Teenage Pregnancy
- At December 9, 2007
- By NESHA
- In interviews / Society
I did a story on teenage pregnancy in February and I reported the same information in this headline…so why is it in the NYTIMES in December?
Here is the story I wrote back in February: (click the headline to read the full story)
Beyond the Statistics: Being a Teen Mom
‘It won’t happen to me’ is a philosophy many girls have when it comes to sex and getting pregnant. Yet, the numbers prove otherwise.
here is the recent NYTIMES article:
Teenage Birth Rate Rises for First Time Since ’91
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 — The birth rate among teenagers 15 to 19 in the United States rose 3 percent in 2006, according to a report issued Wednesday, the first such increase since 1991. The finding surprised scholars and fueled a debate about whether the Bush administration’s abstinence-only sexual education efforts are working.
The federal government spends $176 million annually on such programs. But a landmark study recently failed to demonstrate that they have any effect on delaying sexual activity among teenagers, and some studies suggest that they may actually increase pregnancy rates.
“Spending tens of million of tax dollars each year on programs that hurt our children is bad medicine and bad public policy,” said Dr. David A. Grimes, vice president of Family Health International, a nonprofit reproductive health organization based in North Carolina.
