Report Teen births up for first time in 15 years

[Hero]

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education.

The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. On Wednesday, government statisticians said it rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006.

The reason for the increase is not clear, and federal health officials said it might be a one-year statistical blip, not the beginning of a new upward trend.

However, some experts said they have been expecting a jump. They attributed it to increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education that doesn't teach teens how to use condoms and other contraception.

Teen births in US go up for first time in 15 years - Taipei Times

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Wow..that is just messed up..I wonder why so many births

 

[Miz]

My moms a health teacher and I can anwser that
They been trying to cut health in high school and middle school nation wide...
Like we need more fat people

 

[Prometheus]

Most of the time it seems the girls think "Oh, one time won't do it." and don't use a condom but it then happens.
There are 3 girls on my bus with children and many in my school.

 

[Idontknowyou]

Abstinance education might work if sex wasn't promoted so much by the media = \

 

[TheDamien]

Abstinence education will not work and never has, regardless of the Media.

Promoting the benefits of safe sex at schools and giving teenagers easy and anonymous access to condoms is the most reliable strategy.

 

[Newbwc3]

Most of the time it seems the girls think "Oh, one time won't do it." and don't use a condom but it then happens.
There are 3 girls on my bus with children and many in my school.

yep, theres alot of ppl with children at my school too. :/

 

[Idontknowyou]

Abstinence education will not work and never has, regardless of the Media.

Promoting the benefits of safe sex at schools and giving teenagers easy and anonymous access to condoms is the most reliable strategy.

Well it works a hell alot better than telling people to have sex does it not?

 

[Miz]

safe sex sometimes doesn't work
if it used correctly you still have a 2% chance of something happening

 

[WolSHaman]

Well it works a hell alot better than telling people to have sex does it not?

Please... if teens are considering sex, only about 1% of them will actually consider abstinence because a school taught it, I know that me and most of my friends don't really care about school, and don't listen to what they teach in most other cases, so why would they care about the school teaching sex? It would be far better to hand out birth control and teach safe sex practices, and this doesn't 'encourage' teens to have sex, it merely says if you wish to have sex, here's how to have it safely.

 

[Idontknowyou]

when I said "telling them to", I meant that we are being bombarded with pro sex advertisements, are we not?

really though, should people really be treating childbirth as if it's a curse?

 

[Rheias]

> really though, should people really be treating childbirth as if it's a curse?

At that age? Certainly. Having a kid in high-school is not a good idea. Expect your life to be hard unless you got a supportive family.

 

[Ninva]

really though, should people really be treating childbirth as if it's a curse?

More people in the world usually means less jobs, more homeless, more deaths, and more war. Sounds like a curse to me.

 

[Idontknowyou]

More people in the world usually means less jobs, more homeless, more deaths, and more war. Sounds like a curse to me.

Ah, so you're against birth in general then? Maybe if we want less people in the world we should start doing some cleansing; in fact, lets start sending the people we don't want to special camps.
( seriously though, wheres the logic in preventing life in order to prevent death?)

At that age? Certainly. Having a kid in high-school is not a good idea. Expect your life to be hard unless you got a supportive family.

I agree it does mess up your life, but there's a certain happiness to having a child; and maybe teen birth wouldn't be a problem if teen mothers had more support from thier families.

 

[TheDamien]

Teenage pregnancy is almost certainly a negative thing:

1. Pregnancy is embarrassing, uncomfortable and demanding.
2. As Ninva pointed out, there are quite a few human beings as it is (though one more hardly makes a difference).
3. By giving birth, you are forcing upon a person the horrors of life much in the same a murderer forces upon a person the horrors of death.
4. It is almost impossible to balance effective parenting and childcare with the demands of high school and university.
5. Shame and family issues are common with teenage pregnancies.

Well it works a hell alot better than telling people to have sex does it not?

Ironically it might not.

Though I agree that there is too much sex in the media, the only thing we can do at the moment is encourage safe sex and give access to condoms.

 

[Idontknowyou]

By giving birth, you are forcing upon a person the horrors of life much in the same a murderer forces upon a person the horrors of death

an interesting point, it makes you sound almost suicidal...... do you not think that life is a good thing? or would you rather not exist?

It is almost impossible to balance effective parenting and childcare with the demands of high school and university.

difficult, but I would hardly put it as "almost impossible", my sister had her son when she was 18 and she is in college, she's almost a teacher actually.

Shame and family issues are common with teenage pregnancies

I agree, families should support thier pregnant daughters instead of shunning them.

 

[TheDamien]

an interesting point, it makes you sound almost suicidal...... do you not think that life is a good thing? or would you rather not exist?

If I was suicidal I would probably be dead. This is not the case and I am quite satisfied with my existence. Many people though, are unhappy, lonely or dissatisfied. To me it seems that existence, on the whole, contains more negative potential than positive.

 

[Idontknowyou]

Yea, there is more depression than happiness, but the average person values thier life. anyways, what I've been trying to point out is that new life is too valuable to be wished away or to be considered a burden; I'm not saying that it's wise to become pregnant when young, but it shouldn't be considered shameful or "life ending".




hmm, I'm suprised there's nobody suggesting abortion. I'm not sure if I shouuld be happy at the laack of it, or disapointed that I can't debate with them = \

 

[esb]

I have a few friends that are pregnant. Their family supports them, it's not emberrasing, and they still go to school. (They will stop for the labor and some of them will come back, others won't depending on who will take care of the baby)

 

[Karawasa]

No one in their right mind would have a kid while in their teens. Good luck making something of yourself with the increased financial burden.

 

[Rad]

When I was in high school the majority of kids who became pregnant also were into drugs/alcohol. Its pretty obvious who is into it when you know 80% of the people there...

It makes sense, those people go out and party, probably get drunk etc. Shouldn't be happening that young though, but it does and always will. Not the schools fault. Those people bring it on themselves.

The people who actually have a somewhat established relationship and get pregnant could have benefited by those classes.

Its not really knowing what you're doing, its just complete irresponsibility. Not a single teen who is having a child was thinking of how they would raise their child when it was conceived.