Perhaps if our disasterous education system taught girls AND boys, more about anatomy AND physiology regarding reproduction rather than how to put condoms on cucumbers, we wouldn't have this ignorance graduating from our schools.

But then again, only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the five Simpsons cartoon family.

I say, "Great job, parents."

Matt-3468366

I say, "Great job, parents."

Matt, the problem is many parents nowadays don't have much more knowledge of reproduction than the kids.

Perhaps if our [disastrous] education system taught girls AND boys, more about anatomy AND physiology regarding reproduction rather than how to put condoms on cucumbers, we wouldn't have this ignorance graduating from our schools.

Partially agreed, but I think too many schools still aren't even putting prophylactics on vegetables; they're saying "just don't have sex and you won't get pee-gee - that's the only answer." Until schools give kids COMPLETE sex ed, whether the parents like it or not, these problems will persist, and we'll never achieve a goal I think left and right can agree on:

EVERY CHILD A WANTED CHILD!

I don't understand why schools can teach kids all about homosexuality, but not about birth control.

I guess heterosexual issues don't count anymore.

So much for being politicaly correct. You can't tell them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about sex incase you might upset them.

Hey Pope, here we come. more children for your flock

These "kids" who are 17-18 now, were 9-10 when Bush became president and the Education Department was "dumbed down" because the Republican doctrine is that Education should be for the rich, devil take the hindmost. The "No Child Left Behind Act" was really a "undereducate the next generation act."

In particular, because the republican credos are based on primitive religion (nothing more modern than Moses) children in 2001 and onward were NOT taught the full facts about reproduction. They were instead told about religious dogmas and abstinence.

Last I checked, dogmas and abstinence do not prevent pregnancy.

So now we have a generation getting to the age of procreation with inferior knowledge about "where babies come from".

Thank you, George W Bush, you have ruined the lives of millions of children, but you saved your rich friends millions of dollars in giving them a ten year tax holiday so what do you (or the other Republicans) care?

cynical175 - It has nothing to do with PC you dolt. It is the conservatives in the country that make it difficult. They are the abstinece pushers. Man, you are as dumb as the kids.

Sic-n-tired; why are you blaming schools, this is not the school's problem. Parents should educate children when it comes to sex. That way the parent controls what is said and how it is said. Should a person become pregnant then it is their own fault. Not the schools, it is not their job to make sure kids don't get pregnant, it is the PARENTS.

Most kids know where babies come from before they enter high school. That doesn't stop them from having sex and getting pregnant. Nearly all the teens I know tend to believe they are invincible or that nothing bad could ever happen to them. The greater majority of them certainly don't believe they could get pregnant. That includes A honor roll students that ace biology. If someone could figure out how to get it into their thick skulls that yes they can get pregnant then that might help.

In this age of information, it appears that wisdom, knowledge and just plain "ole" common sense have taken a leave a absence.

surprised she got pregnant??? litterally WTF !!!! i don't think any amount of education funds could help this fool...damn...more idiot dna on the way.

ONE HUNDRED PERCENT the parents fault. Abstinence only doesn't work. Complete sex education. COMPLETE mandatory education. Don't want your kid to participate-homeschool. Complete education gay, straight etc. Involving doctors. Many young women don't know a lot like how antiboitics can make the pill not work. It is unbelieveable that a young girl thinks she can't get pregnant the first time. Or is so gulliable as to believe his 'I love you", "I don't want to use a condom" BS.

"Last I checked, dogmas and abstinence do not prevent pregnancy."

i dont understand what is wrong with some of you. you do know that abstinence means NOT having sex? having sex is the only natural way to get pregnant, so if you dont have sex you dont get pregnant. so why would anyone say abstinence does not prevent pregnancy?

education is the answer to 99% of problems but saying not doing something will result in the outcome of having done that something is a problem in itself. require basic human physiology and anatomy in schools and that all you can do besides inform parents to teach kids bout sex. its really not the governments authority to provide anything other than a basic standardized curriculum for public education. teaching kids about preventative measures for sex is not their authority but is the parents/guardians choice. the government does not own the people so it has no say in how the people make decisions.

i love how some of you are so forward about controlling other peoples parenting and daily lives that you go so far as to call them names for what they may or may-not do according to your personal opinion on how things should be done. we have free-will people!!!! while i may not like what someone does and might express my opinion, i would not limit their ability to do what they do just because i dont like it. sexual relationships are a personal matter and has nothing to do with anyone else (government or citizen) and should not be regulated.

Parents do need to talk to their kids about sex early. I know it's hard to think about your kids doing the deed, but it happens. Humans may live longer and have a kid mentallity that lasts until their 20's, but the human reproductive system hasn't really changed. Some girls start their periods in 4th grade, signally that their body is ready to reproduce.

Oh as a side note, tell your daughters about discharge lol. My parents never talked to me about sex or my body, so I only had the basic education from school which was just about menstral cycles and how to put in a tampon. I thought something was totally wrong with me when I saw white stuff on my panties lol.

Teaching teenagers only to abstain from sex, without any additional information about birth control and pregnancy risk, is not going to work, because many teenagers have a strong sex drive, are bombarded by media images that make sex look desirable or even mandatory, are under peer pressure to have sex, and are at a developmental stage when risk-taking behavior is common and judgment is sometimes more like an older person's judgment but at other times is like a much younger person's.

Stating that parents are always going to be responsible enough to teach their children how to avoid getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant is disingenuous. The government does need to address serious public health problems such as this one, not ignore them. Sometimes addressing such a problem may indeed lead to teaching school kids about pregnancy and contraception. I don't see anything wrong with that. I don't see how that is a "government control" issue, unless all public health efforts are "government control." Perhaps the whole public health field should be shut down, so we can all be "free..."

"Last I checked, dogmas and abstinence do not prevent pregnancy."

i dont understand what is wrong with some of you. you do know that abstinence means NOT having sex? having sex is the only natural way to get pregnant, so if you dont have sex you dont get pregnant. so why would anyone say abstinence does not prevent pregnancy?

I have a feeling the person poorly phrased what they actually meant which is that dogma and abstinence-only sex education doesn't prevent pregnancy. It has been shown over and over and over that abstinence only sex education leaves major holes in sex education and that it doesn't really stop teen pregnancy.

My sister-in-law is in her late 30's, has three teen-aged daughters and knows almost nothing about anatomy. She once said," I feel sorry for guys who have to have catheters because their holes are so much smaller than ours." Meaning females get catheters put up our vaginas since that's where urine comes out. She's told our nieces they need to remove their tampons before going to the bathroom or else "the pee won't come out". When a friend had her uterus removed, sis-in-law asked,"Now that she's had her hysterectomy where does he(the friend's husband) go?" Bro-in-law replied,"She still has her vagina." Sis-in-law then asked,"Isn't that where you pee?" (?!?!) SO PLEASE STOP PUTTING ALL OF THE BLAME ON PARENTS! Too many adults don't seem to know much of anything and can't teach their children.

Really! hehehe I have known several young adult girls that don't know girls have three holes. I had a 18 year old girl just ask me the other day. I know of a few 23 year old girls that didn't know. How is this happening when they are supposed to be giving such informative sex education classes. Are they afraid to be blunt? Maybe they should let girls and boys ask blunt questions and put them in a box, no names, and ask whatever you want and the teacher give blunt answers with pictures! Girls are afraid to ask teachers and don't want to ask their moms things like this.

What this study indicates is, The parents of thes girls, are the ones most in need of Sex Education. Especially our right wing, so-called evangelical parents. Adding unnecessary burden and hurdles to our female teenagers, via unwanted pregnancies,guarantees them falling behind on the economic ladder and their pursuit of happiness. This scenario represents a colossal failure at American Parenting...Our right wing friends #2 enemy, we know what their #1 is, is Planned Parenthood,image that...

Thank you, George W Bush, you have ruined the lives of millions of children, but you saved your rich friends millions of dollars in giving them a ten year tax holiday so what do you (or the other Republicans) care?

Nice. More and more people continuing to blame W for something that is outside of his control. He is not in the classroom with your kids...unless it's the morning of 9/11. If you really want to see the reason that more and more schools are failing, and more and more American students are ill-prepared coming out of school compared to other countries you have no further to look than the end of your noses. Society continues to allow education to become more and more irrelevant in comparison to other trivial aspects of life. Children worship the flickering images of pregnant teen moms and spoiled rich brats being broadcast at 1080p, or broadcasting every intimate detail of their lives on Facebook or Twitter instead of reading about the people who died to give them freedom, interesting facts about science and math, and even how easy it is to get pregnant when you fail to use even the most simplistic of birth control (because let's face it, if you can't figure out a condom you probably shouldn't be contributing to the gene pool anyways). Society teaches children that education is unimportant. It's not a president's fault...it's our own for allowing the great society that was America to be eaten from the inside by this cancer of entitlement and apathy.

When I graduated, the school I went to was in financial hardship even though it was in the top 10 public high schools in the state. The reason that this was the case was that the people in the district refused to vote for additional funding for the schools. Even after threats of mergers and sending children to the next school, and the removal of music and art classes residents refused to pass another tax levy. It was when they threatened to cancel the football season that people voted. After everything that parents allowed their children to lose it was football that kicked people's butts into gear. Not art, not music, not the promise of losing a top 10 rated public education...football. This is why it's not W's fault. It's not Reagan's, Carter's, or Clinton's. It's each and every one of us who sits by and watches the collective dumbing of America go by without lifting a finger to stop it. The shame is on all of us.

People will blame George Bush for anything... but beyond that, we act like teens are just mindless animals who have no control over themselves. It seems the more that people treat them that way, the more they act that way. Education is one thing and I believe is very necessary, but all that education means nothing in the "heat" of the moment when their minds are jello. We need to teach teens impulse control. This would not only help with unwanted pregnancies but drug use, tobacco use, alcohol, etc.. And by the way, when I say "we" I mean parents. Quit blaming and passing the buck. Be responsible and it's possible, your children might be too.

cynical Why blame the Pope most of the people against sex education in schools are non-Catholic christians therefore not the Pope's people. Of course I wouldn't expect someone like you to have enough education to know the difference.

Ok I will just say it. I know I will get a lot of criticism for this but here goes... The fault lies with the teenagers. We parents and teachers tell them what will happen. We talk until we are blue in the face. The problem is that our teenagers DON'T LISTEN. They think they know everything. And, they think that all adults are stupid and don't know anything about anything. Now don't get me wrong it is not all teenagers. There are some out there that listen but not many. And in this day and age with the internet at their disposal and iphones and such they get all kinds of information on their own (good and bad). Until we get their attention they will not listen. So the big question now is how do we get their attention?

Whosaid,

Thats correct the majorities do not rule, the loud mouthed little guys do...

well lets see if u dont have sex u cant get pregnant. oh and i dont see why to have sex with somebody ur probably gonna break up with.

oh and abortian is killing a baby. dont tell me it isnt if it was allowed to grow it would turn into a baby.

monie it might grow into a baby, or it might die, or it might miscarry, or it might cause serious medical problems with the actual, living mother...it is a potential baby

exactly, i just shake my head when someone refuses to teach their kids about how these things work. Just setting them up for failure.

HA-HA you are so right!! parents need to teach their kids about pregnacy period, not just girls, on my teen age years my mom caught me twice on the act with different girls, and her threat was the same " I don't care if its the maid that you knock off (she was ugly so not a chance) you will marry her, haven't we talk about pregnancy!!" yep!! she told me every thing about pregnancy but never told me enough times not to do it. Never, ever!! had an accident or sweat bullets, it was my responsibility to use protection and take care of my sexual partners. If a teenager gets pregger, I will say their parents are morons for not talking pregnancy and the consequences.

That is really an oversimplification. I always talked to my children about love, sex and responsibility. When I realized my daughter was sexually active I paid for her to get the pill and she STILL got pregnant. so did many other girls. They just think it can't happen to them and they get careless. We always talked about anything and everything. And my daughter was smart, popular and from a good family.

The guys need to learn about this stuff too. EVERYONE needs to know the implications of the girl getting pregnant--while it's obviously detrimental to the girl, the guy needs to know that he's equally responsible. And attitudes about sex need to change too--they need to know that sex is okay as long as you use protection. Don't hesitate to use both a condom and the pill.

abstinence isnt the lack of teaching about sex, its the teaching about not having sex until your ready and understand. its laughable that anyone would believe that not having sex will somehow still get you pregnant. its not yours or the government authority on that matter anyhow, its a personal choice.

Swagganaut - The problem is that MOST people that teach abstinence just tell their kids "Don't have sex till you're married!" and that's it. That's where the damage is done, as it's not education at that point, it's closing your eyes, covering your ears, and singing LALALALA and hoping for the best...

Abstinence-based Sex Ed only works with 18% of young folks. Everyone wants their child to be part of that 18% but how likely is it yours will be one of them? It's 5 to 1 against, not great odds. Would you bet your house on that? You're betting your child's entire future and her health on it. I wouldn't do it if I had a daughter. It only takes one sex act with the wrong person to contract HIV.

Parents want their kids opted out and to teach them at home but it has never happened. This has gone on long enough. Young women must be taught how to protect themselves from STDs and pregnancy. We don't live in a some magical fairyland where girls can safely remain innocent of the facts of life until marriage.

My son has been vaccinated against HPV. Had I a daughter she would also be protected against the cancers HPV causes. Anyone else who hesitates to protect their children against the horrors of STD-caused cancers is, IMO, the worst kind of fool. I'm a cancer survivor and no one should ever have to undergo chemotherapy and radiation if they can avoid it.

Ignorance is easily overcome with education and knowledge. Keeping children deliberately unaware is foolish in the extreme. This is the 21st Century. It's past time to overcome Puritanism.

Periodot,

You seem to forget the basic human impulse to do exactly what they have been told not to do despite all the training and education they can possibly handle.

Combine that notion with amped up hormone levels, the urge to experiment, the teenage impulse to develop their own identities, peer pressure, the unique pressure that can only be applied by a boyfriend/girlfriend, bombardment of sex and sexuality themes by media and the internet, readily available extremely graphic sexual imagery via the internet...

Education may overcome ignorance but it does not correlate to responsible action. If education meant smart behavior, there would be no arrests for drunk driving in this country.

Quite frankly, I'm amazed teen pregnancy rates are actually on the decline.

It is truly amazing to watch people instantly divide into predictable positions on this argument... over and over and over.

Those of you screaming that "Teaching abstinence is ineffective" are just as wrong as those screaming that you "can't get pregnant if you don't have sex"

Just for one minute try to put those two pieces together and you'll find a place and a curriculum that gives teens what they actually need. They need BOTH factual information and real options, that they can really use. Along with that they also need comprehensive information about the roles people play or fall into in various relationships and how to identify healthy behaviours in relationships. Because having sex is NOT just a physical act it involves emotions and all sorts of peer dynamics and these people are still children, so their decision making skills are still stunted.

You will never completely eliminate teen pregnancy, but teaching the stuff that they DO actually need will not only reduce teen pregnancy, but also improve many other aspects of their future including selecting partners and having healthy relationships thus also reducing domestic violence and etc...

love to all

well lets see my kid wouldnt have sex intill he was maried, because he have the urge to becuase he loves god, but i guess that cant be right.

I'm betting it isn't either. I grew up in alabama and alot of it the kids there swore up and down that they had made a promise to god and nothing could break it. Only they got it on once or twice a week at least. It's just that the parents never found out. Their parents still say that their kids waited till marriage. I try not to laugh too loud.

Excellent!!!

Bravo!

:-)

Many religions think the only use for a female is to reproduce...so...

female teens are good fodder for providing more religious sheeple as Gramma & Grampa will probably raise that grand baby the same way they raised their babies.

Some grandparents even get to raise their bastard great grand children...

LOL Cygnus.

just another religion basher who makes things up to give self pleasure, im sure that secular life is oh so much better. we all have free-will and so why do you ridicule those who use it, be it right or wrong?

"im sure that secular life is oh so much better"

yep. moving on...

Swagganaut - Still, you can't deny that a lot of religions seem to think their followers are going to remain abstinent till marriage - which is quite rare these days. Catholics are the worst with that, discouraging birth control of any kind.

AVA-IVA and too many boys think sex is just fun and games time with no responsibility afterwards. You want to promote sex in commercials and in TV shows and then you wonder why your kids are doing it at ever younger ages with no idea that it carries responsibilities. Teenagers aren't immortal either but they do some stupid dangerous stuff that sometimes has dire consequence no matter what we tell them. I'm a Catholic and following my religion I didn't get pregnant till I was 30 even though I went to college in the freelove 60's. Men need to teach boys that they have responsibilities for pregnancies they create not just the girl because she didn't get pregnant by herself.

Indeed.

Let's also remember that adolescents don't think responsibly. In addition, girls don't fall pregnant by themselves yet they inevitably bear all the responsibility themselves. Think about how many people condemn her by calling her a slut and other names, or insist that all she has to do is to 'keep her legs together.' None of them ever mention the responsibility of the boy/young man who was involved.

The double standard? Still disgustingly alive and well, being applied every instant in our society.

Matthew 7:5

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers.

NIV

Brokinarrow, there is a serious flaw in the argument that the Catholic church's stance on birth control is responsible for unwanted pregnancies -- because those who claim that excuse are clearly in violation of other Catholic teachings already -- primarily the dictate that they should only have sex with the goal of making babies. If someone is already breaking one important Catholic teaching, why the h#ll should I ever give any credence to the excuse that they got pregnant because the Pope said to stay off the pill? The Pope also said sex is for making babies, but they did that anyway. Sorry. If you are having sex for fun - especially pre-maritally - you've lost any right to say you don't use birth control because you are a "good Catholic." Once you break the sex rule (which people have the right to choose to do for themselves, of course), then it is up to them to grow up and be responsible about it -- which means breaking rule #2. Again, sorry, but hypocrites get no sympathy from me.

By the way, I am a cradle Catholic, and like many cradle Catholics (especially in the US), I feel that the church's policy on birth control is absolutely ridiculous. I do not support or endorse it any way. I am not trying to defend it in this post. I am merely trying to point out the hypocrisy of blaming the Catholic church, when those who find themselves in a "motherly way" unintentionally want to claim they didn't use birth control because of their religion. Had they been following their religion to begin with, they wouldn't have needed to use birth control. If you are going to pick one of those two rules to break and you don't want to have a baby, the choice of which to break is obvious. They only have only themselves to blame.

Who's to say their mothers aren't Newport dangling meth addicts themselves?

My kids had sex education in school. (Condoms on a cucumber etc.) I always talked to them about anything and everything. Even sent my daughter to the doctor for the pill when I realized she was sexually active and she still got pregnant. Nothing is ever so neat and tidy as you would make it seem. And I am not an illiterate meth addict. I am a college educated, happily married, christian, middle class mother. I wish I had pushed abstinence only instead of trying to be such a "with it" mom.

ha right.

if being "christian" is the problem then im sure you have a full plate of problems. your nothing but a busybody.

Dammit, Swagganaut, it's "YOU'RE" not your!!!

diane - Good for you. I suppose this survey would have done well to ask if these teens that got pregnant actually had received sex education from the parents or the school, would definitely give more insight into weather they just didn't know any better or they were just being typical teenagers.

Why aren't fathers teaching their sons? Quit giving the boys a free ride tell them with DNA testing they probably will spend the next 18-22 years supporting the result of last night fun and games. That in some states if they fail to pay their child support the won't be able to get a drivers license, hunting/fishing license, business license until they satisfy the Attorney Generals office that they are paying. My daughter was 27 when Texas caught up with her father. He couldn't even get an ID card until he started paying through the Attorney Generals office. He paid on the back child support owed until he died.

Why aren't Fathers having talks with their sons?

It takes two, or haven't you heard? Why all this pressure on females? It's past time to bring all the pressure to bear on males. Love what Lonereb says there. That's a bit of justice for you.

On these boards there have been diatribes from men who complain endlessly about women who had abortions. These were do-nothing baby daddies who expected a woman to carry a fetus to term, give birth and raise the child for 18 years on Welfare simply because a male ejaculated. This man in particular was insanely angry that a woman from a one-night stand dared to have an abortion rather than invest the rest of her life raising the child he felt she owed him.

When I inquired what he had done for her he knew not whereof I spoke. It was foreign to him. She had fallen pregnant so she owed him. I pointed out that he had made his Choice: he had sex without a condom. Now the Choice was hers, and if he had no prior relationship with her, he was S.O.L. The government didn't owe him 18 years and 9 months of supporting his child, she owed him zip and how sad too bad.

My suggestion that he court a woman and have a relationship was like talking to a stone wall. He hadn't a clue. I don't feel a bit sorry for him. Attempts to explain that no one owes him children fell on deaf ears, so I gave up. Women are not things, we are not baby machines nor are we brood mares.

Dianne, your daughter made her own mistakes. She would have fallen pregnant no matter what you did. It's nothing to do with you and abstinence teaching wouldn't have made a bit of difference. IT DOESN'T WORK IN 87% OF KIDS. What do you think the chance is it would have worked with your daughter, who was ALREADY sexually active when you took her to the doctor and put her on the Pill?

Or they were miseducated. Or the victims of rape.

Most people will not admit they have been raped, even with support and encouragement. Some tragedies are so traumatic that the mind (even a smart, educated mind) will deny it happened.

I suspect half of the girls and (maybe) a quarter of the boys are rape victims in any high school.

Remember, many people will not even admit to themselves that have been abused. Girls in the 14-19 age group in particular would rather lie to themselves and say they consented even if they didn't just to avoid the shame and guilt.

It is amazing the gyrations our minds will go through to distance ourselves from painful memories. When you add shame to the emotional mix, its almost a given that a young person will deny everything to save them having to relive, or admit, they have been hurt by someone they know and trust.

Great, it's the stupid ones that are reproducing. So much for the Darwin Theory

"Or they were miseducated. Or the victims of rape."

ok, now just exclude the rape factor from the equation.

the most common way for a baby to fall out of a vagina is by having a penis inserted into it about nine months prior.

this is not new.

if kids with the horn didn't know this before the act, there really wasn't any hope for them from the get go.

hormonal contraceptives are meant to be taken, pardon the pun, religiously, according to the directions. without missing or skipping doses and consideration has to be taken with certain antibiotics because they can decrease the effectiveness. there are these little inserts that come with every single legally prescribed drug in the US that describe all the details, risks, and drug interactions pertinent to that prescription.

fun fact - contraception inserts, packaging, and directions are required by US law to be written at the reading comprehension level of a 13 year old. let that sink in. a 13 year old.

if the girls can't get the pill for either personal or physiological reasons, there are these nifty little round things that go for about $0.50 at every rite aid and gas station in the country that the guys can wear. these have been shown to drastically cut down on unwanted pregnancies along with the risk of STIs. when used in combination with contraceptives (provided the person has at least a 13 year old reading level and follows the directions), the chances of a having a newborn 18 year commitment are pretty much close to 0.

so yeah, these kids are stupid for not knowing that penis + vagina - contraception - condom = baby.

You're right it's not new. However, as not new as it is, many teens have serious misconceptions about how they can actually become pregnant. The article touched on a few of these misconceptions. I've helped provide sex education for young people - it would amaze you the misconceptions they have. The most common misconceptions I've heard: you can't get pregnant unless both the guy and girl orgasm at the same time and that there is a cure for HIV, so condoms don't matter.

seriously?

dblhelix, not sure if you're responding to me - but, yeah, seriously, I heard those two misconceptions the most - kind of disturbing, isn't it?

yes i was, and yes it is.

dblhelix say it's your daughter did you also read the insert about the increased risk of blood clots from those hormonal birth control pills. I took them at 22. I got a deep vein clot. I have for the last 42 years been dealing with stasis ulcers every time I cut my right leg below the knee which take months and sometimes years to clear up. Maybe hormonal birth control isn't the best answer to the problem. Of course you probably have a son so you don't care about the cost of medical treatment for the side effects of the hormonal birth control you think is so great.

loner - MOST young ladies and women don't have the issues that you're having.

lonereb -

nope, i don't have kids. wasn't really ready for that kind of commitment in high school or even right now at the ripe age of 25. i was one of the, apparently few, that knew how to use condoms when i started having sex. mainly because i knew that birth control can't come with a 100% infallible or your money back guarantee and i'm a bit paranoid around things like that. she might have even missed a day, taken an antibiotic that interfered with the effectiveness, or maybe even lied about being on the pill in the first place. i had, and bear with me here, the foresight and impulse control as a teen to not have sex without some form of protection of my own. if she was or wasn't on the pill, that's fine if i had a condom. if i didn't, then nothing happened unless i could get one. it made certain parts ache from lack of use, but i've managed to get through the past 10 years without an unwanted pregnancy or STI.

i also know that any hormonal therapy runs the risk of seriously screwing up other processes in the body, like the coagulation cascade, and admit that the pill isn't always an option. what i'm saying is that it's one option out of a variety. it isn't the end all be all strategy, it's a possible option. if a girl is afraid of or at risk of developing one of the possible side effects of the drug, she doesn't have to consume it. it takes two to tango and both parties have a responsibility to themselves and each other. women have oral contraceptives, IUDs, shots, and even their own form of condoms amongst others. men have condoms nowadays that can consist of latex or other materials if either party has a latex allergy.

there are options. if you're too young, naive, or stupid to explore them or too ashamed to walk into a 7-11 or ask a parent for a pack of trojans at the least, you're too young to have sex.

when i have kids and the time comes when the sex talk is called for, i know i won't like it but i'm also not naive enough to believe they'll be little celibate angels. that'd just be idiotic. whether i had a son or a daughter, they'd both get the contraceptives and condoms talk along with other options that are available. they're going to be doing the deed, there's no way that i can prevent it, but it'd be my job as a parent to equip them with the knowledge and tools to do it safely and responsibly along with the possible consequences if they don't. i'd be a pretty useless parent if i didn't, and i realize this while i'm still in my 20s.

and Brokinarrow is right, MOST females don't have those issues with contraceptives. in fact sometimes they didn't even know they were at risk until they developed the particular pathology. in medicine it's called a risk\benefit analysis. this is one of those situations where, forgive the cliche, humans are like snowflakes. no two biochemical architectures are the same.

Summer, you're absolutely right. I was waiting for my final chemo treatment some time back and several women sporting Sarah Palin stickers were yammering on about how HIV isn't that big a deal and how the treatment for it was just fine now. I sat there gritting my teeth for as long as I could but I finally spoke out.

HIV is a bad disease. Many people, as many as 40% or higher have a bad reaction to the triple cocktail and have diarrhea and nausea all the time. It's not a cure. When you die you die of AIDS.

These ignorant women have children who no doubt think the same stupid thing. Ignorance isn't bliss. Ignorance can kill. I advised them to go home and look it up if they didn't believe me, or to ask the chemo nurses, because what they were saying to one another not true. The meds cost about $1500.00 per month per person, they aren't usually covered by insurance and the person has to go on Medicaid or Medicare which means they have to lose everything they own... These are the people we're expecting to educate their children about sex and HIV. Really? Is that what you want?

Someone I knew had died of AIDS. He only weighed 80 lbs at 6'2"...and he was heterosexual, as if that mattered. Guess it would have mattered to them.

peridot -

you're totally right about ignorance surrounding HIV. it's astounding, "oh it's ok, all you have to do is go on the cocktail and it'll clear right up!". that's a basic virology rant just waiting to happen, but i'm gonna stay away from it. the only issue i have is where you said when you die you die from AIDS.

AIDS is a sort of gateway disease for opportunistic infections that people with a healthy immune system can easily or readily clear. the virus infects and kills the flavor of white blood cells that actually fire up an immune response to a particular target. whether it be something like a cold virus or a bacterium, the body can't mount a defense and the patient usually dies due to those complications when they can't be treated.

Peridot: It always amazes me the extent of the misconceptions (ignorance - maybe willful, maybe not?) that seems to be so rampant.

I'm glad you finally spoke up about the ignorance they were displaying. Maybe, just maybe, you helped save someone a lot of pain, suffering and maybe even their life. Good for you.

While I agree, I'm also male, and I know that condoms will never solve the problem, because we hate them, and will get out of using them whenever possible. We need a male Pill, or better, my pet solution (which will never happen in a zillion years): mandatory sterilization of both genders at or before puberty, reversible at any time upon request. I know - ha ha - but a guy can dream.

Dave,

I can't completely disagree with you. It should only be reversible at such time as they can prove that they are capable, both financially and emotionally, to care for a family. It sure would save on our welfare costs.

AMEN LAURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I always use a condom and if there was a safe, functional, and cheap male pill, I wouldn't hesitate to take it.

My husband and I used condoms for six years before we had our planned and wanted child. He didn't want a baby until we were ready any more than I did. My body doesn't do the hormonal birth controls, so, had he not wanted to wear a condom it would have been a deal breaker.

Before we even slept together, he told me he would never deliberately get me pregnant. So, there are men out there trying to get women pregnant just as there are women out there trying to get pregnant.

You don't want a baby? Use a condom. They work if you put them on.

Every child a Planned child.

Get your tubes tied, Dave, or grow up. Condoms are the only solution to STDs. HIV kills.

What sex ed?

hedward, FREE birth control?

Gee... why have I been paying for it for years?

Its not free genius. A month or two supply might be.

And sex ed? Some schools teach abstinence only. Do you really think thats effective? Especially when some of these kids have parents telling them that planned parenthood is the root of all evil?

They don't get Sex Ed in school, Mandy. Abstinence Only Sex Ed only works with 17% of the students and this has always been known, by the Abstinence Only Foundation, by the Government and by Planned Parenthood.

Think that might be what's confusing the issue? Some of us do.

They don't get Sex Ed in schol, Mandy. Abstinence Only Sex Ed only works with 17% of the students and this has always been known, by the Abstinence Only Foundation, by the Government and by Planned Parenthood.

I don't know where you get your info but in 30 years of having children in a multitude of schools in 8 different school districts, in 3 different states, I have yet to see even one school that did not provide sex ed as a part of the curriculum somewhere in 5th - 9th grade. Sex Ed that included information about the mechanics of sex as well as birth control information.

Making sure that there is information about abstinence as an option is not a bad bit to provide since according to your stats it's helps out 17% of the teen population (that's at least 1 in 6 by the way).

What all teens and pre-teens really need in Sex Ed that includes practical real life info that helps them understand their role in a relationship as well as the mechanics and emotions involved with making decisions about sex and sexuality. Trying to push away all things spiritual is just as harmful as trying to push birth control only. Part of why teens don't listen is because they are great BS detectors. If we give them a balanced approach with info from all sides they will be able to make more appropriate decisions for themselves.

What does women trying to have children over 30 have to do with anything?

Yeah...blame the government and republicans....it must be their fault these girls get pregnant!

What an idiot...

Jello heads!

I didnt blame the government or the Republicans, you did. I blamed the conseravtive movement. It's not my fault that insane religious fanatics have hijacked a once proud party. Your utter lack of even a semblance of reading comprehension amazes me. I think what causes this is a small brain, a quick temper and a big ego.

if u think conservatives did this then it shows your bias, nothing you said was accurate and was only there to make you feel like your right. im sorry that you have been indoctrinated to oppress others that have different views but i guess that the progressive liberal agenda for ya (lol).

What Doug is saying has nothing (or should have nothing) to do with republicans or political conservatives. It has to do with christian fundamentalists who feel the constant need to impose their archaic views on God, love, science and sex on everyone else. There are many schools that do not teach sex ed because they have been co-opted by the abstinence only movement. I'd be interested to see this study broken down geographically to see how many of the teens that didn't KNOW they could get pregnant live in the Bible belt.

At the same time, I'd be interested to know how many teens knew they could get pregnant but failed to wear protection because of peer pressure. I would guess that this percentage would be hire than those that simply did not understand how babies are made.

PH and liberal PC radicals impose their beliefs on everybody all the time. You control most of the schools on the east coast not the religious conservatives so How many of these kids are from areas you control? By % of the population How many of these kids were raised under your PC control? How many came from religiously conservative areas? I think this would be an interesting fact to consider.

I'm not a radical, but you sure sound like one! I don't impose my beliefs on anyone but I'm pretty sure that hormones and teenage impulsiveness have a stronger influence on sexual activity than any religious dogma or abstinence only teaching will ever have. It's just biology.

I also personally don't control any schools...but that would be fun! In all seriousness, we are asking the same questions. My hunch (take a deep breathe, it's only a hunch) is that most of the kids who claim ignorance on how to get pregnant are the ones who have not had a sex ed course or parents who are willing to discuss sex. Conservative religious policy tends to lean in this direction, so my assumption (and, deep breath, its only an assumption) is that these kids are being raised in conservative religious environments like those found along the Bible Belt. And by conservative, I'm not referring to dems or reps.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uog-aed112911.php

Abstinance-only education does not lead to abstinence. Study above.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/religions-link-to-teen-pregnancy/

Experts believe that the "bible-belt" approach to teen sex actually discourages the use of birth control rather than discouraging teen sex.

Additionally, the highest teen birth rates are in Ms and Texas - ironically near the top of food chain in religious practice. New Hampshire has the lowest teen birth rate - ranks near the bottom on religious practice. Definite correlation.

I agree 100%!!! Kids are sponges and want to learn! Discomfort talking about sex with your kids is a parent's hang-up, not the child's. TALK to your children!! Take off your blinders and teach them what they need to know to be happy and healthy. Kids WILL have sexual contact with other kids at some point before they graduate high school. Teach them how to do it safely.

Is jello heads your favorite term? you seem to use it a lot.

Nope - Repubs have made sure there is no money for that, and would prohibit it even if there were funding.

Where do the parents responsiblities fit into the scheme of things? Why is everything have to be left to the classroom teachers? The kids (boys & girls) know what they're doing. Some of the fault lies with CDC, why no follow up questions? Most of these girls have low self esteem I bet, lot's of them want to skip finishing up with just being a teenager & jump right into adulthood without realizing that these cute boys have NOTHING else to offer. These girls just think that they "want a man" with no other thought that comes after that.

If the CDC had drilled down on the questions they would have seen that. My other thought is where were the mother's while their daughter's were answering these questions. These kids don't know how to think from A to B to C etc. they go from A to Z.

Bman42

Due to a recent scientific discovery, we now know what causes pregnancy. Is there some reason our high dollar dept of education can't pass out the word? Seems like we ought to get SOMETHING out of them.

UHm... yea, if they are ALLOWED to. You do realize that a lot of school systems are not allowed to teach real sex education, right? Or have you been living under a rock?

And since when is it the responsibility of the school to have to teach sex education? Sex education should begin at home, and be reinforced at school.

The women's lib movement removed male responsibility? What?!?

When it takes two to tango, then the two should both be held equally accountable.

What century do you live in where women will always be more like children than adults, John? I know people of both genders who are still childish and irresponsible as adults. More than a few men do not know how a woman's body works, so I'd say that that pendulum swings both ways.

The issue of women not understanding their own biology is not a casualty of the women's liberation movement, but a result of avoidable ignorance. The feminist movement produced a wonderful book called "Our Bodies, Ourselves," which is not only still in print, but has been recently updated. We also have this wonderful invention called "the internet" where sound information about reproduction and the prevention of pregnancy can be found. Born in 1976, I have benefited greatly from both First and Second Wave Feminism. I have an education that came from a coeducational institution. I have a political voice and the right to my own property, even after marriage (for goodness' sake, my own mother could not get a charge card in her own name after she'd married in the nineteen sixties despite the fact that she was employed). I have a say in my own reproductive health and can choose to have a child--or not. I am able to work in a predominately male field and receive equal pay. I'm lucky enough to have maternity leave should I have a child. I am fully my husband's partner, despite the fact that I chose to keep my birth name upon my marriage. I love and respect my husband as he does me. I am responsible; I am not a child. I cannot be the only woman who is like this. Parents and sadly ,our schools, must teach both genders about reproductive responsibilty and accountability.

Johnthor I was more mature at 14 than most of my male friends were at 18. I knew first hand the problems the little bundle of joy born out of wedlock would face. My father AKA the sperm donor walked out on my mother before I was born in 1947. I knew early on I would never put a child through that. Even filling out forms calling for parents names became a problem with teachers who just couldn't understand I had no father's name on my birth certificate. For the boys think about this your 8 year old is going to be dealing with the results of your irresponsible actions. Your 8 year old is going to be the one getting called a bastard at school. Please don't call anybody gay but don't stop the kids from calling Johnny a bastard because his parents were irresponsible and its true. I never once heard an adult tell their kids that wasn't nice even though they wouldn't let their little darlings pick on the mentally challenged child. Teachers don't have enough consideration to not tell you you forgot to fill out that line in front of the whole class.

I guess ignorance is bliss. Maybe our generation was so scared of the unknown we took better precaution.

We were the generation raised under the spectre of AIDS, so it wasn't just fear of pregnancy that lead us to take better precautions when it came to our time to begin having sex. Also, while as teens many of us were having sex, but we weren't sleeping around nearly as early, as casually, and with as many partners in a short period of time as too many teens now do.

Yellow Skittles? Wow, that's a new one! I'm shocked at the number of teens who are unwilling to have a pelvic exam in order to be prescribed birth control as it's too embarrassing and invasive, but are perfectly willing to have intercourse, which can also be embarrassing and invasive, especially the first few times.

Okay, that's just sad!!! Was he at least charged with SOMETHING?????

A common method among 1960s small town greasers was the saran wrap condom. Another was the 7 Up douche. Just shake up the bottle and apply.

Yellow skittles will work every time if the girl will just hold it between her knees.

sjm late teens he's underage too what are you going to charge him with terminal stupidity?

In some states, if the boy is over eighteen, not in currently enrolled in high school, and the girl is under the state's age of consent, charges can be pressed against him for statuatory rape, even if the girl was willing to engage in intercourse. These types of laws are in place to protect very young girls (usually under age sixteen) from being coerced into having intercourse by an older man. In the eyes of the law, a male aged eighteen is considered to be a man.

Sometimes I believe that they're clueless because they don't really care to be informed. There's no reason in this age of information to be so willfully ignorant. What's also changed is that if a girl got pregnant when I was in high school (class of 1994, so I'm assuming that we're around the same age), she was often at least a junior and the father was her long term boyfriend, not just one "hook-up" of many for a freshman girl. Yes, there were what we used to call, for lack of a better term, "sluts," but those girls weren't usually the ones who had babies. (Those girls were usually a little better informed and went to either the local family planning clinic or their mothers had had them put on the pill for their own protection.)

97, so yeah close in age. And I do have to agree to a certain extent. Sadly, the ones who had most of the kids were the upper classmen, but there was a pretty good mix of the younger stupid ones in there.

The only girl that I remember (and I went to a very small school) getting pregnant as a freshman had her second child when she was a senior (same father for both). She married the father of her children shortly after graduation and went on to have several more children with him. She did manage to get some higher education and does work, so I'll give her credit where credit is due. She became a grandmother weeks before her thirty-fourth birthday when her eldest daughter had a child. Having a child at a young age doesn't necessarily ruin a life, but it sure makes it harder than it has to be. I think that part of the difference now with these teens is that often their social life continues much as before it did before pregnancy. Most of the girls I knew who got pregnant in high school had bought a one-way ticket into adulthood and were treated as if they had by their parents. No cheerleading, no prom, few outings-- not a punishment but the life that their own parents had when they chose to have children. Now, it seems like having a baby for many teens is just a blip on their radar that is raised by their parents as they continue to have the relatively carefree life of a teenager.

Went to school in the early 60's. The nuns never taught us about sex or protection but not one girl in my school got pregnant before graduation. Gee maybe we need to look elsewhere for the problem and its solution. Big city schools, working class kids so not an elite population.

Mike, I don't know what the current numbers are, but I wrote a paper 7 years ago and got the stats then from Planned Parenthood. Then 50% of pregnancies were accidental (or unintended). Call them up and ask, why don't you? They could have the 2011 numbers.

They were not then separated by women's education levels, as I recall. I was only interested in raw data at the time so there may be more details. It's been a while, though, and I don't have a copy of my paper handy for reference.