Low Teen Pregnancy Rate Challenges Common Sense
Some things are just common sense.
Teenage girls who wear skimpy clothing are tempting teenage boys. Teen boys who see photos of naked females will be tempted even more, especially if those females are posing or behaving erotically.
The more teenagers and children learn about how to do something, the more likely they are to do it. Protecting our precious children from things they aren’t ready to handle makes them less likely to get in trouble.
But common sense also says the earth is flat, people can't fly in the air or breathe underwater, and a living thing that's too small to see can't possibly make you sick. In the modern world, common sense is often wrong.
So it is when it comes to teen pregnancy. According to a recent U. S. Government report, the teenage birth rate is at an all time low. This is for teens in a day when "girls dress like sluts and whores;" scantily dressed, hip-swinging and bosom-bouncing pop starlets singing songs are "giving the wrong message to our kids"; and the average teenager has ready access to incredibly explicit pornography that their parents only dreamed of seeing and their grandparents never imagined.
Compare this to America's 1950s. Girls dressed conservatively, female swimsuits covered more skin than they exposed, bra straps were always hidden, and Playboy magazine showed less flesh than National Geographic. But the highest rate of teen births since they began recording it in 1940 was in the highly conservative 1957. And in spite of what people say about pregnant teen minorities, the percentage of Americans who were Caucasian was much higher then than it is now. (When statistics linking pregnancy to race take poverty into account, teen pregnancy rates are very similar from race to race at the same socio-economic level.)
Some blame--excuse us, credit--the drop in the teen pregnancy rate to the Recession. Obviously, the fact that teens now have much greater access to information about sex could not have been a factor in them being more responsible. The less they know, the less they'll do, right?
And yet some of the same people who claim that sex education in school leads to more sex will make another claim: educating teens about tobacco and other naughty drugs will reduce their use. But somehow this blanket claim doesn't add up.
The 40-year-long War on Drugs, which in some states such as Texas has resulted in 60 percent of inmates being incarcerated for drug-related offenses, has not reduced usage of illegal use of "controlled substances" at all. Billions and billions have been spent fighting illegal drugs with no visible affect. But contrarily, tobacco use has gone down. And millions and millions of pornographic stories, pictures, and videos along with more sex education have accompanied less and less teen pregnancy. It appears that education and available information are much more effective than declaring a "war on _____."
Some will say, rightly, that American females are waiting longer to get married. Some of those 1957 pregnant teens were married. But those people likely won't say that a much higher percentage of teens got married back then because they were already pregnant.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40767570/
For more on the failed War on Drugs, see http://loveshade.org/blog/2010/05/war_on_drugs_40_years_of_fail.html
The image of reproductive girl was provided by the United States Government and is thus in the public domain. http://www.girlshealth.gov/teenguide/reproductive/index.cfm
Comments
I think that this is a good thing. If teenage pregnancys are really going down.
Posted by: Vernon Avaritt | January 4, 2011 02:29 PM
People can't make good decisions if they don't have good information! Sex education should be taught like arithmetic. The three R's reading, 'riting and reproduction!
Posted by: Marie Gilbert | January 4, 2011 05:26 PM
Ignorance does not work. And who says teen mothers are bad mothers anyway? Wasn't Mary the mother of Jesus Nazareth between 12 and 16 years old?
Posted by: TawTew the Naturally Perfumed | January 5, 2011 06:45 AM
Are you actually claiming pornography leads to sexual morality? Are you serious?
Jesus said, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matthew 5:28.
You don't look at pornography for its artistic sake. You look at it to incite lust. Pornography is a sin. And maybe a lot of those modern girls are getting abortions that they aren't reporting. Abortion is not a way to stop pregnancy.
"By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee." Psalms 71:6
"I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly." Psalms 22:10
God knew us and cared for us in the womb. Abortion is wrong and sin against God.
Posted by: Christian Andy | January 5, 2011 05:54 PM
Teen girls have to report to their parents if they're getting an abortion. They don't have to get married to some guy they don't love for the rest of their lives just because they made a mistake in the back of a car.
Posted by: Marie Gilbert | January 8, 2011 06:21 AM
Any of you people ever hear about condoms? If they aren't getting pregnant that doesn't mean they aren't having sex.
Posted by: Tom T. Trucker | January 10, 2011 10:25 PM
For asking this you might think I'm crazy,
but is this about sex or unwanted babies?
If getting pregnant is their big concern,
then what's wrong with preteens wanting to burn?
Posted by: MJ Lover | January 11, 2011 02:14 AM
The teen pregnancy rate went down in America because Rev. Loveshade moved to England. It's all his fault.
Posted by: Rev. Bootie | January 11, 2011 06:03 PM
So kids are behavng more responsibly by avoiding unwanted pregnancy so there aren't unwanted babies. Why do some of you think that's a problem? Abortion is not killing a person. it's getting rid of a mass of tissue.
Posted by: Mr. Nikon | January 12, 2011 03:32 PM
I got pregnant at 16 and wasn't ready. My parents raised my daughter until I was 21. My little girl is eight now and doing great. I wish I would have used birth control then but I wouldn't give her up for the world. She's my sunshine and my joy.
Posted by: Sue Parker | January 13, 2011 01:57 PM
Some people are ready to have babies at 16. Some aren't ready at 30. Look at the person, not the age.
Posted by: TawTew the Naturally Perfumed | January 13, 2011 04:55 PM
What iin hell s MJ saying about preteens? Are you crazy?
Posted by: Willie Baldwin | January 14, 2011 02:07 AM
I've been to London 9 times in my life and I only saw one pregnant teen. There is no doubt that it is the most wonderful place on Earth. Over the years, it just keeps getting better. Do yourself a favor, before you talk bad about it, visit it!
Posted by: Chuck Hansen | January 14, 2011 05:54 AM
What the hell is that picture? I don't remember that. You can't convince me the American Government has a website showing off a preteen girls sex organs! Take those prepubescent genitals off!
Tom, you can verify the link for yourself; it's provided at the bottom of the entry. We did change the photo; the image we first used was moved to "Are We Pregnant?" http://loveshade.org/blog/2011/01/are_we_pregnant.html as it fit that entry. We believe that this image is appropriate because this entry, the image, and the website where the image is featured deal with sex education and teaching young people to be responsible. And if you check the link provided, you may find the U. S. Government has a drawing of a girl's genitalia that's more explicit than what we posted.
-- The Loveshade Family
Posted by: Tom T. Trucker | January 20, 2011 11:05 PM
I'm not a doctor, but I play one in the maternity ward until security shows up.
Posted by: Dr. Bob | January 27, 2011 11:16 PM
I love your blog. You are so right. Laws and rules will not stop teens from having sex. It's a survival instinct to reproduce. You can't legislate that away.
Posted by: David Knudsen | February 2, 2011 05:28 PM
The good thing about being pregnant is you have an excuse for looking fat.
Posted by: Ezra Pound | February 22, 2011 10:08 PM
Is it true Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are dating? Talk about your teen pregnancy; what a beautiful baby they would make.
Posted by: Jeri Singer | March 16, 2011 12:25 AM
A bird while in the hand is really worth than two inside the bush.
Posted by: MBT Zuri | March 19, 2011 09:47 AM