Teenage pregnancies almost halved thanks to sex ed

[Oafman]

Teenage pregnancies have almost halved in England thanks to sex education

Rates of teenage pregnancy in some parts of England fell by almost half after the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy (TPS) was introduced in 1999 by the then Labour government, a study has found.

Lead researcher Professor Kaye Wellings, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “England’s under-18 conception rate has fallen to its lowest level since the 1970s.

Apparently, confronting difficult topics is more effective than putting your fingers in your ears and humming. Who knew?

 

[Tallguy88]

Duh.

 

[Tiny Bible]

Common sense really.
Though I once heard an argument against sex education in school put forth by a parent group opposed that went like this: If we teach them about sex they'll want to have it.

I don't think those good people remember what it was like to be a raging hormone teen. Teaching about sex doesn't make a teen want to have sex. Their hormones are ready to jump anything. Educating that teen about the perils of unprotected sex saves the life that's just started feeling frisky.

 

[HannahT]

We have sex education in schools now, and the pregnancy rate went UP since I was in school (they had it then too). I don't think this has anything to do with sex education, but has many factors involved.

 

[Paulos23]

Duh.

 

[trunks2k]

We have sex education in schools now, and the pregnancy rate went UP since I was in school (they had it then too). I don't think this has anything to do with sex education, but has many factors involved.

Dunno where you live, but the US as a whole has seen a steady decline in the teen pregnancy rate since the early 90s (as has a lot of other undesirable teen behavior). In fact, it's lower than any point since records have been kept.

While the teen pregnancy rate has been dropping across the board, it seems comprehensive sex ed has shown to be effective at changing risky teen sexual behavior. https://www.guttmacher.org/about/gpr/2014/09/what-behind-declines-teen-pregnancy-rates

 

[Oafman]

We have sex education in schools now, and the pregnancy rate went UP since I was in school (they had it then too). I don't think this has anything to do with sex education, but has many factors involved.

When were you in school Hannah?

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reckons "Between 1991 and 2014, the teen birth rate declined by an impressive 61% nationwide. It has declined in all 50 states and among all racial/ethnic groups."
source

 

[cow451]

I think we should give credit to pioneers in sex education, like Bristol Palin.

 

[Mudinyeri]

The findings, published in The Lancet medical journal, show that after peaking in 1998 the under-18 conception rate declined at a moderate pace until 2006, when it began to fall more sharply.

I wonder what happened in 2006.

 

[tatteredsoul]

Teenage pregnancies have almost halved in England thanks to sex education

Apparently, confronting difficult topics is more effective than putting your fingers in your ears and humming. Who knew?

I think AP Human Sexuality should be offered in high school curriculum. The pictures in the book alone will cause a culture of mildly over-protective sex, in my opinion.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

I think we should give credit to pioneers in sex education, like Bristol Palin.

In 5 years she should have 4 baby daddies.

 

[keith99]

I wonder what happened in 2006.

Interesting question. If it really was a sharp decline starting at that point one would suspect something in 2005 or 2006 occurred. If not quite as sharp as one thinks it could just be the combination of really being fully implemented at all schools and perhaps fine tuning the curriculum. But even if just the last finding out just what the fine tuning was could be rather helpful.

 

[koko081012]

Deleted.m

 

[Stellar Vision]

Duh.

Have you told that to your Catholic leaders? They haven't yet seemed to get a clue. It only took Zika virus, which can permanently deform the brains of babies, for Pope Francis to 'open up' to the idea of changing the Church's stance on the matter in just this specific context; certainly not across the board to also reduce pregnancies.

 

[Cearbhall]

Common sense really.
Though I once heard an argument against sex education in school put forth by a parent group opposed that went like this: If we teach them about sex they'll want to have it.

I suppose these are the people who truly believe humans aren't animals.

 

[Tallguy88]

Have you told that to your Catholic leaders? They haven't yet seemed to get a clue. It only took Zika virus, which can permanently deform the brains of babies, for Pope Francis to 'open up' to the idea of changing the Church's stance on the matter in just this specific context; certainly not across the board to also reduce pregnancies.

I did not comment upon the morality of contraception. Simply that I agree that teaching sex ed can reduce unwanted pregnancies.

 

[Tiny Bible]

I suppose these are the people who truly believe humans aren't animals.

I'd hope so. Though there are those that argue in matters of abortion that a baby isn't a human being. That right there puts the animal issue into question for people like that.

 

[Belk]

I'd hope so. Though there are those that argue in matters of abortion that a baby isn't a human being. That right there puts the animal issue into question for people like that.

So are they plants or minerals?

 

[keith99]

So are they plants or minerals?

Is an acorn a Oak tree? In parts of southern California there are laws in place to preserve Oak trees. Do those laws now make someone who rakes up the acorns under an Oak on their property guilty of destroying hundreds of Oak trees?

Please note that an acorn has the full genetic material to become a tree and has a far better chance to become a tree if simply left alone than a human infant (already born) has of surviving if just left alone. (That instance regarding a wolf was a one shot deal!)

 

[iluvatar5150]

I wonder what happened in 2006.

If you do the math, that's about when all of the kids who'd been taught under the old pre-1999 system would have aged out.