Results tagged “teen pregnancy” from Buzz

Good info, shamelessly borrowed from the American Social Health Association. No surprises, here...

Young people commonly engage in risky sexual behaviors (sex at a young age and/or unprotected sex) and increasingly are at risk for STDs and pregnancy, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report, Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10--24 Years --- United States, 2002—2007, analyzes sexual health and behavior data from a number of surveillance systems. The latest findings indicate:

• A majority of 18 and 19 year olds (70.6% of females; 64.7% of males) report having had sex.
• Approximately 30% of males and females ages 15-17 say they have had sex.
• Roughly 30% of 15-19 years olds report having multiple partners.

More than two-thirds of adolescents say they’ve received guidance in using contraceptives, and nearly 70% of male and females ages 15-19 used condoms at first intercourse.

Still, sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) are increasing among young people, and the authors say the numbers may reflect the advent of better screening programs. Regardless, the news isn’t encouraging: In 2006, nearly 22,000 youth were living with HIV, and approximately 1 million had a reportable sexually transmitted infection (chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis).

I was so honored this week to give the keynote speech for the organization Healthy Start. Healthy Start provides parenting support to young parents - under 22 years old. Their youngest client was 14 and their average client is 17.

These young parents are paired with a mentor and a social worker and between the two of them, get so much support and information that they are probably better parents than those of us with "everything."

One of the pieces of support they provide is information about birth control and condom use. These girls are encouraged to wait to have a second baby, and guess, what? It works.

The national average for teen girls having a second baby is nearly 30%. This means that a third of teen mama's have another kid with in a few years of the first.

When a young person goes through the Healthy Start program, her second birth rate is...drum roll please...3%.

Yes, I said 3%.

This program has a big impact on the young people it helps, and in turn, a big impact on our community. These babies are being given the gift of healthy, savvy parenting and while they may not know it in the moment, they'll know it in the long run.

Remember, these kids are going to grow up to take care of us in our old age, to be our doctors and lawyers, our grocery checkers and our grandchildren's teachers. Don't they deserve to have the best start possible?

If you want to help this program continue, please make a donation. www.healthystartfamilies.org

The FDA just saw fit to make Plan B, or the "morning after pill" available over-the-counter, without a prescription, to girls who are 17 and older.

What a sigh of relief.          

At the risk of offending those of you who are opposed to the use of this medicine, I just want to to say I am so happy to know that girls can protect themselves from unplanned pregnancy safely and easily.

Here's the quick and dirty on how Plan B works. Essentially, it prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall. It is not possible to know if an egg has been fertilized, as this happens in the filopian tube and can take place up to 5 days after intercourse.

It seems to make the uterus a bad hostess, so the egg can't implant. If the girl is already pregnant (the egg has implanted) it WILL NOT disrupt or terminate the pregnancy. This medicine is very safe and there are very, very, very few contraindications for its use, and those that exist are really rare.

One of the reasons I am so happy about this ruling is that girls can buy Plan B for other girls or future use. This may make some of you uncomfortable, but girls being able to take care of their sexual health and prevent an unplanned pregnancy easily, is all good, in my humble opinion.

Great news from the Guttmacher Institute this week – it seems that publicly funded planning clinics have a positive impact on our entire community, preventing nearly 2 million unplanned pregnancies and almost 1 million abortions each year.

Wow. Them’s big numbers.

And since we are all freaking out about the economy these days, how about a little good news? By avoiding unintended pregnancy and the associated medical costs, including prenatal, birth and postpartum care, family planning saves taxpayers $4 for every $1 spent on family planning.

Now, can you imagine the result of all family planning was publicly funded? If every woman and girl received free or very low cost birth control and other family planning services?

We’d have the same teen pregnancy rate as the Netherlands – 12 out of 1000 girls. Ours is 75 out of 1000 girls.

You can read the report yourself right here.

http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2009/02/23/index.html

January 22 is the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision - confirming the right of American women to terminate their pregnancies.

If you know me at all, you know I am pro-choice.

Regardless of your beliefs about abortion, you need to talk to your children about what it is and your beliefs about abortion. They will come to thier own decisions about abortion, which may differ from yours. How will you manage this?

1 in 4 US women has had an abortion. What are you doing to help these numbers go down?

With our new administration, and new sex ed programs in place, I am hopeful we will see a corresponding drop in the teen and unplanned pregnancy rates and a corresponding drop in the abortion rate in our country.

In the mean time, I'll keep working on you parents out there to make sure your kiddos can make informed decisions about their sexuality. Even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming to the conversations.

Tyra Banks, supermodel and talk show hostess has been doing some research and oh boy, are the results scary.

She had an anonymous survey on her website this summer and over 10,000 teenage girls and young women responded.

I don’t think this was a particularly scientific study – I can’t find a copy of the actual study – and the respondents were all viewers of her show. I am not sure of the demographics, but I do know that her show is watched by women aged 18 to 34.

Regardless, it’s pretty shocking, what these girls are up to in terms of their sexual activity – like having sex at 15 and at school!

If you go to the link below, you can read some of the comments from some of the girls.

http://tyrashow.warnerbros.com/2008/11/sex_drugs_and_violence_what_ar.php

And here’s a recap of an interview with Tyra on the TODAY show.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27706917/?GT1=43001

This just in – it looks like kids who watch TV with a lot of sexual content are two to three times more likely to have a teen pregnancy (or impregnate someone) than those who don’t.

The researchers think these shows, like “Sex in the City” highlight the fun of having sex and don’t discuss the risks and consequences. Teens then start think they don’t need to use precautions and don’t take steps to protect themselves.

There could be some other things at play here, like the kids watch shows that reflect their interests – sex – and surprise, surprise, they happen to do it and get pregnant.

I don’t think watching these kinds of shows without discussing them is a good idea. Parents can watch these shows with their kids and talk about how realistic they are.

You could ask questions like “Does Carrie really have all that sex and never get an STD or pregnant? What’s she doing to prevent that from happening?” This might get them thinking.

You could also find other programming that’s more appropriate for them to watch – not that you can control them all the time, but you can have some influence.

Media. It’s powerful.

Parenting. It’s more powerful. Just do it.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081103084042.htm

What alarming news out of Massachusetts today - 17 pregnant teen-aged girls at one high school.

Half of the pregnancies were intentional.

Even more alarming was the interview with the principal. His theory is that these girls don’t see any future for themselves, so they get pregnant so they will have something to do and feel important.

I feel for these girls, who don’t have the support to make better decisions for themselves.  When I listened to the Principal I had to wonder – isn’t it part of the schools’ job to help these girls find something to give their lives meaning?

I realize the school isn’t wholly responsible for these girls’ lives, but they do have the opportunity to help them see more for their futures, which can include parenting, but shouldn’t be the first thing on the list.

I worry that Jamie Lynn Spears and the movie Juno have glamorized teen pregnancy and make it seem like a reasonable life choice. Media makes it look so easy and when parents are able to give their girls what they need in terms of self esteem and sound decision making skills, it’s not surprising choosing to have a baby seems like a good idea.