Mississippi, A Hotbed of Abstinence Education, Now Boasts Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In America
Mississippi, A Hotbed of Abstinence Education, Now Boasts Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In America
The Centers for Disease Control released a new report today that found that Mississippi “now has the nation’s highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title.” The report found that in 2006, the Mississippi teen pregnancy rate was over 60 percent higher than the national average and increased 13 percent since the year before.
While the new report does not explain why the state’s teen pregnancy rate is increasing, one reason may be the poor quality of its sex ed programs. As the Sexuality Information and Education Center explains, Mississippi focuses heavily on abstinence education and teachers are prohibited from demonstrating how to use contraceptives:
Mississippi schools are not required to teach sexuality education or sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV education. If schools choose to teach either or both forms of education, they must stress abstinence-until-marriage, including “the likely negative psychological and physical effects of not abstaining.” [...]
If the school board authorizes the teaching of contraception, state law dictates that the failure rates and risks of each contraceptive method must be included and “in no case shall the instruction or program include any demonstration of how condoms or other contraceptives are applied.”
A reporter for ABC News’s Jackson, MS affiliate explained, “The Mississippi Department of Human Services says abstinence is the only birth control that is 100 percent effective. And that’s the only message teens need to hear.” Unfortunately, numerous studies show that abstinence-only education is not effective. As one study found:
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.
Further, a review by the House Oversight Committee found that “80% of the abstinence-only curricula…contain false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health.”
Pregnant teens in Mississippi face few options. Access to facilities that provide abortions in that state is extremely limited. Indeed, because of an unusually effective anti-choice campaign in the legislature, only a single abortion clinic remains open in the state.
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Another example religious belief affecting state law and ignoring everyday reality.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:37 pmTheir logo is cheap MS-Word clip art?
“The Mississippi Department of Human Services says abstinence is the only birth control that is 100 percent effective. And that’s the only message teens need to hear.”
If you replace the term "abstinence" with "good intentions" it's both more accurate, and blows all their arguments out of the water.
.
The report also found that the teen pregnancy rate is rising fastest in Alaska, where Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is a strong proponent of abstinence-only sex ed.
Heh. Somebody put Bristol on a poster, stat!
January 7th, 2009 at 8:38 pmAnd this is what the right wing evengelical whack jobs want for the entire Country.Nice....
January 7th, 2009 at 8:39 pmJesus Christ.
Well say goodbye to that poverty-stricken generation...
January 7th, 2009 at 8:40 pmMississippi must be so proud.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:46 pmDaryll is a little tuckered out. Maybe bit can handle this one.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:48 pmAh Mississippi. I lived there for awhile and it probably has a worse rap than it currently deserves.
That being said, however, the state is definitely lacking in sex education and health care. When I lived there (1998-2004), you had to ask the pharmacist to buy condoms. They were kept with all the prescription medicine and not freely available on the shelves. Nothing like discouraging conscientious people from purchasing birth control.
I also remember the pharmacist talking to me when I purchased some, and she spouted some of the most ridiculous, false health information I ever heard. This woman claimed that 75% of the local college girls had STDs, and that condoms offer no protection at all from HIV and other STDs. Apparently, a condom is like a tennis racket and the holes in the mesh are so big that diseases flow freely through - regardless of the fact that the HIV virus is inside cells and fluids that cannot pass through the pores. To make matters worse, this pharmacist would give talk to local schools about sex ed.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:49 pmWay to go, 'Ol Miss, way to go. Lead on.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:53 pmPreventing pregnancies are so much easier than choosing to get an abortions.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:54 pmWhy, oh, why can't we educate children about the biology of their bodies?
Is it because the parents don't really understand it either? Is there some sort of "Blue Lagoon" mentality that exists in these southern states?
that's their logo? ......really?
January 7th, 2009 at 8:57 pmIt looks like two turds getting married.
It's no wonder this program is as effective as a crocheted diaphragm.
Third world America! I thought our corrupt leaders and Argentinian fiscal policy did the trick, but our reproductive practices now qualify. Amazing...
January 7th, 2009 at 8:59 pmMission Accomplished...
January 7th, 2009 at 9:00 pmNo surprises there did Bristol Palin move there yet? Watching the conduct of adults and our Law Makers that's the example for kids to follow. With Sarah as a candidate for VP greeting Fox News reporters in only a towel what do you expect to think young woman are doing. As Levi Johnston what he is doing right now with another young lady. At lease Senator Vitters hires prostitutes for his personal needs that his wife can full. The Christian base is not telling the truht as actions and delivery speaks louder then the polls.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:07 pmAnd, no doubt, sexually transmitted disease levels are equally high in Mississippi.
Religious fundamentalists with their rigid, hardcore ideology, of whatever religious sect, no matter if foreign or domestic, are a constant danger to all American citizens.
Or haven't you been paying attention over the past eight years?
January 7th, 2009 at 9:13 pmI'll see if I can fill in for the bible trolls...
LibertyLover Says:
Why, oh, why can’t we educate children about the biology of their bodies?
Because come the End Times, Baby Jesus will need more Holy Warriors on his side, and since you liberal Obama-worshippers refuse to come to the light, we must breed them oursel - oh, I can't pull it off. It's all just too silly.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:21 pmFirst of all the state lies about the effectiveness of other forms of birth control. The teens are told condoms do not work either.
Of course abstinence is the best way not to get pregnant. But should they not be taught what other methods can prevent it? Is it better to have a teenage mother and father? Is it better to have their lives and education ruined by an unnecessary pregnancy? Is it not better to have a child that is wanted and afforded? Is it not better to have an educated, person graduating from school and ready for responsibility?
What is responsible about an unnecessary pregnancy? Abstinence only works if someone can make it work. All the talk of abstinence and sin is stupid. Human nature is what it is. Since statistics prove it seldom works, then why raise an ignorant child? One reason is because the parents are ignorant too. And the fallacy of sin and the Bible come heavily into this equation.
And one last thing. This is a southern state. Like the most conservative states they should check the stats. In the most conservative states, numbers of out of wedlock children are higher. Drop outs are higher, spousal abuse is higher. All the worst that happens to unwanted and enforced unrealistic morality is prevalent. Tell me what is moral or intelligent about hiding your head in the sand?
Stupid people.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:22 pmI think Christianity in America has been infiltrated and taken over by a baby-making end-times cult. That's all there is to it. They might as well be run by David Koresh at this point.
Another interesting factor from the report: "It's more costly for youth in the Northeast to have a teen birth than for youth in the South, in terms of opportunities they'll miss." That is, it's also economic as well as social. There are more economic opportunities available in the Northeast, and kids in the South don't have as much of a viable alternative to trailer park living anyways.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:29 pmWith role models as mentioned above...Bristol Palin and Jamie Spears...expect this trend to continue...can't you hear it now "if she can do it, why can't I?
January 7th, 2009 at 9:29 pmMaybe they wouldn't get pregnant if no one told them where babies come from.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:57 pmMaybe it's just me but the grotesque feet, sawed-off broomstick nose, skinny legs, and most of all, disconnected head, would certainly help me abstain. BTW, I'm talking about the one on the left.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:01 pmPalin was brought into the national GOP loop because she represents the new "conservative" value of unwed, teenage mothers.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:07 pmAn reasonable ninth grader has probably already done the easy and obvious manipulation of that image into a gay marriage image. In fairness it sort of screams out for it...
January 7th, 2009 at 10:09 pmmorlock Says:
Maybe it’s just me but the grotesque feet, sawed-off broomstick nose, skinny legs, and most of all, disconnected head, would certainly help me abstain. BTW, I’m talking about the one on the left.
So the one on the right is attractive???
And I've seen those things before. I think they're in a Microsoft Word clip-art series.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:14 pmIn fairness to Mississippi, their teen pregnancy rates are only the highest in the nation if you include pregnancies between (1) siblings; (2) parents and their children; and (3) first cousins. If you exclude those from the totals, Mississippi is actually losing population.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:20 pmcoskibum Says:
Mission Accomplished…
Correction:
Emission Accomplished.
That's what got them to the top of the list.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:26 pmWhy aren't their heads attached?
January 7th, 2009 at 10:29 pmWere these people never teenagers? Have these people actually forgotten what it was like to be a teenager with raging hormones? If the mood hits them, they're not going to be thinking about their abstinence pledges, they're going to be thinking about not getting caught.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:31 pmtbone Says:
This woman claimed that 75% of the local college girls had STDs, and that condoms offer no protection at all from HIV and other STDs. Apparently, a condom is like a tennis racket and the holes in the mesh are so big that diseases flow freely through...
Silly lady, the fishnet ones are just for show!
January 7th, 2009 at 10:31 pmdbadass Says:
Why aren't their heads attached?
They're wearing "electronic promise neck collars".
January 7th, 2009 at 10:31 pmMississippi Baptists, a sad group of flunkies!
January 7th, 2009 at 10:34 pmSee I knew there must have been a reason.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:35 pmCan you exolain the weird three fingered hand or is that a subliminal cross?
Can you exolain the weird three fingered hand or is that a subliminal cross?
Cork screw?
January 7th, 2009 at 10:36 pmIOKIYART
January 7th, 2009 at 10:36 pmMaybe our new Surgeon General Sanjaya Gupta can twist some more stats & cite Cuba as somehow being worse than Mississippi, so that means the US is doing it right...
January 7th, 2009 at 10:42 pm"...Can you exolain the weird three fingered hand or is that a subliminal cross..."
dbadass, that's been creeping me out - what was the "artist" on when he or she drew this...thing?
January 7th, 2009 at 10:46 pmSounds like the typical conservative approach to education and life in general: If reality is not what they want it to be, they lie, distort, and -above all- deny reality as the rest of the world knows it.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:49 pmIs it the Mississippi version of "the Shocker"?
I'm sorry, that was just wrong...
January 7th, 2009 at 10:52 pmIf that is a she on the left, shouldn't she have boobs? And how come neither has anything which resembles a buttocks?
Oh shit, I forgot, these are kids. They haven't assumed the adult body form yet...
January 7th, 2009 at 10:54 pmFunny thing is, the stick figures in the logo (or whatever they are) look suspiciously like two men getting married.
Mississippi conservatives endorsing same-sex marriage? Who knew!
January 7th, 2009 at 11:00 pmSome people in this country seem hell bent on ensuring that school teaches nothing of practical value. We'll teach mathematics, but not the economics of credit cards and mortgages. We'll teach history, but not anything recent enough to be controversial. We'll teach biology, but draw the line at informing students about their own bodies.
Abstinence should always be presented as a good and valid choice, but burying your head in the sand and pretending that teenagers don't have sex is just insane. Heaven forbid we should teach boys about masturbation or how to put on a condom. Or teach girls about their period and their birth control options. Why not let them all figure it out for themselves the way our lord of hosts intended.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:03 pmIf you cover up the "noses" on these things, they look like small children. Otherwise, they look like bird-apes.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:05 pmI've never seen noses that big on any of my 3 fingered friends either...
January 7th, 2009 at 11:12 pmI believe in the song "you can leave your hat on..." but should they be getting married without clothing?
January 7th, 2009 at 11:14 pmI knew I saw them damn things before. They're called Screen Beans. Ugh.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:14 pmElBruce:
January 7th, 2009 at 11:16 pmWhy do Screen Beans have dick noses?
Good find, ElBruce. All those images scream to be used in useless public service messages.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:22 pmIf a couple gets divorced in Mississippi, are they still brother and sister?
January 7th, 2009 at 11:25 pmIgnorance-based sex education is merely one front on the right's war on science. Creationism, global warming denial, intercessory prayer, insistence that homosexuality is a choice, faith healing and opposition to stem cell research are evidence that conservatives prefer illusion to reality, pretense to results and hypocrisy to honesty.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:42 pmOne of the most disturbing aspects of the report mentioned in the article is that, not only are teens who pledge abstinence just as likely to have sex, but they are even more likely to have unsafe sex. So the ludicrous abstinence programs pushed by the right-wingers actually put those students' health, even perhaps lives, at risk.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:02 amTake Mother Nature's most compelling instinct and make it a sin and what do you get?
January 8th, 2009 at 12:10 amLots of sinners. :-)
dasm Says:
January 8th, 2009 at 12:02 am
They deserve what they get -- SINNERS!!
January 8th, 2009 at 12:13 am/sarc
Why do fundies hate teenage girls?
January 8th, 2009 at 12:34 amThem fundies loves they's fetuses, but hates them children, especially them children's that have childrens. Why isn't they lernin?
January 8th, 2009 at 12:38 amGod doesn't protect the teenage children when they wear the opal rings (on their fingers), while having sex?!
A whole bunch of abstinence only professionals in Mississippi are in a whole lot of trouble!
Time to sue, parents in the Delta...time to sue!
January 8th, 2009 at 12:48 amReligious dogma vs reality,I`ll take reality for $100 Alex! Are these GOOPERS for real or just morons who happen to be hypocrites??????
January 8th, 2009 at 12:50 amAlexLawyer, did you leave out XianVoodoo on purpose?
January 8th, 2009 at 12:56 amZooey Says:
If a couple gets divorced in Mississippi, are they still brother and sister?
RIMSHOT!
But Zoe, being a fellow Ida-Who-Vian and all, do you really want to go there? I mean, Cousins maybe....
January 8th, 2009 at 1:00 amKeltoi at Night Says:
But Zoe, being a fellow Ida-Who-Vian and all, do you really want to go there? I mean, Cousins maybe….
January 8th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Ok, I admit it. When I first heard that joke, it was about Weippe, Idaho. ;)
January 8th, 2009 at 1:06 am.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:08 amTeen pregnancies is good for the abortion industry.
Absolutely, USpace. The free market for abortions is doing well in Mississippi and Alaska -- my stock has doubled!
January 8th, 2009 at 2:16 amYep, that's what we get with the anti-science right-wingers: Less education and more pregnancy.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:24 amUSpace Says:.
Teen pregnancies is good for the abortion industry.
And anti-abortion and anti-gay rhetoric is good for the terrorist industry.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:38 amUSpace Says:
.
Teen pregnancies is good for the abortion industry.
__________
Out to prove, once again, that you simply don't understand basic grammar?
That s/b "are" in there, ace... "Pregnancies ARE, not, is. Home schooled?
And that's also sick and distasteful... but hey, that's you, innit?
January 8th, 2009 at 2:52 amThat being said, however, the state is definitely lacking in sex education and health care. When I lived there (1998-2004),but my home you had to ask the pharmacist to buy condoms. They were kept with all the prescription medicine and not freely available on the shelves. Nothing like discouraging conscientious people from purchasing birth control.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:07 amHey kids, just say no to the most powerful urges you've ever felt in your life. What's so hard about that. Maybe to supplement this superb strategy against nature the government could issue some sort of daily, color-coded warning system against the possibility of conception. Not even the wildest of hormone-jacked pubescents would dare drop trou on a day with a knockup alert of orange or higher.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:06 amSORRY O/T:
Conyers Seeks Probe of Bush Crimes
January 8th, 2009 at 5:24 am
As most TP readers know, abortion and teen pregnancy rates are much lower where liberal, i.e. pro-choice, policies are followed:
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2007/10/11/index.html
In beautiful Wingnutania, the Mafia handles all abortions:
January 8th, 2009 at 5:35 amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVPy-ejcbjM
"The report also found that the teen pregnancy rate is rising fastest in Alaska, where Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is a strong proponent of abstinence-only sex ed."
Yeah, that worked really well for caribou barbie who was knocked up when she eloped with Tahhd.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:49 amDuh!
January 8th, 2009 at 6:32 amMolly Ivins has long preached about mixing church and state. Her wisdom is sorely missed as this link reminds us.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/3374
Mississippi is, of course, the least prosperous State in the nation. This helps highlight one of the reasons why. But never fear, Trent Lott is now their chief lobbiest. Will he now replace Abramoff for the casinos? Is that God's will?
January 8th, 2009 at 9:12 amThe stupid thing about this is they deliberately ignore the actual process of education. In their irrational desire for control, they've taken a Skinnerian training model of education. Tell them that, and they'll do that.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:17 amIt's pure nonsense, of course. If it worked, we'd all still know what the Treaty of Utrecht was all about.
You certainly aren't going to effectively modify kids' behavior by sitting them in aclassroom they don't want to be in, set in front of them an adult they don't like (and whom the righties have deprived of any authority by screaming about teachers' unions and all) and tell them something that is directly contrary to their own biology. And if the presentation is based on ignorance, it's invalidated the first time they get more information.
But they like the model because it justifies control over information, which they want for other reasons.
That's why they talk about 'glamorizing sex, or homosexuality. It's dishonest, and they know it. If you can't teach kids the US Presidents, how do you think you can teach them proper moral behavior?
For his last photo op as "president" we can now expect to see Chimpy land on the deck of a teen pregnancy center in Jackson Mississippi that contains a banner reading "mission accomplished."
Heckuva job, Chimpy.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:19 amToday's paper indicates that higher teen birth rates were up in 26 states across the country. Some experts say they were surprised. Really? Honestly?
Factors cited were from poverty to less use or AVAILABILITY of Birth control...
"Less use"... well if abstinence only says that it Doesn't work anyway... why bother, right?
And locking those birth control items ( condoms ) up behind the glass by the pharmacy counter in the FRONT OF the STORE really makes shameful ...
January 8th, 2009 at 9:22 amThe report also found that the teen pregnancy rate is rising fastest in Alaska...
...if you count the birth of Trig.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:18 amInteresting report, coincidently John McCain won 8 of the 10 states with the highest rate of teen pregnancy. That's the GOP base that love Sarah Palin and can really identify with her family I guess.
By the way, any bets on who will be the first Palin kid to graduate high school?
January 8th, 2009 at 10:21 amI'm going to have to stop vacationing in Mississippi, now that they're on to me...
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sectionop92 Says:
Time to sue, parents in the Delta…time to sue!
It's fairly hard to sue somebody for giving you horrible advice. Perhaps if they're set up as some kind of licensed authority (as I believe that many of them are).
.
pbg Says:
The stupid thing about this is they deliberately ignore the actual process of education. In their irrational desire for control, they’ve taken a Skinnerian training model of education. Tell them that, and they’ll do that.
I truly believe they should be disallowed from formally presenting such courses as "education," since it's based on giving less information rather than more. They might call it "training" perhaps, or more accurately "dogma."
January 8th, 2009 at 10:23 amWhere were you guys when Texas, Arizona and California held the lead? If sex education is the answer, then why has it failed just as miserably? The real question is, why do uneducated, poverty ridden, teens make the most babies? Nothing the schools are doing has been effective.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:23 amTeen Birth rate highest in south map
AFRICAN-AMERICAN POPULATION
HISPANIC POPULATION
Why does the teen pregnancy rate coincide with the majority Black and Hispanic population???
January 8th, 2009 at 12:08 pmdrew3rd Says:
Where were you guys when Texas, Arizona and California held the lead?
Saying the same thing we're saying now. Whining at everybody around us that people needed to knock off this "abstinence only" crap because it was causing rampant teen pregnancy.
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drew3rd Says:
If sex education is the answer, then why has it failed just as miserably?
It hasn't. The study cited above proves that. States with comprehensive sex education have the lowest teen pregnancy rates.
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drew3rd Says:
The real question is, why do uneducated, poverty ridden, teens make the most babies?
Uneducated teens make the most babies because they don't have access to comprehensive sex education.
Poverty ridden teens (and this is mentioned in the click-through link) make more babies because they don't see as much of a path to economic opportunity. That is, they don't have so much to lose since they don't think they'll get rich (or even middle class) anyway.
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drew3rd Says:
Nothing the schools are doing has been effective.
Except for those schools that have comprehensive sex education curricula, as proven by the study cited above.
.
Everything you've said there amounts to nothing more than coming in here and insisting that the study says what it doesn't say, and that it doesn't say what it says. That kind of opposite-talk only works on Republicans.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:10 pmFireball Says:
Why does the teen pregnancy rate coincide with the majority Black and Hispanic population???
Because they have the least economic opportunity due to discrimination, and also because they lack access to comprehensive sex education.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:12 pmElBruce Says
Because they have the least economic opportunity due to discrimination, and also because they lack access to comprehensive sex education.
This site seams to blame organizations for teaching abstinence on the teen pregnancy problem.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:16 pmIt "seems" to me that I don't blame these organizations, they just don't work
January 8th, 2009 at 12:23 pmdbadass Says:
What a horrible suggestion for people to encourage self discipline and control. We should shut down any types of teaching on the subject other than what progressives think is the correct way to raise teenagers.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:35 pmThe whole purpose of the anti-choice+abstinence rhetoric is to produce submissive uneducated dropout women who will produce lots of ignorant tow headed children for cannon fodder. The Republican Religious Reich want this to be a 3rd world nation with no thinking, educated middle class.
A nation of ignorant wife beating men folks and uneducated baby maker wives who are manipulated and brainwashed by Religun an' a sports mentality of patriotism make good sweatshop workers and soldiers. Keep 'em stupid an' reproducin'!
January 8th, 2009 at 12:37 pmWhat the hell are you talking about and why? I love you great expansive thoughts though. So what was the deal with those pandas?
January 8th, 2009 at 12:37 pmcsail Says:
The whole purpose of the anti-choice+abstinence rhetoric is to produce submissive uneducated dropout women who will produce lots of ignorant tow headed children for cannon fodder. The Republican Religious Reich want this to be a 3rd world nation with no thinking, educated middle class.
A nation of ignorant wife beating men folks and uneducated baby maker wives who are manipulated and brainwashed by Religun an’ a sports mentality of patriotism make good sweatshop workers and soldiers. Keep ‘em stupid an’ reproducin’!
January 8th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Perhaps. But which party will benefit from these types of voters? That is, how do
January 8th, 2009 at 12:49 pm... ignorant tow headed children
vote?
The tow headed babies most likely grow into replicas of their parents and continue a cycle of stupidity once the cycle is started.
The ignorant easily lead and manipulated will always be spoon fed through some banana republic voting process. They will vote for who the Republican Religious Reich tells them to. They will vote for candidates like Palin.
The religun backed sports mentality of patriotism creates the 3rd world like base that would march to the fascist theocracy of their leaders.
January 8th, 2009 at 1:21 pmcsail Says:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The whole purpose of the anti-choice+abstinence rhetoric is to produce submissive uneducated dropout women who will produce lots of ignorant tow headed children for cannon fodder. The Republican Religious Reich want this to be a 3rd world nation with no thinking, educated middle class.
A nation of ignorant wife beating men folks and uneducated baby maker wives who are manipulated and brainwashed by Religun an’ a sports mentality of patriotism make good sweatshop workers and soldiers. Keep ‘em stupid an’ reproducin’!
And how do you not consider yourself a bigot?
January 8th, 2009 at 1:31 pmSeems to me that most of the higher prego rates tend to be of minority races (black & hispanic). Aren't these also the same groups with the highest meth addiction rates? It's all about feeling good, I guess. Sad.
January 8th, 2009 at 1:34 pmMan, am I late to this thread, or what?
Woody Allen said it best, in "Love And Death":
Sex without love is an empty and meaningless experience...
...but, as empty and meaningless experiences go, it's one of the best...
January 8th, 2009 at 1:35 pmSpooning_leads24kin Says:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seems to me that most of the higher prego rates tend to be of minority races (black & hispanic). Aren’t these also the same groups with the highest meth addiction rates? It’s all about feeling good, I guess. Sad.
----------------------------------------------
It is indeed sad. Due to discrimination and institutionalized racism, these groups typically have the lowest chances for stability and opportunity, and that's more sad.
Meth, however, seems to be fairly non-discriminating. Just ask Sarah Palin about her town Wasila....
January 8th, 2009 at 1:41 pmhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/ap_on_he_me/med_teen_births
Hmmm, it appears that the bluer states generally have lower rates than the redder states... aren't these the same states with less sex education? Guess 'abstinence only' is all about making people feel they're doing good without getting any results. Sad.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:04 pmKinda like the whole R agenda- a whole lot of sound and fury about 'common sense' and very little in the way of 'thought' or 'results'
Meth and poverty go hand in hand since meth is cheap and easy to make. Meth, like most drugs, alters judgement, and whether one has been "educated" on abstinence or birth control or not, judgement is thrown to the wayside and hormones take over. Also, Wasilla, AK isn't known for it's monatary wealth!
January 8th, 2009 at 2:12 pmFireball says:
What a horrible suggestion for people to encourage self discipline and control.
Self discipline and control are fine and kids should be taught that. But insisting that they can't have any sex at all until they're married, even if takes decades, is WAY too extreme.
We should shut down any types of teaching on the subject other than what progressives think is the correct way to raise teenagers.
Pretty hypocritical there. This issue is about the failure of what conservatives think is the correct way to raise teenagers. It's about faith-based vs reality-based teaching.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pmFireball Says:
This site seams to blame organizations for teaching abstinence on the teen pregnancy problem.
Abstinence-only programs refuse to teach scientifically accurate information about risk factors and available means to control them.
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Fireball Says:
What a horrible suggestion for people to encourage self discipline and control.
It's fine to "encourage self discipline and control," so long as you recognize that it's still their choice. By only discussing one option, you effectively attempt to take that choice out of their hands. Inevitably, they will take it back at some point. If they don't know how to manage the consequences when they do, they will suffer them. The results of that approach are posted at the top of this webpage.
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Fireball Says:
We should shut down any types of teaching on the subject other than what progressives think is the correct way to raise teenagers.
Good to see you're coming around.
.
csail Says:
ignorant tow headed children
See, now you've got them all thinking you're all like anti-white. Now they're going to go off defending the purity of their "race" and - hey, nice baiting there.
.
Spooning_leads24kin Says:
Seems to me that most of the higher prego rates tend to be of minority races (black & hispanic). Aren’t these also the same groups with the highest meth addiction rates? It’s all about feeling good, I guess. Sad.
I believe that white folks use meth more. Minority races have fewer economic opportunities due to discrimination (for an example of a bigoted attitude, read your own post) and therefore they have less to lose by having kids young.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:01 pmWhat religious organization is preventing basic biology from being taught in school? This whole issue is blown out of proportion because of a vendetta the liberals have against religions groups, particularly Christianity. And anything negative and damaging they can tie to the teaching of religious beliefs they do so with enthusiastic animosity.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:17 pmElBruce Says:
I believe that white folks use meth more. Minority races have fewer economic opportunities due to discrimination and therefore they have less to lose by having kids young.
Or maybe another way to look at it is they have more to gain in the way of Welfare. More kids = more government breaks ($$)to them. Which also means more tax dollars from the rest of us. In my house it's feed yourself or starve,in other word help HELP yourself. Take an initiative. Having kids young limits even more the possibility of finding an outlet to a better life away from poverty no matter race. At least illegal Mexicans WORK! Most blacks I know feel they are OWED everything they get. Whites get the least benefits, regardless of economic standing so there shouldn't be any complaints from the minority poor that the whites get all the breaks.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:13 pmFireball Says:
What religious organization is preventing basic biology from being taught in school?
Are you suggesting that religious organizations have absolutely nothing to do with abstinence-only programs? Much less creationism in schools? That's patently ridiculous. It's like me indignantly demanding to know what liberal organizations are supposedly responsible for teh eval voter registration drives.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:15 pmElBruce Says:
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Fireball Says:
What religious organization is preventing basic biology from being taught in school?
Are you suggesting that religious organizations have absolutely nothing to do with abstinence-only programs? Much less creationism in schools? That’s patently ridiculous. It’s like me indignantly demanding to know what liberal organizations are supposedly responsible for teh eval voter registration drives.
This is not about creationism at all. This is about TP trying to frame teen pregnancy as strictly the fault of religious organizations promotion of abstinence.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:25 pmSpooning_leads24kin Says:
Or maybe another way to look at it is they have more to gain in the way of Welfare. More kids = more government breaks ($$)to them. Which also means more tax dollars from the rest of us.
I've never heard from anybody who saw welfare as a positive economic opportunity. The "black welfare queen" is a myth, created by Republicans to get racists such as yourself to vote for them. Those people you're so scared of taking all your money? They don't exist. They never did.
Social welfare programs should be geared to get people into opportunities as quickly as possible, by providing education and removing other barriers to taking advantage of it. That was the original idea. However, it has migrated pretty much since its inception to a system that prevents people from getting off of it or from having any better opportunities. Consider: if you are on welfare and get a part time job, your gross income is deducted from your welfare check. After withholding, you actually lose money by working.
The fact of the matter is, it is Republicans who have repeatedly "tweaked" welfare so that it would be ineffective, so that they could rail against it. It's similar to what they've tried to do to public education with the high-mandate/low-funding "no child left behind" program.
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Spooning_leads24kin Says:
In my house it’s feed yourself or starve,in other word help HELP yourself. Take an initiative.
How is the fact that you starve your children relevant to the present discussion?
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Spooning_leads24kin Says:
Having kids young limits even more the possibility of finding an outlet to a better life away from poverty no matter race.
Agreed. That's pretty much what I was pointing out.
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Spooning_leads24kin Says:
At least illegal Mexicans WORK!
Also, agreed. I have a hard time with conservatives who complain about illegal immigrants, not only because of the inherent racism, but also since not a damn one of them have the stones to work as hard as most illegal immigrants do. I think we should give them all citizenship right now, and for each one of them we let in, kick out a lazy white person. Like a corporate CEO or something. Those guys' jobs are easy.
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Spooning_leads24kin Says:
Most blacks I know feel they are OWED everything they get.
You don't know any black people. I'm pretty sure they're not allowed into your compound.
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Spooning_leads24kin Says:
Whites get the least benefits, regardless of economic standing so there shouldn’t be any complaints from the minority poor that the whites get all the breaks.
Actually, many of the most-white states use the most federal dollars for teh welfare. That's a fizzact.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:27 pmFireball Says:
This is not about creationism at all.
Hey, you're the one who used the phrase "...preventing basic biology from being taught..." But we can save that discussion for elsewhere.
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Fireball Says:
This is about TP trying to frame teen pregnancy as strictly the fault of religious organizations promotion of abstinence.
Nobody else has any reason to promote abstinence-only "educational" programs. If you of anyone not connected to any religious organizations who would do such a ridiculous thing, I'd be interested to know who they are.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:32 pmThis is about TP trying to frame teen pregnancy as strictly the fault of religious organizations promotion of abstinence.
No, this is about how 'abstinence only' education has been shown time and again to be a poor method of preventing teen pregnancy. Religious organizations should be free to promote abstinence but schools should also be free to teach teens about sex.
Why?
Because we agree that unplanned teen pregnancies are a burden on our social fabric and comprehensive sex-ed has been shown to decrease them while 'abstinence only' education has not. In fact, it seems to lead to even more unplanned teen pregnancies.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:39 pmElBruce Says:
Nobody else has any reason to promote abstinence-only “educational” programs. If you of anyone not connected to any religious organizations who would do such a ridiculous thing, I’d be interested to know who they are.
So you’re suggesting because a church promotes abstinence, teens never receive any type of education on sex whatsoever?
January 8th, 2009 at 4:40 pmSo you’re suggesting because a church promotes abstinence, teens never receive any type of education on sex whatsoever?
Read the article. Mississippi has abstinence only sex-ed. in PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:46 pmMississippi also has the HIGHEST rate of teen pregnancies.
It has nothing to do with church teachings and everything to do with what is taught in PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Caleb
Fireball Says:
So you’re suggesting because a church promotes abstinence, teens never receive any type of education on sex whatsoever?
Nice straw man, there - rephrasing my point as an absolute blanket statement. But I'll bite...
Abstinence-only "education" avoids mentioning a lot of important information. Here, maybe you missed this part:
In addition, a lot of abstinence-only programs intentionally give inaccurate information, such as telling people that condoms do nothing to prevent pregnancy. Some personal examples have been cited in this very thread.
Spending the majority of your curriculum just saying "don't do it" is less time that could be spent explaining the actual risk factors, and other methods to prevent or mitigate them.
Also: telling people about only one option will inevitably be seen by them as an attempt to take choice out of their hands. As soon as they realize there's any other option (even the worst one) they're more likely to exercise it, than if they had a non-judgemental picture of the risks and consequences for all options.
It's not the job of schools to tell kids what to do in life, it's their job to provide information. Indoctrination is not information. The consequences of conflating the two may be viewed at the top of this webpage. If kids are given school-based information plus church-based indoctrination, that's fine and even appropriate.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:54 pmNow, now, AlexLawyer. It's not PRECISELY that"conservatives prefer illusion to reality, pretense to results and hypocrisy to honesty." It's more that, until recently, many committed, NON-lunatic-fringe Christians [among them myself] have tried to follow Biblical principles about not resisting evil with evil, about treating fellow Christians in a loving manner, about avoiding schisms among believers, about forgiving as we would be forgiven by God [and doing it 70 times 7]--so those Christians have refrained from shouting down the militantly self-righteous, beam-in-one's-eye blind, willfully ignorant, proudly nit-picking, gleefully finger-pointing, nasty, and extremely legalistic Pharisees in our midst.
Lately, however, we non-lunatics are recalling what Jesus and the Bible, especially Corinthians 13, have said about judgmentalism and lack of charity/love. Our coreligionists have NOT been acting in love (except love for their own smug "virtues" and dogma). With their emphasis on "works"--works as narrowly construed by themselves--rather than upon grace;with their utter lack of compassion; with their refusal to remember that they, too, are sinners saved by grace; with their emphasis on attacking anything outside of their narrow version of "morality," these sounding brasses and tinkling cymbals have created a cacophony of cruelty. We who DO try to live out a loving, Bible-based faith need to muffle that catastrophic clamor before it repels even more people who think, mistakenly, that Jesus APPROVES nasty noise.
Incidentally, intercessory prayer has NOTHING in common with the harmful, bigoted facets of "the Moral Majority." It's clean, private, pure, beneficial, loving, and Biblical.
January 8th, 2009 at 6:10 pmtelestai2 Says:
Now there's a Christian I can agree with. Thank you for sharing that.
January 8th, 2009 at 6:22 pmStudies show an emerging link between unplanned teen pregnancies and relationship or dating abuse.
For instance, girls who are victims of violence from dating partners are four to six times more likely than non-abused girls to become pregnant. (Harvard School of Public Health)
Addressing the rising tide of teen pregnancy means teaching you people about science based sexual health, and also helping them understand what healthy relationships look like and how to spot signs of abuse.
Learn more, share a story or take action at http://www.knowmoresaymore.org
January 8th, 2009 at 8:20 pmElBruce, California doesn't have comprehensive sex ed? Who knew? Bruce you've gotta stop with the agendas, sex ed isn't working and I suspect your statement that these kids not having anything to lose is more on point. It would be nice to see communities look somewhere else besides the schools. They can't get it done by themselves.
January 9th, 2009 at 6:54 amcsail, you are about as ugly a person as I've ever met. This hatred is going to generate nothing but chaos in your life. Maybe you should attend a local church and find out the type of people who attend there. You're going to be surprised at how thoughtful, trustworthy and kind most of them are.
January 9th, 2009 at 6:59 amYou are wrong
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