abstinence-only education

ABC's of STD's

Tallahassee, FL (WTXL)--Next month is STD awareness month and it's needed because STD rates are on the rise among teens.  According to the center for disease control each year, there are approximately 19 million new STD infections, and almost half of them are among youth aged 15 to 24. ABC 27's Lauren Dorsett takes a look at the prevalence of STD's among teens in our area, and the challenges in changing risky behavior.

Proposed bill would bring contraceptive education to schools

Florida knows more about the pitfalls of unsafe sex than most any other state.

The state ranked third from the top in the number of teen births per state in 2006. It had more abortions than 42 of 44 other states reporting data in 2005, and it had more cumulative AIDS cases than 47 other states in 2007.

Volusia to expand sex-ed curriculum

By LINDA TRIMBLE
Education writer

DELAND -- Sex education classes in Volusia County schools are about to be expanded to include information on birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases beginning in eighth grade.

Editorial: Failure to reduce children having children extremely costly; socially, financially

February 2, 2009 

Concerned health experts are scratching their heads trying to determine why the nation's teen birth rate suddenly increased after declining for about 15 years.

Various claims have put the blame on abstinence-only education; on comprehensive sex education; the media, including TV and movies, for glamorizing young mothers; and on demographic and cultural changes.

Most, however, seem to agree that pre-teens must become more aware about the consequences of teen pregnancy and births.

Letter to the Editor: Teach What Works

Abstinence-only programs are ineffective and put our youth at risk.

A study of some of the strongest abstinence-only programs by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health provided further evidence.

The study showed that teenagers who pledge to remain abstinent until marriage were just as likely to engage in sexual activity as those who do not make this pledge.

Even more alarming, those who made "virginity pledges" were significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control.

Letter to the Editor: Keep Teens Healthy

Miami Herald, January 8, 2009

Re: the Jan. 7 story U.S. teen birth rates end 14-year drop:

Amid the news that teen birth rates rose after a 14-year decline, Planned Parenthood again calls on elected officials to support the Healthy Teens Act. This common-sense legislation will help ensure that teens receive the information they need to protect themselves against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

Teen birth rates up in 26 states

The newest and most detailed data on teen birth rates shows significant increases in 26 states and represents most regions of the USA.

"To see 26 states with statistically significant increases is fairly remarkable," says Paul Sutton, a demographer with the National Center for Health Statistics, which released the data Wednesday. "We're seeing increases in both the number of teens having births and also the rate at which they are having births. Both of them are going up."

CDC: Mississippi has highest teen birth rate

ATLANTA -- Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen birth rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, a new federal report says.

Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, according to new state statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The teen birth rate for that year in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher.

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