Teen sex, pregnancy and abortion rates show significant decline since 1991
By Gudrun Schultz

UNITED STATES, May 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Teen sexual activity has decreased dramatically in the US over the past decade, according to reports by official government statistics, and the drop is being linked to the growing use of abstinence programs in schools."

"Between 1991 and 2005, teenage sexual activity rates dropped significantly across three population groups - black, Hispanic and white, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control."

"While the greatest reduction was seen among black teens, down to 67.6 percent in 2005 from a high of 81.4 percent in 1991, the reversal among white students was also significant. The rate of teenage sexual activity among white students has remained below the 50 percent mark since the mid 90's and is now at 43 percent. Among Hispanic teens, the drop was smaller, from 53.1 to 51.0."

"Teen pregnancy rates have also dropped markedly since peaking in 1994--according to the National Vital Statistics Report, the unwed birthrate for teens age 15-19 years has dropped by 25 percent since 1994."

"The reduction in pregnancy rates parallels a dramatic reduction in teen abortion rates. The number of teenage girls obtaining abortions has been halved since 1988, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. At peak rates, teen abortions occurred at 44 per 1000 girls. The current rate is just 22 per 1000 girls."

"'Clearly, many teens have heard the truth and are abstaining from sex -- a decision that is best for them in every way,' said Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, in a Townhall.com column. 'Along with decreased sexual activity among teens, we are seeing corresponding decreases in teen births and teen abortions.'"

"'These simultaneous reverses in trends indicate that teens are choosing a path that is proven to lead to a bright and promising future both in their personal lives and in every other aspect of their well-being.'"

"Crouse says the increase in abstinence programs over the past decade parallels the decrease in sexual activity. While the media routinely condemn abstinence programs as ineffective, the legacy of 'safe sex' education is an explosion in teen pregnancy rates and STIs."

"During the 30-year reign of condom-based sex education, teen sexual activity increased, teen births dramatically increased and teen abortions were going up,' Crouse pointed out. 'What's different now? Have teens suddenly learned how to use condoms more effectively and consistently than adult women who are using contraception but are frequently surprised nonetheless to find themselves pregnant? Somehow, I doubt it!'"

The following information is copied from this site www.comprehensive-sex-ed.com

"There's been a lot of talk about Comprehensive Sexuality Education, or Comprehensive Sex Ed for short. Most recently, the 'Responsible Education About Life' (REAL) act was introduced in Congress. This act provides funding for these programs."

Comprehensive sex ed (CSE) seems harmless, after all, what's so bad about learning all about the natural function of the human body?

To be added to our e-mail list, write to us at info@comprehensive-sex-ed.com

PROBLEM # 1 - Who Defines "Comprehensive"?

Just because a program is labeled as being comprehensive, doesn't mean it's actually comprehensive! And who defines comprehensive?

Surprisingly, quite a bit of health related information is missing from these programs which are billed as being "comprehensive".

Notably missing from many of these programs is accurate information on contraceptive failure rates as well as the health risks of the different methods. There is no mention of the breast cancer risks from oral contraceptives. Also missing is the fact that teens who engage in pre-marital sex have higher incidence of suicide and depression.[1][2]

Calling a program "comprehensive" doesn't actually make it so!

PROBLEM #2 - A Mixed Message

What's wrong with teaching about contraception and abstinence? Well, to begin with, it's a setup for failure. It teaches kids that even though they are capable of controlling themselves, they will fail at it so they might as well learn how to reduce their risk of disease and pregnancy.

But shouldn't a program focus soley on disease prevention and not risk reduction? It's almost universally agreed that abstinence is the best way to ensure against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. So why emphasize anything else?

There isn't a healthy reason why teens and young adults should engage in pre-marital sex. Telling them that it's best if they abstain while also telling them about methods to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease sends conflicting messages. If it truly is better for teens to be abstinent, there is no reason on earth to do anything else but vigorously emphasize that message.

PROBLEM #3 - Pluralistic Values

The programs represent a pluralistic value system - that is, sexual values from all parts of society are held as being respectable. But in reality, not all sexual values are healthy for children.

Imagine the most disgusting sexual act you can think of, and then imagine someone telling your son or daughter that this act is ok and respectable. This is exactly what comprehensive sex ed tries to do - instill other peoples values into your kids.

These programs are not just about the birds and the bees - they go far beyond the discussion of reproduction and into 'alternative lifestyles'.

PROBLEM #4 - CSE Advocates Charge that Abstinence-only Programs are Innacurate

Once again, who defines what is inaccurate? It seems that this allegation against abstinence-only programs has no basis, other than those opposed to it simply want to spread this rumor.

And comprehensive sexuality education programs are inaccurate themselves. For example, one program claims that abortion is only done after 24 weeks to save the life of the mother. Yet the Doe V. Bolton supreme court ruling allows abortion up until birth for very broad "health" reasons and not just life threating conditions.

PROBLEM #5 - Contraception Doesn't Reduce the Demand for Abortion

CSE advocates claim that contraception reduces the demand for abortion. Yet four decades of data shows this to be a myth. These advocates present a false dilema - it's either contraception or abortion, but that's simply not the case. Consider the following points:

* As contraceptives became increasingly available to teens during the 60s and 70s, the percentage of women aged 15-19 who ever engaged in premarital sex continued to rise. The figures rose from 30.4% in 1971 to 43.4% in 1976, and rose again to 49.8 % in 1979. [3]

* As the number of younger and younger teens became sexually active, and as both married and unmarried women had increasing access to contraception, the abortion rates rose.

* In 1972, the abortion rate for all women aged 15-19 was 19.1 per 1000 women (including married women). This figure jumped to 34.3 in 1976, and to 42.4 in 1979. [4]

More recently, abortion rates have dropped. Contrary to the claims of contraception advocates, the recent declines in the abortion rate for minors was caused by parental involvement laws and not contraception. More information on this topic can be found in the study Analyzing the Effect of State Legislation on the Incidence of Abortion Among Minors.

CONCLUSION

CSE is not healthy for our children and the message given to unmarried people is that abstinence is the only sexual choice that will protect them. Call your elected represenative today to ask them to oppose the REAL act.

You can find your representatives at this website: http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/directory/congdir.tt

To be added to our e-mail list, write to us at info@comprehensive-sex-ed.com

Footnotes

[1] Hallfors D, Waller M, Bauer D, Ford C, Halpern C., Which Comes First in Adolescence—Sex and Drugs or Depression?, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Available at http://www.cpc.unc.edu/uploads/4823/1764/which_first_final.pdf

[2] Rector R, Johnson K, Noyes L, Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide, Center for ,Data Analysis Report , The Heritage Foundation, available at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Abstinence/cda0304.cfm

[3] Hofferth S, Kahn J, Baldwin W, Premarital Sexual Activity Among U.S. Teenage Women over the Past Three Decades, Family Planning Perspectives, Volume 19, Number 2, March/April 1987.

[4] Teenage Pregnancy Statistics:National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, Guttmacher Institute, "Table 2.3 Rates of birth, abortion and pregnancy, per 1,000 women, and numbers of births, abortions, miscarriages, pregnancies and population, all among women aged 18-19, by year, 1972-2003", Page 6.

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BOSTON, March 6, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Boston's Cardinal Archbishop, Sean O'Malley has compared Canada's eroding legal protections for religious freedom with the case of a Lexington Massachusetts father who was denied by a school his right to opt his son out of state-prescribed sex-education classes."

"Cardinal O'Malley compares the Massachusetts case to the situation in Canada. He wrote, 'In Canada . . . They are already seeing the many different ways that people's religious rights are being trampled because of the redefinition of marriage.'"

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State "The First Amendment protects religion, not secularism"

By Peter J. Smith

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts, February 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Lawyers for parents aggrieved over material normalizing homosexual families taught to their children, argued that the Lexington school system's refusal to permit them to withdraw their primary school-age children violated their First Amendment Rights under the US Constitution."

"'The defendants have chosen to brazenly use tiny children's psyches to promote ideology over faith,' said lawyers for parents David and Tonia Parker, and Rob and Robin Wirthlin. The parents' requests to compromise and withdraw their children from homosexual material and discussions in the classroom were rebuffed by school officials, who claim a 'legitimate state interest' to normalise same-sex romantic relationships in the minds of schoolchildren."

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By Paul Weyrich

"One of the clearest measures of a society can be found in its public school system. For example, it is no accident that in totalitarian states, such as North Korea, what may be taught comes directly from the government. Children are indoctrinated early to believe their "Dear Leader" never is wrong even though many do not have enough food to eat. And in war-torn countries or those which are deeply divided by religious differences there are few, if any, functioning public schools."

"By contrast the United States has a proud history of public education for all of its children. Or at least it did. I have watched as American public schools have gone from generally good to abysmal because of the many changes in our society and because of government meddling. From forced school- busing to classes taught in every language except English, to removing "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, our State and Federal Governments have been butting into the business of local schools for more than 30 years and the schools are the worse for it."

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Parents say they have the right to pull students from lessons at odds with religious beliefs

Janet Steffenhagen, CanWest News Service

VANCOUVER -- "Thousands of British Columbians have signed petitions and sent letters to the Education Ministry insisting that parents be allowed to pull their children from public school lessons to avoid gay-friendly messages that conflict with religious or family values."

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"The Quebec Ministry of Education has told unlicensed Christian evangelical schools that they must teach Darwin's theory of evolution and sex education or close their doors..."

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"Parents say manual contains dangerously inaccurate 'safe sex' information"

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"BC's Province newspaper, reports that parents in BC may not be allowed to opt their children out of school programmes promoting the homosexual lifestyle under the rubric of 'respecting diversity'."

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"School children 11 years and older should be given compulsory classes promoting abortion as part of sex education, a ministers' advisory group has recommended."

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"Parents may even lose right to withdraw children from gay indoctrination program"

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MILLIKEN, Colorado, August 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "A teacher at a small private school in Colorado was fired after she refused to allow a 13-year-old student to leave class during an explicit classroom discussion about sex. Haley Aochi was told she would have to stay for the class even though her parents had requested that she be excused."

"Agape Press reports that the school's physical education teacher, Joel Chase, ignored the parents' request, and led his class in a discussion of sexual practices including his private views on dating."

"Knowledge Quest Academy in Milliken, a small community north of Denver, dismissed Chase after Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the school on behalf of the Aochis. Liberty Counsel president, Mat Staver, said that parents have the right to have their children educated according to their religious beliefs and moral principles."

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By Julie Farby - All Headline News

"A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that fewer U.S. high school students are having sex, and the ones who do are less likely to have multiple partners."

"According to the report, 46.8 percent of students say they engaged in sexual intercourse in a 2005 survey, down from 54.1 percent in 1991."

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Bowling Green, OH (LifeNews.com) - "A new study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence refutes a long-standing contention that teenagers are better able to handle an abortion than dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. The study finds that adolescent girls who have an abortion are five times more likely to seek help for psychological and emotional problems than those who keep their baby."

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"Songs depicting men as 'sex-driven studs,' women as sex objects and with explicit references to sex acts are more likely to trigger early sexual behavior than those where sexual references are more veiled and relationships appear more committed, the study found."

"Teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were teens who listened to little or no sexually degrading music."

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"Dr. Scott Lively warns about the legal liability school boards could face if they allow the classrooms to be used to indoctrinate children into believing that harmful, unhealthy, unnatural practices are 'acceptable'. Dr. Lively (who teaches law in California) notes that a few tort liability (he explains the term) lawsuits could bankrupt an entire school district."

The pdf file is available on-line at
http://www.abidingtruth.com/_docs/resources/2032505.pdf

By Gudrun Schultz

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "A medical journalist has added her voice to claims that the explosion in HIV/AIDS infection rates is directly linked to reliance on condom use as a virus preventative."

"Writing for Crisis Magazine, prize-winning investigative journalist Sue Ellin Browder said the growing consensus among public health professionals is that condoms should only be used as a last measure of protection for persons involved in extremely high-risk activity such as sex-trade work."

"Zenit News Agency reported yesterday on Browder's conclusions. 'So far, there's no good evidence that condoms will reverse population-wide epidemics like those in sub-Saharan Africa,' Browder wrote. She offered evidence that dramatic increases in condom distribution in African nations paralleled an explosion in HIV/AIDS infection rates within the population."

"Citing statistics from South Africa, Browder stated that condom distribution between 1994 and 1998 leaped to 198 million from 6 million, but death rates from HIV/AIDS in the years between 1997 and 2002 saw a massive 57 per cent increase."

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THE PHILIPPINES, June 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "An integrated sex-education program for high-school students is set to go ahead this year in the Philippines, despite strong opposition from the Church, reports the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News service. The program will integrate teaching on sexual matters into six different subject areas."

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by Steven Ertelt

Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- "The Wisconsin state House approved legislation that would require sex ed programs in public schools to promote abstinence as the preferred sexual behavior for teens... "

Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- "The Kansas state House added a measure to require teaching public high school students about abortion onto a state education funding bill. The House voted 74-49 to add the provision, which also includes teaching students about fetal development, to the bill. Under the measure, teachers would show photos of unborn children to students, discuss the medical risks associated with having an abortion, and provide students information about the pain a baby feels during an abortion. Pro-life groups support the measure saying it will help educate students, especially young women, about something they may confront."

"Many in Congress want a federal investigation into some condom-based programs being pitched to kids as young as 9. Twenty-one members of Congress are asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to determine if tax dollars should be spent on school programs that encourage sexual activity. There are at least 24 "comprehensive" - read: condom-promoting - sex-education programs sanctioned by the government and funded by taxpayers. Libby Macke, director of Project Reality, said those programs would make parents blush."

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Nurses will secretly refer for abortions, provide contraceptives and morning after pill

By Terry Vanderheyden

LONDON, March 25, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "A new UK policy will see nurses dispensing contraceptives to schoolchildren and referring girls for secret abortions in all schools - primary and secondary - across the nation."

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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study says that abstinence education has been responsible for helping reduce the poverty rate among African Americans...

NB Telegraph-Journal | Saint John
As published on page B1/B2 on March 3, 2006

Practice has been common among young teens for decades
By Sandra Davis
Telegraph-Journal

Girls as young as middle school age are trading sex for favours, Grade 9 high school students confirm.

The young women, who attend an Uptown high school, said the practice of young girls performing oral sex and masturbation on their male colleagues is fairly common and can start as young as Grade 7.

Couples engaging in the sex acts aren't even dating most of the time, the girls said.

"I remember one girl who had done it with eight different guys," said one young woman.

"Mostly girls do it to feel better about themselves. It makes them think someone wants them."

Earlier this week, the supervisor of guidance for Saint John-area schools acknowledged the issue of young girls using sex as a bargaining tool is a widespread problem.

The favour being sought can be as simple as a ride to the shopping mall.

The practice is nothing new.

Two years ago, a promising Prince Edward Island athlete was acquitted on a charge of inciting two girls under the age of 14 to touch him for sexual purposes. That trial was filled with revelations of routine casual oral sex involving male high school athletes and Grade 7 girls.

Some sociologists have suggested that sex in exchange for goods or favours has been happening between teens for decades.

Pull tabs from pop cans and labels from beer bottles have been considered sex tickets in the past.

Over the last five years, it's become coloured jelly bracelets, which Madonna started wearing 20 years ago.

The cheap bracelets have gained a wicked reputation because they're linked to an Internet game that involves the exchange of sexual favours. The game involves youngsters snapping a bracelet off another's wrist and expecting to receive a sexual favour. The colour of the bracelet dictates the sex act owed.

In many cases, the public response to the bracelets has been to ban them.

An Ipsos-Read survey for the Canadian Association for Adolescent Health found that one in four students believed that oral sex is a form of abstinence.

The survey is based on online responses from 1,171 interviews with teens aged 14 to 17.

NB Telegraph-Journal | Saint John
As published on page B1/B2 on March 2, 2006

Guidance counsellor says oral sex traded for such things as rides or cash to buy designer jeans

By Jeff Ducharme
Telegraph-Journal

Teenage prostitution may be grabbing headlines across the province, but the supervisor of guidance for the Saint John area says the bigger issue is female students trading oral sex for favours.

Young girls are using oral sex as a bargaining chip for a ride to the mall after school or to get enough money to buy a pair of designer jeans.

Susan Holmes has no intention of ignoring the issue. She has sent out e-mails to her 25 guidance counsellors throughout area schools in an effort to quantify the issue. The results aren't yet in, but she knows it's an issue.

"It doesn't matter about numbers," Ms. Holmes said Wednesday. "It matters about dealing with this. I know for sure that young girls are engaging in this behaviour - and boys."

"It's going on," said Ms. Holmes. "It takes quite a bit to get students to discuss this and I know it's a reality and I know it's out there.

"It's everywhere. It's in Prince Edward Island. It's in our world."

Ms. Holmes said the topic is avoided because it's a painful one.

"It is a hollowness in the young girls' spirit when they get involved this
way with their bodies," Ms. Holmes said.

She said it also leads to cutting behaviour - self-mutilation.

"When you are unhappy or hollow or displeased with some of the things you are participating in, sometimes the only way to express that negatively towards yourself is by what I think society would look at as an extreme and pathetic cry and it leaves our girls with scars in some cases."

Julie Dingwell of AIDS Saint John said she's heard the stories and it's a reality the community has to deal with.

"I think that whole exchange of oral sex for a favour happens among their peers in the high school," said Ms. Dingwell.

Getting the young girls to talk and attaching a number to the problem is the challenge.

"I don't think there's a young girl alive who's going to say 'I'm trading oral sex for an exam or something or an essay.' "

There's a fine line between panic and addressing such issues, Ms. Dingwell maintains.

"If we're too quick to pronounce a judgment, we often prevent people from talking to us."

But Kelly Steeves of Moncton's PEERS (Prostitutes Empowerment Education Resource Society), takes the opposite approach.

"Because people are becoming aware of it, we have to pull our heads out of the sand," said Ms. Steeves. "I think we should panic, parents should panic."

District 6 superintendent Zoe Watson hasn't heard of sex being traded for favours by any of her students in the Rothesay to Sussex area. But she does know that students are involved in sexual behaviour that some parents would rather not hear about.

"From talking to teachers and talking to people that work in the sexual health centres, they were saying that our students are involved in oral sex and that many of these girls don't see this as having sex," said Mrs. Watson.

An Ipsos-Read survey for the Canadian Association for Adolescent Health found that one in four students believed that oral sex is a form of abstinence. The survey is based on online responses from 1,171 interviews with teens aged 14 to 17.

Ms. Holmes says it's a discussion that occurs at the peer level rather than making it to the ears of a guidance councilor or parent.

"Unfortunately that's where the biggest problem lies in that our children are talking to other children and they're not bringing adults into the loop," said Ms. Holmes.

Eventually, says Ms. Holmes, she intends to meet with young women at various schools and orchestrate an open discussion on the topic.

"I don't think it's a wake-up call for parents, I think it's a wake-up call for the community "... We all need to wrap around our kids."

by Gail Besse

BOSTON - "Theresa Breguet's 7-year-old son could be exposed to a radical sex education program if Massachusetts lawmakers enact two bills backed by Planned Parenthood."

"Under the proposal, 4- to 11-year-olds will be taught the "correct terminology for sexual orientation (such as heterosexual and gay and lesbian) "and be able to 'describe different types of families,' according to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework. Students from 14-18 will learn about 'possible determinants of sexual orientation' and confidentiality laws concerning 'reproductive health problems.'"

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By Gudrun Schultz

MONTREAL, Quebec, February 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Canadian teenagers view parents as their primary source for information on sex and healthy sexuality, a new Ipsos-Reid poll reveals."

"In a survey jointly conducted by the Canadian Association for Adolescent Health (CAAH) and Ipsos on the sexual behavior and knowledge of teenagers, researchers were startled to discover that a majority of teenagers identified their parents as the most valuable resource for information on sex."

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by Rebecca Hagelin

"Choosing how your children are educated should be as routine in America as the ability to choose your neighborhood, your church and your place of employment."

"It stuns me that in 2006, the vast majority of students in failing schools are still trapped there. My husband and I have enjoyed the marvelous blessing of choosing freely between private schools, public schools and home schooling for our children. Yet, the reality for most parents is no real choice at all."

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By Gudrun Schultz

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario, February 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Parents with children in private religious schools will get help with tuition fees if the Progressive Conservatives are elected in next year's election, PC leader John Tory said yesterday."

"Speaking at a policy conference in Niagara Falls, Mr. Tory said the financial assistance would most likely take the form of tax credits for parents."

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