Mississippi, Vanguard of Abstinence Sex Ed, Now Boasts the Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate in the Nation
| Thu Jan. 8, 2009 9:42 AM PST
Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control released yesterday. Between 2005 and 2006 the state's rate of teen pregnancy increased 13 percent, and is now more than 60 percent above the national average.
The report did not attempt to explain the spike, but a major factor is probably Mississippi's rejection of sex ed. The state's schools must stress abstinence and are prohibited from demonstrating how to use contraceptives. Numerous studies have found that kind of approach to be ineffective.
A common myth surrounding abstinence-only sex ed is that it works for teens who are evangelical Christians--the kids of the parents who are pushing schools to adopt the programs--so if schools would stick with the approach, the Godless masses would eventually get on the straight-and-narrow. But Bristol Palin isn't the only evidence that shreds that argument. In November the New Yorker's Margaret Talbot described the findings of Mark Regnerus, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin, who published a book called "Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers":
His findings are drawn from a national survey that Regnerus and his colleagues conducted of some thirty-four hundred thirteen-to-seventeen-year-olds, and from a comprehensive government study of adolescent health known as Add Health. Regnerus argues that religion is a good indicator of attitudes toward sex, but a poor one of sexual behavior, and that this gap is especially wide among teen-agers who identify themselves as evangelical. The vast majority of white evangelical adolescents--seventy-four per cent--say that they believe in abstaining from sex before marriage. (Only half of mainline Protestants, and a quarter of Jews, say that they believe in abstinence.) Moreover, among the major religious groups, evangelical virgins are the least likely to anticipate that sex will be pleasurable, and the most likely to believe that having sex will cause their partners to lose respect for them. (Jews most often cite pleasure as a reason to have sex, and say that an unplanned pregnancy would be an embarrassment.) But, according to Add Health data, evangelical teen-agers are more sexually active than Mormons, mainline Protestants, and Jews. On average, white evangelical Protestants make their sexual début--to use the festive term of social-science researchers--shortly after turning sixteen. Among major religious groups, only black Protestants begin having sex earlier.
IMAGE AT RIGHT: Logo for Mississippi's abstinence campaign
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And teen pregnancy isn't evangelicals' only family values problem. Talbot cites two family-law scholars, Naomi Cahn, of George Washington University, and June Carbone, of the University of Missouri at Kansas City:
In 2004, the states with the highest divorce rates were Nevada, Arkansas, Wyoming, Idaho, and West Virginia (all red states in the 2004 election); those with the lowest were Illinois, Massachusetts, Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey. The highest teen-pregnancy rates were in Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas (all red); the lowest were in North Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Maine (blue except for North Dakota). "The 'blue states' of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic have lower teen birthrates, higher use of abortion, and lower percentages of teen births within marriage," Cahn and Carbone observe. They also note that people start families earlier in red states—in part because they are more inclined to deal with an unplanned pregnancy by marrying rather than by seeking an abortion.
So here's the irony regarding teen pregnancy:
Carbone and Cahn argue that the red-state model is clearly failing on its own terms--producing high rates of teen pregnancy, divorce, sexually transmitted disease, and other dysfunctional outcomes that social conservatives say they abhor. In "Forbidden Fruit," Regnerus offers an "unscientific postscript," in which he advises social conservatives that if they really want to maintain their commitment to chastity and to marriage, they'll need to do more to help young couples stay married longer. As the Reverend Rick Marks, a Southern Baptist minister, recently pointed out in a Florida newspaper, "Evangelicals are fighting gay marriage, saying it will break down traditional marriage, when divorce has already broken it down." Conservatives may need to start talking as much about saving marriages as they do about, say, saving oneself for marriage.
Comments
Don't pick on Mississippi. Look at Oklahoma. They have one of the highest divorce rates because they marry young. Look at the Mormons in Utah, they marry young, but they don't have a high divorce rate(they are primarily Scandinavian). May be there are other factors at work here. "In Arkansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, declared a "marital emergency" in 1999 and vowed to halve the divorce rate by 2010. He signed a covenant marriage law last month that allows couples to choose a marital contract that, in most cases, would require a two-year waiting period before a divorce becomes final. Louisiana has enacted similar laws, as has Arizona.
Here in Oklahoma, Gov. Frank Keating, also a Republican, diagnosed divorce as a principal cause of poverty in his state. He started a much-publicized, multipronged campaign, paid for with $10 million in federal welfare money, to cut the divorce rate by one-third in 10 years. "
What is not addressed is the racial factor in these statistics. Mississippi has a huge minority population (in some counties the "minority" is actually the majority). If these minorities are factored out most southern states, including Mississippi rate very well in all measurable categories such as illegitimacy, literacy, welfare, college education, etc.
These facts, however, will only get a PC response from leftists.
Submitted by Legacy on Fri Jan. 9, 2009 10:16 AM PST.
If that was the real explanation, Fred t, then how do you account for the stats cited above showing that white evangelical protestants make their sexual debut earlier than any other white religious group? I agree that black protestants probably play a role in Mississippi, but they're still a minority group, so you can't discount evangelicals and the role of their abstinence programs.
This part of the article was conveniently forgotten by "Fred T":
"...according to Add Health data, evangelical teen-agers are more sexually active than Mormons, mainline Protestants, and Jews. On average, white evangelical Protestants make their sexual début--to use the festive term of social-science researchers--shortly after turning sixteen. Among major religious groups, only black Protestants begin having sex earlier..."
But of course those nig- I mean, uh, that is er uh minorites are the real problem. And those gay liberals. Yeah, okay.
Fred is right, Josh is wrong. Clearly, the Swedes of Utah have such a good record because they are Norse and not of African decent like Mississippi and those other old Confederacy states. The UN even says that Norway is number 1 in the world. Look who gives out the Nobel prizes, not mother Africa. Blacks have higher testosteron(and prostrate cancer rates) than Whites, hence the higher rates. It all comes down to testosteron, the wars, the violence and etc.
Speaking of Testosteron causing problems, Black men have the highest followed by Whites, and then Asians. I notice that there are not many Asians in Mississippi. Testosteron comes from eating meat. Go vegetarian and you will not be so aggressive. Meat eating(biggest farters of green houses gases too) countries are the most aggressive.
Let's see now-Sex Education is now defined in terms of prevention of Pregnancy while the entire Nation is being bombarded with Sex commercials, suggestive if not explicit music encouraging sex and violence and we , as a Nation, are wondering why the murder rates and teen pregnancies are on the rise-Go figure! Here's a thought-look at the schools in areas like New York and other areas that have dress codes, encourage self image, and stress the need for politeness and good conduct...Sure beats guts wearing their pants down at their knees and girls with skirts up to their navels!
In addition to higher teen pregnancies and higher divorce rates the so called "bible belt"red states also have the highest murder rate and incidences of violence against women.thank GOD. I think it may have to do in part to the "I'm Saved" which really means SINCE I'M SAVED I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT TO DO BECAUSE I'M SAVED AND MY gOD WILL FORGIVE WHAT I'VE DONE TO OTHERS, which of course makes no sense and by rules of logic means that their gOD is a senseless, unreasonable, illogical idiot which brought his "only begotten son" into existence to have the "son" tortured and murdered. This is what the evangelists preach, believe as well as not referring to Obama as the President but the N..ger and doing so on U.S. Government property.
Concerning the Mormon out of wedlock birth rate, I suspect it is wrong. My cousin got pregnant twice while on mission by other Mormons, not married. She was never chastised or reject by her family or church. Young Mormons with their drug and alcohol prohibitions are more readily likely to engage in sex. I believe the Mormon out of wedlock are doctored to suit the Utah Mormons image.
I am a public health profession who was reared in MS, relocated and returned 11 years ago. The problems persists in that you have a mentality here that is practiced by Blacks and Whites, Republicans and Democrats: anti-sex education, anti-abortion. This state has done everything within its power to control the reproductive system of its female population.
One more point, it's much easier to identify the STD and pregnancy rate of black teens and Black women in that most of them are poor and utilize public clinics and health agencies. In contrast, their higher income white counterparts tend to seek out the services of private care.
Rep. Alyce Clark has consistently introducted a comprehensive sex education bill that is consistently defeated by her male colleagues.
Liberals make the same mistake over and over. They site research, point to the facts, and construct logical, rational arguments to support their beliefs. Then, they present their case to people who, on a fundamental level, don't let the facts get in the way of their opinion. It seems to me that any discussion of issues, whether it's teen pregnancy, STD's, divorce, the role of government, the economy, environment protection, etc. must begin with faith in God. And getting right with God means that we honor the logical, rational, factual universe that he created. Religious conservatives and the political right wing cult need to understand that holding an opinion that disregards the facts is dishonoring God.
Mary, it is called communications. If you start your sex education talk with a few Biblical references, then the folks will feel comfortable. But if somebody from another culture(left-wing city Jew) starts talking down to them, like they are a group of Southern Hicks, then the communication stops. You got to play the game. The goal is communications.
First off, we are all human beings. We all have sexual thoughts and desires. Some more than others. Some taught and some physical. Teaching safe sex is the only way to fix the teen pregnancy problem.
Second, what in world does race, religion, and culture have to do with any of this other than for statistical purposes. We have got to stop this "My race is better than your race" or "My God is right, yours is wrong" way of thinking. Wake up world it's 2009 if you haven't noticed. It's time to put that all behind us and unite for the greater good of all humanity. We are capable of so much more that this silly bickering and finger pointing. You are all children in your thinking. GROW UP!
When evangelicals get real,
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Feb. 19, 2009 3:26 PM PST.
When evangelicals get real, they'll get the respect of other groups. Right now they're a laughingstock. They pretend their children are not sexual beings, like a person can just turn off their sexuality until after marriage.
News for evangelicals: teens are sexual human beings. Either teach them masturbation, or teach them contraception, but don't expect them to be abstinent. They won't. Even if they tell you they WANT to be, they won't be.
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