IN A NOT-UNRELATED story, teen
It's too soon to tell if the trend is one that will continue steadily upward or if the statistics are an aberration. Teen pregnancy skyrocketed between 1986 and 1991, giving rise to government and private programs designed to stem the tide. And the rate did level off, beginning in 2001.
The new report is sure to renew the sex-ed fight between abstinence advocates and those who push for a more comprehensive approach. But it's interesting that, of the five types of programs described as "effective" by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, only one concentrates on the facts of life. Clearly, kids need to understand their bodies and sex and pregnancy. But preventing teen pregnancy is bigger than simply teaching the facts about birds and bees.
Why would, for example, "[s]ervice learning programs whose primary focus is keeping young people constructively engaged in their communities and schools" help prevent pregnancies? The choice to have sex is about hormones, but also about self-concept and connection and relationships and purpose.
The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate among the 20 most developed nations of the world. Yet when kids have kids the outcomes are often poor: truncated lives, limited opportunities, poverty. We need to do a better job of helping our children grow up--before they have children.