Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate in 10 Years

The Juno Factor: Why Is Teen Pregnancy on the Rise?

January 28, 2010

Source: Getty

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Is Abstinence Education Good or Bad?

Proponents of abstinence argue that we're not enforcing the concept enough. Those opposed to teaching abstinence believe that kids will eventually falter and they will lack the knowledge required to practice safe sex, which leads to more unwanted pregnancies.

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by babysugar 14

Is Abstinence Education Good or Bad?

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14 Comments

2 years 17 weeks

I agree that it stems from a lack of proper education in schools and from parents who either don't talk to their kids about sex or preach abstinence only. The few teen moms that I knew were raised by pretty strict Catholic families who only preached abstinence so the girls were too afraid to even try to get birth control (which is also a sin in Catholicism). I do also think that certain things in the media contribute to this. I am guilty of watching 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, but both of these shows make it look cool to be a teen mom. They show some of the hardships, but it's glamorized for the most part. The same goes for movies like Juno.

3 years 7 weeks

Alright, kids are influenced by celebraties, and tv, Internet, people around them, and everything else you can think of. But we can't get rid of these. We'll never be able to stop teens from having sex. Even sex Ed isn't always going to work. So what do we do? We should prepare girls the minute they get their first period. We can't stop them, because the more we try, the more they'll rebel. Condoms, and birth control when they hit 15. It's the best we can do.

3 years 14 weeks

I believe the media has alot to do with it. When you look at comercials, TV, music industry, you will notice that sex sells. Sex is selling products and music. It's everywhere and explicit. This will especially effect the younger generation. When all our celbrities started having kids left and right, people began talking about baby fashion, which celebrity had what and how much. It subconsciencely became the talk. When you look at videos, we tend to see sex involved with the video. Sex is selling and it's every where. Teens are more explicit about what they do and how many people they do it with. Subconsciencely, this is what they begin to see and internalize as being ok and expose themselves to taking a chance of getting pregnant.

runningesq 3 years 15 weeks

So many factors, but I'd say lack of education (a REAL, comprehensive sexual education) and lack of easily accessible birth control/ contraception.

Isista 3 years 15 weeks

Blame media, now that's ridiculous. If I listened to media, I would have grown up looking for my prince charming and believing things like dragons exist. Please. Enforce sex education and get parents to actually talk to their kids, and they will be strong enough to make their own decisions in an intelligent manner as opposed to following the media.

3 years 15 weeks

Blame Bush! ridiculous

3 years 15 weeks

I went to Catholic high school that preached/taught abstinence education and I graduated with 2 pregnant girls. I think it's lack of education from the parents and school systems.

3 years 15 weeks

I don't blame it on the media. I blame it on parents who don't talk to their children effectively about sex, the avoidance of education within schools about contraceptives, and the idea of abstinence being strictly for religious reasons. *I get irritated at the last because I am not abstinent for religion, I'm abstinent because I don't want to take the risk and end up paying for a child.

bryseana 3 years 15 weeks

I don't think it can be blamed on the media. Almost all of my friends were teen moms and that was way before "Juno". The one thing they all had in common was a poor or non-existent relationship with their fathers and no older brothers protecting them. Maybe it has more to do with the family dynamic than anything else.

3 years 15 weeks

I always felt that teenage pregnancy is largely due to a lack of real education and attention in our schools and at home. When many of these young ladies don't have true goals set in life, because they have simply been dragged along through school, their sense of self fails. So they don't have a reason to believe that they are important enough to wait or protect themselves because they have better things to come.

3 years 15 weeks

i think teen pregnancy is on the rise because president george w. bush mandate that sex education would be comprised of abstinance education and nothing else and this happened in 2001 or 2002. and we are seeing the ramifications of this now.

cherryblossom 3 years 15 weeks

Personally I think its a mixture of how over sexed tv, music, and the rest of the media industries are, which teach children to be fashionable and sexy and flirtatious from a younger age, they have no time of innocence now really if you think about it. Also people teach kids how to use computers way to early in their life the internet should not be for children.Not to sound anti girl power or anything but, lets face it, these times of women being gung ho in the work place probably arent helping considering its important that they are there to set an example for their daughters. Instead this whole generation of kids are basically left to their own devices for the sake of their parents making more money. Next we have abstinence only sexual education, come on seriously? Like that was going to work.

3 years 15 weeks

I think it has to do with a bit of everything mentioned. There needs to be better birth control education, with far less people sticking their heads in the sand, but we also need to strongly encourage abstinance. We need to educate people on the reasons why it's best to wait, but if you don't wait, you should know what to do to best protect yourself from pregnancy and disease. We should encourage kids to be aware of their choices and to also understand the sometimes those choices change in "the heat of the moment" and that you need to be prepared for that and not take unnecessary risks. I'd love to see parents talking with their kids more, and talking to them younger! I have an almost 7 year old, almost 4 year old and a 14 month old and we've already begun talking about these things with them but on their level. Talking about parts and what they're for and what they are really called, and teaching them that for now those parts are only for them, but when they are grown that they do get shared. And that the vagina is where a baby comes out. When my kids ask me questions, I give them honest truthful true answers, but at their level. Several of my friends and me were all expecting our last babies at about the same time and there were lots of questions like why did Chase come out of his mom's tummy with a surgery and where did my baby sister come from, and why did you go to the hospital and Sue didn't? We simply told them the answers without going too far into them. Kids are very happy to have the truth, and I don't believe we should keep it from them.

jransom94 3 years 15 weeks

I think teen pragnancy is on the rise, because Mothers are not who they use to be. I remember the old saying like never before. It takes a village to raise a child; now in days the village is a battle field and it's taking a tow on young teens today. I have a 13 year old niece who's giving birth today. Did I mention she's 13. I know it's sad