Angela Valenzuelac/s
Showing posts with label teenage pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teenage pregnancy. Show all posts
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Research-Based Policy Recommendations for Executive and Legislative Officials in 2017
Related to my last post, I am happy to share this resource, as well, from Child Trends titled, Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Research-Based Policy Recommendations for Executive and Legislative Officials in 2017.
Angela Valenzuelac/s
@naraltx @naral #TX4access #LatEdPolicy #TxEd #Texas #Latina
Angela Valenzuelac/s
What passes for sex ed in some Texas schools makes ignorance look pretty good
In any case, it's tragic that Texas has one of the highest out-of-wedlock rates in the country. Here is a U.S. Government Department of Health and Human Services report that shows, among other things, a particularly high rate among Latina females of out-of-wedlock births as follows:
Texas was ranked 5 out of 51 (50 states + the District of Columbia) on 2011 final teen births rates among females aged 15-19 (with 1 representing the highest rate and 51 representing the lowest rate).RH1 On a similar scale – where 1 is the highest teen pregnancy rate and 51 is the lowest – Texas was ranked 3 out of 51 (50 states + the District of Columbia) in pregnancies to females aged 15- 19 in 2008.RH2
We simply need not just sex education, but research-based sex education together with the reproductive right of access to birth control taught by both schools and parents in order for our young women to avoid teen pregnancy.
Moreover, they should be provided this training and guidance at an early age regarding topics related to sex education, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion (STDs), and contraceptives.
We need to build up children's self-esteem, socioemotional development, and reproductive knowledge in the context of caring and communicative relationships. We adults must do all that we can to help them understand that a responsible sex life is only possible once they have an adequate level of physical, psychological and emotional maturity.
We also need to build up our young people's sense of efficacy in the public policy arena so that they, too can advocate for themselves. In this vein, this is a crucial read of efforts currently under way in the Texas State Legislature: Reproductive Rights Advocates Prepare for the Fight
Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, called on the Lege to support a trio of women’s health bills she’s filed, including HB 222, which seeks to decrease high teen pregnancy rates by expanding birth control coverage under the Children’s Health Insurance Plan and HB 941, which would introduce a long-acting reversible contraceptive pilot program to high schools, with parental consent. Texas has one of the highest teen pregnancy birth rates and the highest rate of repeat teen births, noted Howard. And an estimated 80% of teen births are paid for by Medicaid, said Howard, a hefty weight on taxpayers.
Another Howard bill addressing a dreadful practice by health care providers is HB 262,
which allows doctors to avoid giving patients medically inaccurate information mandated by the state, such as the error-riddled “A Woman’s Right to Know” booklet, handed to women considering abortion. “The state is forcing health care providers to make, basically, Sophie’s Choice – either ignore their medical training and ethical obligations or be in violation of the law. That’s an outrageous demand,” said Howard.
It's no wonder that sex education in Texas for youth is similarly compromised when it is delivered to our youth (see story below).
Happy to share this resource, as well, from Child Trends titled, Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Research-Based Policy Recommendations for Executive and Legislative Officials in 2017.
Continue reading here and think of how you might contribute, including reaching out to your representatives to weigh in on these and other related bill proposals.
If you do not know who represents you, click here to find out.
Angela Valenzuelac/s
Sadly, in Texas, ignorance is sometimes bliss.
In the case of plain medical information about human sexuality, absolute cluelessness may actually beat the alternative.
The headlines were bad enough: This week, findings were disclosed showing that most Texas schools stubbornly resist teaching students even the most basic, no-nonsense facts about sex.
The comprehensive survey was disclosed by Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning outfit that supports the groundbreaking notion that knowledge and information can help people make intelligent choices.
It showed that as of the last academic year, a quarter of the state's public schools now sidestep the icky business of sex ed entirely by teaching nothing at all. Since the state dropped a graduation requirement for health education a few years ago, plenty of districts decided to dispense with the always contentious topic entirely.
If there was any good news in this survey, it was that the minority of schools teaching what's referred to as information-based "abstinence-plus," which might be summed up as "here's how sex works and don't do it," is now a larger minority, about 16 percent.
But most Texas schools — almost 60 percent — still rely on "abstinence-only" education: The laughable and provably bogus conceit that if all you tell teenagers about sex is that it's bad and don't do it, it will never, ever cross their minds again.
Which is why, of course, our state has a persistently (and shamefully) higher-than-average rate of teen pregnancy. Despite widespread studies that show providing teens with medically accurate, science-based information helps them make smarter decisions, most Texas school districts are leaving kids with a frustrating dearth of plain facts.
This discouraging assessment was found in the study's executive summary, which was quickly translated into news blurbs. But reading further in, there's a whole subset of dismaying findings that didn't make the headlines.
And that's some of the outdated stereotypes and outright misinformation presented as so-called "fact" in some of the abstinence-only curriculum used by some districts.
"It is difficult to know who is better off," the Texas Freedom Network report says. "Students who get no sex education, or students who get fear- and shame-based, abstinence-only education."
Well, consider anecdotes like these, cited in the study:
— Abstinence-only programs that bombard students with "a persistent message: Contraception doesn't work," and characterize the use of contraceptives as "high risk behavior" similar to drug use or unprotected sex.
— One program tells kids that hepatitis B can be spread "by kissing." This is simply not true.
— Programs that show revolting images of diseased genitalia and malformed babies caused by untreated sexually transmitted diseases, with no information provided about screening or treatment that can prevent such worst-case outcomes.
— Programs with a complete absence of discussion of LGBT issues, a pretense that gay people do not exist. The worst of these programs, though, go beyond mere misinformation: They stray into dangerous stereotypes about gender roles, sexual responsibility and the value of virginal "purity" — especially for women.
One West Texas school district uses abstinence curricula developed by a local "pregnancy crisis" (read: anti-abortion) center. Students there are informed — and I am not making this up, I swear — that "men are meant to pursue" women, while women are "meant to be impressed" by men. Girls, it continues, should just "shut up and be mysterious" in order to captivate boys.
"A woman's job is to let a boy/man impress you! Not the other way around," this helpful guide explains.
Other programs are even more explicit in their dogged promotion of gender roles fresh out of the 1950s. Nonvirgins are portrayed as "dirty" or "used"; in one Panhandle district, some parents complained after sexually active students were compared to used toothbrushes or chewing gum.
Others promote the frankly dangerous idea that boys cannot control their sexual urges, so it is up to girls to make sure they aren't tempted or aroused.
"Be aware of situations that might cause others to misinterpret your behavior," reads a handout distributed in one San Antonio-area district. "An example would be a girl dancing provocatively or a girl wearing expressive, body-exposing clothing."
Examples of misinterpretable behavior on the part of boys are not listed.
Still another program offers the technical analogy that boys are "like microwaves" that heat up quickly, while girls are "slow cookers" who care more about emotional relationships.
"These comparisons suggest that women are the gatekeepers of male sexuality — that they are responsible for controlling the behavior of overheated men, who are naturally sexual beings," the report says. "Boys will be boys, after all, with virtually no self-control."
This would be a hilarious trip back to Leave It To Beaver land if it weren't so insulting and damaging.
But it is.
Telling girls that it's their fault if boys "misinterpret" their intentions sounds an awful lot like saying she asked for it, like saying she shouldn't have put herself in that situation, like saying she deserved what she got.
It sounds like lies. And Texas schools that tell them should know better.
In the case of plain medical information about human sexuality, absolute cluelessness may actually beat the alternative.
The headlines were bad enough: This week, findings were disclosed showing that most Texas schools stubbornly resist teaching students even the most basic, no-nonsense facts about sex.
The comprehensive survey was disclosed by Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning outfit that supports the groundbreaking notion that knowledge and information can help people make intelligent choices.
It showed that as of the last academic year, a quarter of the state's public schools now sidestep the icky business of sex ed entirely by teaching nothing at all. Since the state dropped a graduation requirement for health education a few years ago, plenty of districts decided to dispense with the always contentious topic entirely.
If there was any good news in this survey, it was that the minority of schools teaching what's referred to as information-based "abstinence-plus," which might be summed up as "here's how sex works and don't do it," is now a larger minority, about 16 percent.
But most Texas schools — almost 60 percent — still rely on "abstinence-only" education: The laughable and provably bogus conceit that if all you tell teenagers about sex is that it's bad and don't do it, it will never, ever cross their minds again.
Which is why, of course, our state has a persistently (and shamefully) higher-than-average rate of teen pregnancy. Despite widespread studies that show providing teens with medically accurate, science-based information helps them make smarter decisions, most Texas school districts are leaving kids with a frustrating dearth of plain facts.
This discouraging assessment was found in the study's executive summary, which was quickly translated into news blurbs. But reading further in, there's a whole subset of dismaying findings that didn't make the headlines.
And that's some of the outdated stereotypes and outright misinformation presented as so-called "fact" in some of the abstinence-only curriculum used by some districts.
"It is difficult to know who is better off," the Texas Freedom Network report says. "Students who get no sex education, or students who get fear- and shame-based, abstinence-only education."
Well, consider anecdotes like these, cited in the study:
— Abstinence-only programs that bombard students with "a persistent message: Contraception doesn't work," and characterize the use of contraceptives as "high risk behavior" similar to drug use or unprotected sex.
— One program tells kids that hepatitis B can be spread "by kissing." This is simply not true.
— Programs that show revolting images of diseased genitalia and malformed babies caused by untreated sexually transmitted diseases, with no information provided about screening or treatment that can prevent such worst-case outcomes.
— Programs with a complete absence of discussion of LGBT issues, a pretense that gay people do not exist. The worst of these programs, though, go beyond mere misinformation: They stray into dangerous stereotypes about gender roles, sexual responsibility and the value of virginal "purity" — especially for women.
One West Texas school district uses abstinence curricula developed by a local "pregnancy crisis" (read: anti-abortion) center. Students there are informed — and I am not making this up, I swear — that "men are meant to pursue" women, while women are "meant to be impressed" by men. Girls, it continues, should just "shut up and be mysterious" in order to captivate boys.
"A woman's job is to let a boy/man impress you! Not the other way around," this helpful guide explains.
Other programs are even more explicit in their dogged promotion of gender roles fresh out of the 1950s. Nonvirgins are portrayed as "dirty" or "used"; in one Panhandle district, some parents complained after sexually active students were compared to used toothbrushes or chewing gum.
Others promote the frankly dangerous idea that boys cannot control their sexual urges, so it is up to girls to make sure they aren't tempted or aroused.
"Be aware of situations that might cause others to misinterpret your behavior," reads a handout distributed in one San Antonio-area district. "An example would be a girl dancing provocatively or a girl wearing expressive, body-exposing clothing."
Examples of misinterpretable behavior on the part of boys are not listed.
Still another program offers the technical analogy that boys are "like microwaves" that heat up quickly, while girls are "slow cookers" who care more about emotional relationships.
"These comparisons suggest that women are the gatekeepers of male sexuality — that they are responsible for controlling the behavior of overheated men, who are naturally sexual beings," the report says. "Boys will be boys, after all, with virtually no self-control."
This would be a hilarious trip back to Leave It To Beaver land if it weren't so insulting and damaging.
But it is.
Telling girls that it's their fault if boys "misinterpret" their intentions sounds an awful lot like saying she asked for it, like saying she shouldn't have put herself in that situation, like saying she deserved what she got.
It sounds like lies. And Texas schools that tell them should know better.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity
This is bad news about teen pregnancy rates in Texas from the Guttmacher Institute. Read on [pdf].
-Angela
-Angela
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Teens have sex despite abstinence education, study says
This makes sense. MORE education about these issues means MORE and BETTER protection and decision-making. Growing up, I remember how it was always the good girls that got in trouble. So many of our children already "know" about such things as having sex, but more through fragmented and incomplete, mostly t.v.- and movie-based information rather than through a deliberate consideration of sexual behavior, sexuality, choices, and options. Plus, as suggested here, it's not either/or, but rather both/and. Kids can and should get the abstinence message, but in itself and to the exclusion of more comprehensive info, this is no substitute for in-depth information which in the end, makes adults more realistic and thus credible to them anyway. I've got a teenager of my own. Can't pull any wool over her eyes so it makes sense to lay it all out in a thoughtful, credible, and loving manner. -Angela
Teens have sex despite abstinence education, study says
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press writer
10:10 AM CST, November 7, 2007
WASHINGTON
Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.
"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.
The report, which was based on a review of research into teen sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."
"Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect," said the report.
A spending bill before Congress for the Department of Health and Human Services would provide $141 million in assistance for community-based, abstinence-only sex education programs, $4 million more than what President Bush had requested.
The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called "myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates" including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiation of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.
None of these was found to be accurate, Kirby wrote.
Instead, he wrote, such programs improved teens' knowledge about the risks and consequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and gave them greater "confidence in their ability to say 'no' to unwanted sex."
The sponsors of the study praised Kirby for his "thorough research" and for being "fair and evenhanded," but they also acknowledged that ETR Associates developed and markets several of the sex education curricula reviewed in the report. Several of the previous studies that were reviewed also were written by Kirby.
The report noted that there continues to be "too high levels of sexual risk-taking among teens" with 47 percent of all high schools students reporting having sex at least once and 63 percent saying they have engaged in sex by the spring semester of their senior year.
"Many teenagers do not use contraceptives carefully and consistently," said the report. About 40 of every 1,000 girls age 15 to 19 gave birth in 2005, the last year for which data was available, the report said.
AP-WS-11-06-07 1946ESTƒo
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Teens have sex despite abstinence education, study says
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press writer
10:10 AM CST, November 7, 2007
WASHINGTON
Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.
"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.
The report, which was based on a review of research into teen sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."
"Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect," said the report.
A spending bill before Congress for the Department of Health and Human Services would provide $141 million in assistance for community-based, abstinence-only sex education programs, $4 million more than what President Bush had requested.
The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called "myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates" including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiation of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.
None of these was found to be accurate, Kirby wrote.
Instead, he wrote, such programs improved teens' knowledge about the risks and consequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and gave them greater "confidence in their ability to say 'no' to unwanted sex."
The sponsors of the study praised Kirby for his "thorough research" and for being "fair and evenhanded," but they also acknowledged that ETR Associates developed and markets several of the sex education curricula reviewed in the report. Several of the previous studies that were reviewed also were written by Kirby.
The report noted that there continues to be "too high levels of sexual risk-taking among teens" with 47 percent of all high schools students reporting having sex at least once and 63 percent saying they have engaged in sex by the spring semester of their senior year.
"Many teenagers do not use contraceptives carefully and consistently," said the report. About 40 of every 1,000 girls age 15 to 19 gave birth in 2005, the last year for which data was available, the report said.
AP-WS-11-06-07 1946ESTƒo
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
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