Every year, there are a few things MHS students expect: the crowds, the make-out strewn hallways and the new set of pregnant girls.
There are a few reactions to them, too. The extra-girly friends who constantly rub the pregnant tummies, the vehemently anti-teen pregnancy kids that look down their nose at the girls with disdain and, of course, people who just stay out of it and act as if nothing unusual is going on.
Though one could make the argument that teenage pregnancy is no longer such an unusual event; total teen (age 10-19) pregnancy (including live births and abortions) in Yamhill county from 2003-05 are up to 461. McMinnville’s most recent rate of teenage births is 9.2 per 1000 girls aged 10-17. That means nearly one percent of the teenage girl population has given birth.
According to the Centers for disease control and prevention, birth rates among teenagers (15-19) has risen 3% in the United States, the first such increase since 1991. This recent finding has sparked many debates over wiether or not the Bush administration’s abstinence-only sex education programs are effective. A recent landmark study failed to suggest that the program has had any effect on delaying sexual activity amoung teenagers. According to the New York Times, some studies suggest that abstinence only programs have actually increased pregnancy rates.
In fact, a recent review by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said that no abstinence-only program (such as the one taught at Patton Middle School) "delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners [among teenagers]."
Regarding comprehensive programs, however, the report said, "Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect."
In spite of this and other studies, the government continues to support abstinence-only programs, throwing over $100 million at them.
Theo G.M. Sandfort, M. Ed., of Columbia University, NYC also said abstinence-only programs can hurt people rather than help them. According to his survey, people who had sex too late had trouble with sexual dysfunction later in life.
So what else is there? Condom use has gone up in recent years and several studies report that 70 percent of women and 69 percent of men ages 15 to 19 used a condom the first time they had sex. Condoms are 85-98 percent effective. They only work when put on before intercourse and cannot be used again.
Birth control pills are the second most often used form of birth control, but are not used nearly as much. Only 18 percent used them before their most recent sexual encounter in another survey. In one poll, 22 percent of US teens did not believe birth control pills to be effective in preventing pregnancy. The truth is the pill is 92-99.7 percent effective when a girl remembers to take it everyday.
Sometimes these and other forms of birth control, however, don’t work. Condoms can tear, pills can be missed and people can just forgo contraception altogether. In these cases, one does have the option of emergency contraception (EC).
EC (Such as the "Blan B" Pill) prevents the egg from being implanted along the side of the uterus, and makes the sperm unable to reach the egg. EC is taken within 120 hours (five days) of unprotected sex, but is most effective within the first 24 hours. In Oregon, anyone under the age 18 needs to get a prescription. Surveys indicate that teens are fearful of confidentiality being betrayed when using EC.
Abortion is still a legal procedure that, in Oregon, one’s parents do not have to be informed about. For some people, none of the above options are viable for them. Some do not believe in contraceptive use. The only truly effective way for these people is abstinence.
So, no matter what choice teens decide to make, wiether it’s to have sex or to be abstinent, especially when it comes to avoiding unnplanned pregnany, it’s safe to say, knowledge is power.