Sex Education and the Teen Pregnancy Rate
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15-Sarah Brown, director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, has some good news.
At a seminar last week at the National Academies, an organization that advises the federal government on issues of science, engineering and medicine, Brown said that national teen pregnancy rates have declined by one third since 1991. She attributed the phenomenon to two main factors: the number of teens engaging in sexual intercourse is down and contraceptive use among adolescents is up.
But Brown also had a warning.
“Whatever the progress, do not be lulled into a sense of complacency,” she said. “Celebrate the progress, but do not give up and go home.”
South Coast schools seem to have gotten the message. Though the number of teen births also has been declining in New Bedford and Fall River, the two cities are still struggling with rates much higher that the state average. To combat this trend, they have merged comprehensive sex education curricula with a pro-abstinence message.
“Abstinence-first puts abstinence as the most healthy choice an adolescent can make,” said Denise Gaudette, spokeswoman for New Bedford’s health education program.
However, citing data from a youth risk behavior survey of the city’s students, she noted that “many students are not abstinent, even at middle-school age. So we have to be realistic in meeting their needs.”
Though abstinence-only education has been the subject of national controversy, the comprehensive approach taken by New Bedford and Fall River closely matches national opinion. More than 80 percent of teens and 75 percent of adults nationwide believe that adolescents should be getting more education about both abstinence and contraception, Brown said.
Both promoting the importance of abstinence and offering education about contraceptive are intended to encourage the behaviors that Brown linked to the nation’s declining teen pregnancy numbers.
New Bedford begins human sexuality education in sixth grade with basic information about anatomy and puberty, Gaudette explained, before moving on to teaching about sexually transmitted diseases later in middle school. Pregnancy prevention is addressed in ninth grade and an elective health course is offered in higher grades.
“We provide information across the spectrum, so all adolescents understand what they have to do to protect themselves from disease and unwanted pregnancy,” Gaudette said.
The Fall River school system, which also considers its program abstinence-based, begins teaching puberty information in fifth grade. In middle and high school, students receive education that covers a range of topics from the emotional and physical risks of sexual activity to contraceptive use, refusal skills and dating violence.
“It’s important to. encourage kids to wait,” said Sue Sterrett, health coordinator for Fall River schools. “But so many are sexually active that you really want to talk about safety and helping them make better choices.”
Teachers of Fall River’s middle-school curriculum were trained by Abstinence Challenging Teens in Our Neighborhoods, or A.C.T.I.O.N., a program of Catholic Social Services for the Diocese of Fall River.
Abstinence education is not just about saying no, explained Steven Gangloff, the coordinator of the program.
“There’s a strong focus on. building character, communication, commitment, relationship-building,” Gangloff said. “Choosing to wait can actually build the trust and the bond in relationships.”
Although the program is associated with the Catholic diocese, the material taught in public schools does not contain religious teaching, Gangloff said.
Though comprehensive studies have not yet been done, available evidence suggests that a program that includes information on contraceptive use is likely to be more effective in delaying sex and increasing contraceptive use, Brown said.
Education programs are only a small part of the equation, however, Brown said, because questions of sexual morality and responsibility are larger social issues.
“This is really a war over American cultural values,” Brown said. “Programs help, but I just don’t think we can hang our hats on that intervention alone.”
