There's A Reason For Texas' High Teen Pregnancy Rate

Texas ranks third in the nation for having a high teen pregnancy rate (73 out of every 1000), behind New Mexico (80) and Mississippi (76). And it leads the nation in the rate of second teen pregnancies. Obviously, the state leaders are doing something wrong.

The charts above are from a new report from the Texas Freedom Network. They give us a good idea of why the teen pregnancy rate is so high in Texas. Texas schools are failing to teach real sex education. About 83.4% of Texas schools teach abstinence only (58.3%) or nothing at all (25.1%).

This is because the Republicans have a stranglehold on state government, and they support abstinence only (or no sex education at all) in an effort to pander to the large number of fundamentalist christians in their base. These fundamentalists have the silly notion that if sex is not mentioned, then teens will not learn of it and have premarital sex.

The truth is far different. Teens are not stupid. They know sex exists, and just telling them not to engage in it is futile. What teens need is the knowledge that comes with real sex education -- knowledge that can prevent teen pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases. By not providing them with that knowledge, schools (and political leaders) are failing the youth of Texas.

As the bottom chart shows, things have improved slightly from eight years ago -- with the percentage getting abstinence only or nothing falling from 96.3% in 2007-08 to the current level of 83.4%. That is primarily because the Obama administration removed abstinence only requirements mandated by the Bush administration.

But with the national government now controlled completely by right-wing Republicans, and the same being true of Texas state government, I wouldn't expect anymore improvement in the teaching of real sex education. If anything, there will probably be a return to the failed policies of the past.

13 States Get An "F" In Reproductive Health And Rights

The map above is by the Population Institute in Washington, D.C.

For the second year, the Population Institute has issued a report that grades the country and the individual states on reproductive health and rights (using research information gathered by the Guttmacher Institute, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and others).

The United States as a whole received a grade of C-, mainly because of the large number of unplanned pregnancies (about half of all pregnancies in U.S.), the possibility that reproductive health gains could be reversed as social conservatives gain power, and the threat of funding cuts & burdensome regulations to family planning clinics. That's not a grade to be real proud of, but at least it's not a failing grade.

But the same cannot be said of the individual states. While some have respectable scores (those above in blue and green), others get poor to mediocre scores (those in yellow and orange), and too many get a failing grade (those in red on the map).

How were these grades arrived at? The Population used research to grade the states on nine different criteria. These criteria (and the maximum points that can be earned in each) are:

1. A low rate of teenage pregnancy (15 points maximum)
   
2. A low rate of unintended pregnancy (15 points maximum)
   
3. Comprehensive sex education in the schools (15 points maximum)
   
4. Access to emergency contraception in the emergency room (5 points maximum)
   
5. Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (10 points maximum)
   
6. A Medicaid “waiver” expanding eligibility for family planning services (10 points maximum)
   
7. Adequate state funding for family planning clinics serving low-income households, measured by dollars of assistance per woman in need (10 points maximum)
   
8. An absence of burdensome abortion restrictions (10 points maximum)
   
9. County-level access to family planning and abortion services (10 points maximum) 
   

There were 13 states that received a failing grade (an F). These are the states where fundamentalists and other social conservatives have a lot of power -- those who think women should be happy with a second-class citizenship status. Here are those states (and their grades, out of a possible 100 points):

Georgia..........43.8
Idaho..........43.0
Indiana..........38.6
Kansas..........37.0
Louisiana..........37.6
Mississippi..........34.8
Missouri..........43.8
Nebraska..........41.3
South Dakota..........37.0
Tennessee..........41.7
Texas..........41.3
Utah..........44.0
Wyoming..........40.1

On the other end of the spectrum, several states are doing pretty well. The following states have received either an A (80 to 100) or a B (65 to 79):

California..........87.2 (A)
Maryland..........80.9 (A)
Oregon..........90.0 (A)
Washington..........84.1 (A)

Connecticut..........75.2 (B)
Delaware..........74.7 (B)
Illinois..........69.7 (B)
Iowa..........65.0 (B)
New Jersey..........79.6 (B)
New Mexico..........78.1 (B)
New York..........77.1 (B)
North Carolina..........65.0 (B)
Ohio..........66.3 (B)
Rhode Island..........68.3 (B)
South Carolina..........65.2 (B)
Vermont..........78.0 (B)
West Virginia..........66.1 (B)

And then there are those states in the middle. Their scores are certainly nothing to brag about, but they aren't as bad as the 13 failing states either. The states scoring a C (55 to 64) or a D (46 to 54) are :

Arizona..........55.9 (C)
Colorado..........61.1 (C)
District of Columbia..........63.9 (C)
Hawaii..........62.3 (C)
Maine..........62.3 (C)
Massachusetts..........64.6 (C)
Michigan..........58.6 (C)
Minnesota..........63.7 (C)
Wisconsin..........61.0 (C)

Alabama..........46.3 (D)
Alaska..........47.5 (D)
Arkansas..........54.3 (D)
Florida..........46.4 (D)
Kentucky..........54.3 (D)
Montana..........51.0 (D)
Nevada..........51.7 (D)
New Hampshire..........51.0 (D)
North Dakota..........46.6 (D)
Oklahoma..........54.5 (D)
Pennsylvania..........48.3 (D)
Virginia..........51.9 (D)

Maybe I have too high a standard, but I don't find any of these 51 scores to be acceptable (but I do give the states with an A credit for trying hard). They should all be 100. Anything less than that shows at least some lack of respect for reproductive health and rights -- and therefore for women's rights (since reproductive health rights, along with voting and property rights, have been the biggest boon for women's rights in our country's history). We must do better.

Medically-Accurate Sex Education Works

(This chart was made using CDC figures from their latest report on births in U.S.)

There is more evidence now that real medical-accurate sex education works to prevent teen pregnancies -- and works far better than the religiously-driven abstinence-only programs. The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has released its report of births in the United States (2011). And the information about teen pregnancies is particularly interesting.

The teen pregnancy rate for the country as a whole dropped from 34.2 in 2010 (per 1,000 girls) to a rate of 31.3 in 2011. The rate dropped in nearly every state, but it has dropped the most (and remains the lowest) in those states that provide real sex education to students.

An excellent example of this is what has been accomplished in California. That state has seen its teen pregnancy rate drop about 60% -- from a high in 1991 of 70.9, to a current rate of 28.7 (below the national average). State officials and public health officials give credit to state laws mandating comprehensive sex education with medically-accurate information on birth control, and community-based family planning programs providing resources to teens. California is definitely moving in the right direction.

That's still not as low as some other states (like New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont -- who have the lowest rates in the nation), but it is a remarkable accomplishment for such a large state -- and it shows what can be done with some reasonable state effort. I expect the rate will continue to drop there.

Meanwhile, the states mandating abstinence-only religious programs continue to have the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the nation -- states like Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Arkansas. There is no reason these states couldn't do as well (or better) than California. But they will never do it by preaching abstinence-only instead of teaching real medical-accurate sex education.

We can do even better in this country. But we'll never do much better until we stop replacing science with religion in too many of our schools. We need to trust our young people enough to teach them the truth.

It Doesn't Make Sense

I have never understood why the right-wing could be opposed to all of the four things listed above. It just doesn't make sense. After all, the first three (sex education, Plan B, contraceptives) are the best way to prevent the fourth (abortion).

Kids And Sex/Guns

This is the kind of reasoning the right-wing fundamentalists do (if it can be called reasoning at all). They are terrified that teaching high school students the truth about sex (and contraceptives) will make them want to run out and have sex. It's like they think sex is some kind of great secret that kids won't know about until they turn 18 or maybe 21 -- when I guess they magically will know about it then. They don't seem to realize that most kids know all about sex in junior high (although most wait before engaging in it).

But when it comes to guns, a much more dangerous thing (which can end their lives instead of just messing with their future), they have no problem with teach even elementary school kids how to shoot. Of course, this whole concept is illogical. If teaching a kid about safe sex will make him/her want to engage in sex, then why doesn't teaching a kid about guns make them want to go out and shoot someone. Could it be that kids are much smarter than fundies give them credit for -- maybe even smarter than the fundies who want to keep secrets from them?

Teen Pregnancy

There are 365,000 births to teen mothers (age 15 to 19) each year in this country -- and nearly 67,000 of them are second, third, or fourth births to the same teen mother. That tells me we are doing something wrong -- we are failing the children of this country. Note on the second chart that the states with the worst teen birth rates are generally states where fundamentalist Republicans rule. They think the answer is just to tell children not to have sex, and then refuse to teach them any sex education. They are wrong, and it is the children who suffer because of it.

Religion or teaching abstinence does not prevent teen pregnancies. Studies have shown that. What does prevent teen pregnancies is good sex education and easy access to contraceptives. Fundamentalists believe that teaching the truth about sex will make children have sex. That's silly. The children who want to have sex will do so whether they know the truth or have access to contraceptives or not, and the ones who don't want to will not be bolstered by preaching at them.

I don't think teens having sex is a very good idea, but I don't think it's a sin either. And I would rather my child be taught the truth and have access to contraceptives, than to make life a lot harder by having a teen pregnancy. But then I think my children are more important than any religion. And I think we could go a long way toward solving the problem of teen pregnancy in this country if all parents thought that way. If a loving god did exist, wouldn't he/she agree?

Teen Pregnancy Down (In Some States)

It looks like Texas no longer leads the nation in the number of teen pregnancies (although I think it still is number one in the number of second pregnancies among teens). The state with the most teen pregnancies per capita is Texas' western neighbor, New Mexico. But New Mexico is followed closely by Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, Arkansas, and Arizona.

Teen pregnancy has actually fallen in the United States as a whole, but the states listed above have not helped the national average. Why is this? Because these states either don't mandate sex education programs at all, or they don't require those programs to be medically accurate. Too often, if programs are offered at all in those states, they either are just "abstinence only" programs or contain anti-contraceptive propaganda instead of medically accurate information.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the drop in teen pregnancies is almost exclusively due to increased use of contraceptives by teenagers. The rate of use of contraceptives nationally is 75%. That's the highest it's ever been, but sadly, it means that 25% of teens nationwide still don't use contraceptives when having sex. And in the states with the leading pregnancy rates, the use of contraceptives is lower (only 60.5% in New Mexico).

The truth, whether right-wing fundamentalists want to admit it or not, is that good medically accurate sex education programs do work to reduce teen pregnancies. Abstinence only programs and programs that provide anti-contraceptive propaganda instead of medically accurate information just lead to higher rates of teen pregnancies. It may make fundamentalists feel good to teach religion instead of contraception, but it just puts teens in danger of unwanted pregnancies (and sexually-transmitted diseases).

Note -- The above maps are from Think Progress.

U.S. Sex Education Is A Miserable Failure

We are failing our younger generation by refusing to teach them the truth about human sexuality and contraception. It's not that we don't have the knowledge, or don't know how to teach it. It's just that far too many school systems would rather teach religion instead of scientific fact, resulting in the preaching of "abstinence only" instead of the teaching of sex education.

In many of these "abstinence only" programs there is no teaching about contraception at all, and in many others the students are taught lies about contraception -- like condoms are subject to a breakage rate of 31%, that the pill will cause women to contract cancer or to gain weight, that the pill is not as effective as advertised, and that pregnancy can result from the touching of genital areas among other lies. This is doing nothing but producing a generation of young people who are not equipped with the knowledge to prevent unnecessary pregnancies or prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.

This is verified by a new survey done by the Guttmacher Institute. They surveyed a random sample of young people between the ages of 18 and 29, and their findings were rather discouraging. More than half of all young men and more than a quarter of all young women received a "D" or an "F" on the test -- they flunked it! Even more depressing was that 60% of all the youth underestimated the effectiveness of the birth control pill (which is effective for 999 out of 1,000 women).

But worst of all, 40% of those surveyed said that birth control really doesn't matter because "when it is your time to get pregnant it will happen". With a belief like that, that 40% are very unlikely to use any kind of contraceptive when having sex -- putting themselves at risk for both unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted disease.

I have no problem with any religion teaching their beliefs in their church, temple, or mosque -- but this does not remove the need for real fact-based sex education in our schools. Failing to teach fact-based sex education simply sets too many young people up for a life-altering failure. The religionists seem to think that teaching youngsters about safe sex will make them want to run out and have irresponsible sex (which is odd, since most of these same people don't believe teaching gun safety will make youngsters want to go out and misuse firearms).

We have already failed one generation. How many more will we fail before we wake up and teach the truth?

Teens Not As Dumb As The Fundies Think

Throughout the eight years of the Bush administration there was a concerted effort by right-wing fundamentalists to destroy any meaningful sex education for teenagers in America's schools -- an effort that was supported and funded by the federal government.   Sex education teachers were generally forbidden to discuss condoms or any other methods of preventing pregnancies or sexually-transmitted diseases.   The only thing allowed to be taught was "abstinence".

This seemed to be based on the silly notion that teenagers were stupid.   The fundamentalists believed if kids were not told about sex, then they wouldn't find out about it or try it out for themselves.   Of course this was a stupid idea from the start.   While teens could use some guidance on preventing pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases, none of them need to be taught about the existence of sex or how to do it.   As anyone who has been a teen should know, that comes naturally and with plenty of encouragement from peers.

This misguided "abstinence only" teaching probably resulted in many unneeded pregnancies -- it certainly didn't lower the incidence of occurrence.   And it probably resulted in some teens getting diseases because they weren't taught prevention.   But it turns out that American teens are a lot smarter than the fundamentalists gave them credit for.   While schools refused to teach, the teens found ways to learn anyway (and I suspect the internet helped immensely in this regard).

An Indiana University study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine last month showed that kids seem to be learing about "safe sex" in spite of adult efforts to keep them in the dark.   The study showed that "80% of sexually active teen boys and 69% of teen girls' partners used condoms during their most recent sexual encounter."   Those are not only remarkably high numbers, but also very gratifying ones.

But while the "safe sex" message seems to be getting through to teens, the same cannot be said of older Americans.   They don't seem to be bright enough to protect themselves from the serious and well-documented danger of sexually-transmitted diseases.   It seems that 91% of men over 50 don't use a condom with a date or casual acquaintance, and 70% don't use condoms with someone they just met.  

Maybe these older people thought teens were so stupid that "abstinence only" would work, because they themselves are that stupid.   Whatever the reason, it looks like this generation of teens are a lot brighter than older Americans -- at least in sexual matters.

Taking Stupid To A New Level

The state of Wisconsin just had a new law take effect in March. The law says that schools that have sex education courses can't teach "abstinence only". The law, starting in the Fall, "requires schools with sex-education courses to teach students medically accurate, age-appropriate information, including how to use birth control and prevent sexually transmitted diseases. It also requires the classes to include information about how to recognize signs of abuse and how alcohol can affect decision making."

This is a great law. The state government in Wisconsin recognized the fact that "abstinence only" courses have been proven not to work. They instead chose to educate their students about the dangers of the real world. I expect the law will not only prevent unwanted pregnancies, but very likely will save the lives of some of those being taught -- because it teaches how to avoid pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

But, as expected, this law is not popular with the fundamentalist right-wingers. They seem to live in a fantasy world that says if you hide the truth from students about sex, then they will never learn about it or have sex before marrying. This is just silly, because as any thinking person knows, you don't have to be taught about it to discover sex -- it is a biological urge and not a learned behavior. However, a proper education can teach students to be safer in their sexual choices.

But in Wisconsin, there is one fundamentalist that is even stupider than the others, and sadly he has a little bit of power. He is Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth. This nut doesn't just oppose proper sex education -- he considers it to be a criminal offense. He has written a letter to the school leaders in his district telling them that a teacher who teaches a sex education course according to the new state law "could be charged with misdemeanor or felony delinquency of a minor", and be subject to from 6 months to 6 years in prison.

He added, "Moreover, the teacher could be charged with this crime even if the child does not actually engage in the criminal behavior." He says the schools should stop teaching any kind of sex education until the legislature "amends or repeals these new mandates."

I can understand this fool being upset because his fundamentalist right-wing views were overruled by the new law, but he doesn't have the right to use his elected position to try and force the schools to ignore the law. I hope someone files an ethical complaint against Southworth (pictured), because he is obviously abusing and misusing his elected office.

I really don't think he could get a conviction based on his ridiculous threats, and if he did, I'm sure an appeals court would quickly throw it out. But the people of Juneau county need to vote this fool out of office. I don't care if they replace him with a Republican or Democrat -- as long as it's a person who will not abuse the powers of the District Attorney's office.