News Flash: Girls don’t get pregnant by themselves
Teen pregnancy rates in the United States are up for the first time in years. The New York Times attributed this sad finding to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit research group:
While teenage pregnancy rates for whites remain far lower than for blacks and Hispanics, the pregnancy rates increased for all three groups.
As previously reported, births to young women ages 15 to 19 — a statistic that is available more quickly than pregnancy and abortion data — rose from 2005 to 2006, and again from 2006 to 2007.
Since the teenage pregnancy rate is made up of births, abortions and miscarriages, it is likely that the teenage pregnancy rate rose from 2006 to 2007, as well.
The Guttmacher Institute blames abstinence-only programs for this scary trend. Teens are less likely to use contraception now that over a billion dollars has been spent on telling them not to have sex. Teen abortions are up by one percent.
On Tuesday’s The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, missing the point, proclaimed that we can reverse the pregnancy rate by telling girls to say no. Once a girl has had sex, she said, the girl perceives herself as “a girl who has sex,” but she should know that she still has the right to say no.
But, Elisabeth and other promoters of the GIRLS MUST SAY NO solution to teen pregnancy don’t take into account that girls, like boys, are highly sexual beings. It’s hard enough for a girl to deny her own inclinations, yet we expect her to do that and take responsibility for her boyfriend’s, as well.
So, here’s an idea: Why don’t we teach our sons to say no? Teach them from a very early age that sex is special and meant to be shared with only another very special person? In other words, what would happen if we raised our sons to “respect themselves” and “not give their bodies away,” the way we raise our daughters?
What if we raise our daughters to view boys who sleep around as “cheap” and “not the kind of fellow you bring home to mother,” instead of playboys, playas, and ladies’ men?
Girls are subject to the same temptations as boys. Sex is not a boy’s thing that a girl gives into because she wants to be loved, or because she suffers from low-self-esteem. Sometimes she needs someone to stop her before things get out of hand. Let’s lose the ‘boys will be boys’ mentality and help a girl out.
It isn’t wrong at all to teach and continually encourage BOTH boys and girls to avoid intercourse until their adults and can better handle an unplanned pregnancy or an STD should they be foolish enough to choose partners poorly and not use contraceptives properly, if at all. Even teenagers can be taught to understand responsibility and consequences of their actions and how society at-large will have to pay for their carelessness and immaturity. Condoms and other contraceptives are EASILY available and yet there is still a problem with teen pregnancy, so “experts” can claim that abstinence doesn’t work all they want to, but guess what? Neither does more contraceptive education! Teenagers need education on morality and how to respect themselves and others, develop a sense of self-value and make goals for their life, and be given incentive to work part-time or volunteer to avoid having too much spare time on “idle” hands. Then I’ll bet you’d see a decrease in teen pregnancy because they wouldn’t have the time or desire to be pre-occupied with sex while they are still growing up.
What if we raise our daughters to view boys who sleep around as “cheap” and “not the kind of fellow you bring home to mother,” instead of playboys, playas, and ladies’ men?
Awesome article Terry ! Agree with every word of your’s !
You have made some excellent points here. This is a big problem and wont go away by itself