'

Gee, what a surprise.

Gee and I thought that the Xtians virginity pledges only increased blow jobs.

They must all be immaculate conceptions..an army of Jesii coming to save the day

Maybe, just maybe, some of these girls WANTED to get pregnant. I mean, with the USAF recruitment van out in the school yard and the calls to their house every other night, maybe (just maybe) some figured that all they had to do was tell the recruiter, "Sorry, I wish I could but I can't! I'm pregnant!"

Dudes! This is really wrong! 3/4s of the US has just herpies. Huh huh, I used the word, just.

I used to go to youth groups, religious youth groups. When I was like, 13, 14,15yrs old. I don't think I banged (excuse the term) less than 25%of the cute girls at the meetings! Every one I went to, all the big rallies and conventions, catholic, protestant, and unitarian is the best! I don't think I was special or anything. We got wild with the Lord! We got it on! "Sexfest!" as we used to call the youth overnight festivals, with the year of course. Someone only needs to bring the condom jar, (BIG jar)next time. Young girls and boys need sex ed. If I didn't have it in the 4th grade I would have kids now and I'm glad I don't yet! I'm mid thirties now and don't have a stable enough relationship for kids yet! Id have so many kids most likely, with out condoms! I had two girls pregnant at 14, I was 14, I knew better...they were best friends! You got kids? Listen. Keep them out of religious youth groups, school is bad enough. Don't control them or they will hate you, just don't think they are out of troubles reach. Keep them informed with GRAPHIC detail. Poop and Hepatitis and stuff like that. I will, I know better, kids are "learning" control, all sorts of control. You'd be proud, sort of.

Hoomans R Dum

It's hard to believe that the fundies really bought that crap about abstinence programs being able to supplant the rational, sane approach of "do everything you can." Doesn't "jungleboy's" post (hey, man, that's not a cut on you, by the way) prove the point?

It's all so ridiculous. By the time I read this far in the comments, I had a song stuck in my head. You know, one of those "earworm" songs that settles in just when your head's about to explode at work or at school or in the dentist's chair. Drives you crazy, but it just might save you from poking your eyes out with a stick.

So, my friends, join me in a few rounds..."Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great, if a sperm gets wasted, God gets quite irate..." Pfft.

Just goes to show, that girls rather fuck than suck.

Apparently a lot of priets and some Senators have a different opinion than the girls.

… I guess it's sex only if it can make the girl pregnant?

That's what Billy said. __ Of course one would have to define the word 'is' first.

Condoms and the Pill are about decreasing the risk of pregnancy and STDs - though it doesn't remove the risk completely. Neither does abstinance only (at least it didn't for our parents!)

No one wonders what traditional roles have to do with this.

If you promote Abstinance Only and then you tell a girl that her role is to get married and have babies and that girls who don't have boyfriends are losers - it won't work. If having a man is the end all of your existence, you will have problem saying "no" whether or not you wish to say "yes." If you are married and financially dependent on a man, how able are you to refuse if it could mean the end of your marriage?

Stephen Lewis blames part of the problem for AIDs in Africa on these Abstinence Only programs and part of it on the lack of rights of women to make their own decisions concerning sex. If a woman has an education and job prospects (giving her options outside of marriage) then she can decide when she does and does not want sex or, even if she wants it, whether or not she will refrain from her desires if there is no contraception in the equasion. But if you are not allowed to go to school or work outside the home, it is all up to your family and then your husband to decide these things for you.

But another reason why Abstinence Only programs don't work is that you do not need to have sex to get pregnant or have an STD - you can get those things if you are raped. Rape occurs more in societies when a woman's virginity is considered her greatest virtue and where the woman herself is blamed for the actions of slime.

And that is another problem with Abstinence only programs - it creates a hierarchy of woman based on the state of their virginity. Those who are not do not "deserve" the same dignity and respect as those who are because they are responsible for being "fallen women." Victims of child molestation and rape are considered less than those who were never victimized. There is a sense that those who are not virgins any more don't have the right to say "no" anymore - or not the same degree of right to that they had when still virgins.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Poverty tends to increase pregnancies, not just because of the expense of contraception, but because if one doesn't have anything to look forward to academic wise, one is apt to fall into the "I'm nothing without a man" myth.

Trauma and stress increases the risk of pregnancy because if you need a shoulder to cry on, you may not neccessarily be able to give up that shoulder if it starts undoing your bra.

A group history of forced sterilization may also play an unconscious role in pregnancy. Bordom does also.

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In the US, a teen pregnancy means that your parents have to spend your education money on Health Care. In Canada, it doesn't so you can still go, if you can get child care.

The Bush administration may believe in Abtinence only programs, but he also believes in women staying home with the children and that the Private For-Profit model is the best. If you give birth and wish to work or continue your education, you need affordable Child Care. The other way of getting off the system that does not involve education or a job is finding a man who will marry you. Whether it works or not, it tends to result in more pregnancies.

"Abstinence Only" is another faith-based initiative, which means, of course, that this maladministration requires no empirical confirmation that it actually works. (About what you'd expect from someone who doesn't believe in evolution, incidentally.)

We should start a movement calling for "Evidence Only" birth control measures.

I do wonder if the problem maybe related to the actions of our leaders and intertainment "idols", who openly have sex, and our movies and the porn on the net and on cable TV, and XXX rated stores in every community, and the fact that our children grow up seeing this and believe that sex is not only fun but acceptable.

They see teachers have sex with students, preachers and priests are constantly involved in sex scandels and if the adults, their peers, accept all of that and it's good enough for them, then it's a good enough for me attitude.

We don't even have drive in theatres anymore for back seat bangs, and when I was in high school, only one girl got pregnat at that school in a ten year period. Big scandel. We didn't have sexeducation in school or at home___ God forbid, and porn books and movies were against the law in America.

Of course she wasn't premitted to attend school anymore. She was a swell kid too, and a swellmothr and grandmother now, she married a rich guy. Her boyfriend graduated with honors. Nooo, it was not me. I was a virgn before anyone knew it.

KEM PATRICK - It is a bit sick that she was kicked out of school for becoming pregnant - it makes it sound as if her education was no longer important.

I think part of it is that girls were sent away to live with relatives or put into places where they sent pregnant girls to live and we were all told that the person was sick and the pregnancy was hidden. Remember Shane's mother on Degrassi - that's what she assumed would be done with Spike. That Spike would attend school and take exams was something she saw as more scandelous than the pregnancy itsef.

I think that, in part, people were better at covering this stuff up. Same with gay people - there must have been a few in my school, but, as far as I know, there was none!

As far as bad teachers and bad priests go, kids need to know that there are bad people out there willing to hurt them. With the internet they need to know that even more intently.

You've seen the missnamed "The Good Father" about Sylvester the Molester? Seems that what kept him is business was silence (some of it implimented by the future "Pope" Benedict).

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/goodfather/

You heard of the recent Residential School Settlement? Some were just stripped of their language and their culture. Some were just beaten. Others live with trauma that have affected their lives, their children's lives and the lives of their grandchildren. If one can't deal with the trauma, they pass it on.

http://www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca/English.html

And I guess that you have heard that the Picton verdict is due out any minute. If this guy doesn't qualify as a Terrorist, I don't know who does.

Yes I agree Vaudree. That was a damn shame, but perhaps it really was a good warning. She may have attended another private school, but she never returned in the 11th and 12th grade at our school.

Gosh she is a beautifl woman yet and an angel to boot. The guys all knew it bt I never heard anyone talk abut it. My wife says all of the girls whispered about it, and I do believe most of them were very careful to not go too far in frustrating episodes in the back seats, and they wore four prong bras, which are a bitch to unsnap when one has an erection and sweating like a bull in a pen full of cows.

The point is, very few young girls became pregnant in the 50s and prior to then, and we didn't teach sex education in schools, or hand out birth control pills, or condoms at tax payer expense. There was more morality in young people at that time in our history. Kids learn best from example. I did anyway and I never went too far at the drive in and we believed oral sex was dirty. Of course we didn't know it all, even when we thought we did. One example is the movie Pretty woman, where the the star gets a BJ from the starlette, it isn't considered a dirty movie and our young kids see those types of films all of the time.

Most teens are virtually helpless when it comes to avoiding sex.They think on such a physical and emotional state that long term consequences rarely come into the picture.Our society sets the example by promoting sex as a normal everyday activity between people who barely know each other. They also rarely show the woman getting pregnant.I live with a two family combo where four girls 16-18 got pregnant. Two are married and struggling to make a living. One is divorced and along with a 16 yearold(a one night stand with a boy she knew for a month), their sons will never see their biological father again.

I offer two solutions. Make sure your daughter goes regularly to a church that holds teen gettogethers every week and preferably twice a week. The other is to have your daughters' dates supervised by chaperones. Many countries around the world have done this for centuries right up to the age of 21.

There is nothing more tragic for teens than a pregnancy which turns their lives upside down.

The girl voted 'most popular' in my HS class also dropped out becaue of pregnancy (her cousin, no less) but this was rare when I went to school in the '50s. But back then, we didn't have sex screaming at us from every direction - which is shown to drive hormonal changes in young people, which is why they are having sex at younger and younger ages these days. Back in the '50s, we were told that only Southern girls 'matured' early - and married young, as did Jerry Lee Lewis, Dolly Parton, etc, and also tended to have very large families. (Which poor people still do.) Even Catholics didn't have large families (except for the Kennedys) if they were well-to-do. I don't think we'll see childhood sex slow down until all the suggestive (we called it pornographic, back then) advertising is stopped. But accurate information is critical to stopping teen pregnancies - the rest of the world knows that! Dumb Americans!

As for homosexuals, I had 3 teachers - in a very small school - who were gay (1 man and 2 women), and knew several students who were gay as well. This would be hard to hide since their behavior was obvious - but others, without that behavior, sure didn't speak up! Girls who were tom-boys often were accused of being lesbians, although I don't know of any that actually were - there was a lot of misinformation around back then, and nobody gave us accurate information.

In the UK, soap operas and 'suggestive' movies, advertising, TV, etc, are blamed for 'bad behavior' and disrespect in children - disrespect as a product of programs capitalizing on humiliating participants, such as in 'reality TV' - and what is taking advantage of girls/women except disrespect? How about treating sex as if it were dirty? That's disrespect too - we are no longer 'civilized' - but that should be obvious by now. Conservatives used to value civility and respect - Bush et al are not conservatives - they're flat-out fascists. Same dogmatic crap was promoted by Hitler and his Nazis - check it out!

Very good post Dolphin 330. yousaid it perfectly for me.

There is something more tragic for teens than pregnancy, it's motherhood without one's own babe, AS IF never born, AS IF erased, AS IF some 'more deserving' predatory elite Infertile had the right to usurp your humanity and your motherhood!

Bush&Co Baby Breeding Program alive and well at last PRODUCING PRODUCT for the baby trafficking trade.
http://www.adoptionsbygladney.com/html/pregnant/index.shtml

Infant-adoption is the full-term aborting of both Mother&Child.