Parents' Concerns Rise over Increase in Teen Pregnancies
Posted August 22, 2008

It’s 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night – do you know where your teenage daughter is?

According to a report issued last month by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, teenage pregnancies rose in 2006 for the first time since 1991, climbing 4 percent to 22 out of every 1,000 girls ages 15-17 from 21 out of every 1,000 girls in 2005. Multiply that out, and the result is truly staggering, with the number of 15-17 year old girls having babies jumping by more than 5,700, from 133,138 to 138,920.

While Edward J. Sondik, Ph.D., director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, noted the increase could be a “blip in the data,” he added regarding the teenage pregnancy numbers, “We feel strongly that it bears watching.” Explaining the repercussions of the findings, Sondik stated, “This is one of the key indicators for the health of the teen population. Not only does this affect teen health at this point, but their health and well-being for the next 20 to 40 years, and the health and well-being of their children.”

Sondik is not the only one concerned. Here in New Jersey, a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll shows that 61% of the state’s adults consider teenage pregnancy to be a “major problem.” Those viewing teen pregnancy as a “minor problem” add up to 27%, while 3% believe it is not a problem and 9% have no opinion. Furthermore, according to the poll, 56% of New Jersey adults feel the media hype surrounding the pregnancies of young celebrities makes teenage pregnancy – and parenthood – seem more appealing. A full 25% believe the attention does not affect teens’ views of parenthood, and 11% believe the attention lessens the appeal.

“Some may view recent news about Britney Spears and her sister Jamie Lynn as cautionary tales for young people and parenthood,” said Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray. “However, New Jersey adults worry that media coverage of celebrity pregnancy may be having the opposite effect on the average teenager.”

When it comes to sex education, 56% of respondents believe that teaching teenagers about contraception does not encourage them to have sex, while 29% say that it does. And 93% of all respondents support teaching high school students about birth control.

The poll also found that 31% believe kids should be taught that sexual activity is appropriate only in marriage, with 18% saying only within a committed relationship. Ironically – and disturbingly – a full 39% feel young people should be taught “that sexual activity is a matter of personal choice.” 

Perhaps most interesting is the poll’s finding that parents of daughters ages 12-17 have different views from non-parents and parents of other-aged children. While fewer parents of teenage daughters see teenage pregnancy as a major problem (50% as compared with 59% for other parents and 63% for non-parents), far more hold that teaching teenagers about contraception does, indeed, encourage sexual activity (40% as compared with 21% for other parents).

Unfortunately, with the increased numbers of teenage pregnancies nationwide and the concerns about them here in New Jersey, the state is doing precious little to address the problem – quite the opposite, in fact. Through the New Jersey Teen PEP (Prevention Education Program), now operational in approximately 50 schools statewide, teenagers actually teach other teens about sexual activity – and they provide inaccurate and dangerous information in doing so. (Please click here for an NJFPC press release and here for an article on this dangerous program.)

This is unacceptable and harmful to our young people. They deserve better!

Through the New Jersey Coalition for Abstinence Education, the NJFPC is teaching teens across the state the truths about sexual activity and teenage pregnancy and empowering them to make wise choices not only for today but also for the future. Now is not the time to provide teenagers with half-truths about the consequences of sexual activity outside of the protective confines of marriage – they deserve the whole truth.

We CAN stem the tide of teenage pregnancies and help our young people protect their emotional, psychological, and physical health. This year’s statistics do not have to be next year’s, but we must act now. For more information on how to reach the youth in your circle of influence, please click here, or contact the New Jersey Coalition for Abstinence Education at 877-422-6924 or njcae@njfpc.org.

   

 

 

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