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I conducted an interview to see how parents felt about the decision to distribute birth control pills to young girls. Click on the link below to hear the interview.
Mobile post sent by Kristen using Utterz. Replies. mp3
This generation of kids doesn’t listen to their parents and other adults about what clothing to wear or what movies not to see or how they should wear their hair. Why, then, would they listen when the parents and adults are telling them not to engage in sexual activities at a young age?
In a recent article by the Associated Press, they reported that abstinence education is not working.
“At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners” among teenagers, the study concluded.
This is not to say that sex education as a whole is a failure. It is reasonably ridiculous to think that telling kids to not have sex is going to make them not have sex. A more comprehensive education about sex has been proven to delay the initiation of sex and convince kids to use protection and use it the right way.
Teen pregnancy nationwide is on the rise. A school in Portland, Maine took a very drastic measure to help reduce teen pregnancies, and the majority of parents think it is a good idea. Giving kids between the ages of 11 and 14 birth control may seem more than drastic. It may seem down right crazy. However, an 11 year old mother seems crazier to me than an 11 year old on a birth control pill.
Abstinence is a great idea. It’s a great plan. But it’s not realistic. We were all kids at one point. Abstinence cannot be a solution for things like peer pressure and hormones. These are inevitable events in a child’s life. Instead of pretending that kids don’t experience feelings they can’t control or they don’t face the pressure to have sex, programs, like Portland, Maine’s, offer help and guidance.
You have to decide at the end of day whether you would rather have a grandchild at the age of 31 or have the dreaded “sex talk” with your kids a little earlier than you were planning to. Realize that you can help your kids and prevent a pregnancy that did not have to be.
