Good News: State rates for teen pregnancy down
Major encouragement for all who are promoting teen abstinence
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, January/February, 2001.

With Kentucky having led the nation for years in teen out-of-wedlock births, news from Frankfort showing a significant drop in birthrates among teens is being warmly received.

“We are as close as we ever have been to the national rate. In fact, Kentucky is one of the top 10 states in the country to show such a significant decline for this age group,” said Dr. Steve Davis in a newspaper story about the dramatic rate drop. Davis is the director of the state Division of Adult and Child Health.

The 14 percent drop was based on a comparison between the birth rates among teens aged 15-17 during the years 1992-94 as compared to 1996-98.  The total numbers of births for the two  three-year periods dropped from 9,668 to 8,849.

“Though many will attempt to give credit to condoms,” said Kent Ostrander, executive director of The Family Foundation and coordinator of that group’s abstinence efforts, “the ones who should take the bow are those who have been advocating abstinence until marriage.”

Abstinence advocates list a number of reasons  that contributed to the change. First is the 1994 passage of the parental-consent law for abortion, which conveyed to teens there would be no more keeping the secret of their abortion from their parents.  This law restored basic parental rights and accountability for the teens which had been wrenched away through Roe vs. Wade and its subsequent court rulings.

Second was the emergence of the True Love Waits program, which was conceived in 1993 by the Southern Baptists and burst onto the scene in 1994. It has continued to grow ever since.  Richard Ross, national spokesperson for True Love Waits, said,  “I don’t think we’ve peaked yet. Evidence to support this view came when we were on the Focus on the Family radio program in 1999.  The caller response was the second largest in the program’s history. That mirrors the interest coming directly to our national office.”

Third was the cultural turn toward character education, away for the “value neutral” philosophy of the past 30 years. This trend is affirmed by the 1996 Congressional passage of the Title V federal abstinence grants, making available $50 million to the states for each of five years.  Though these monies would not have reached Kentucky soon enough to have had bearing on the reduced rates in 1996 through 1998, their authorization by Congress reflects the mood of the country.

Last but not least is the increase of local pregnancy care groups that have sprung up across Kentucky.  These groups counsel women caught in an untimely pregnancy and promote abstinence before marriage as the preventative measure that will ultimately solve the abortion controversy and the sexually transmitted disease epidemic, as well as the teen birthrate problem.

The positive trend in Kentucky echoes strides forward in the abstinence movement on a national level.

In a study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, released on June 30, figures revealed that 63 percent of teens who chose to have sex before marriage now regret their decision. In fact, 78 percent of teens overall say teens are too young for sex.

Teens surveyed said their parents had the greatest influence on their sexual decisions. Kentucky has made strides to protect a parent’s right to be the primary influence by passing the parental-consent law in 1994.  And those efforts are working, according to the Cabinet for Health Services.

Organizations like the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy are also encouraging parents to take a more interactive role in their child’s formation of values surrounding the issues of sex and relationships.

In addition, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found similar results in a study of teen sexual activity. The July 10 study showed that, when compared with 1991 figures, four percent less teens are having sex. The statistics now stand at 50 percent.

Bill Albert, director of communications for the National Campsign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, said, “We need to jettison the notion that there is a talk with your child that you have about sex. Instead, it should be an 18-year conversation.”

Ostrander believes that such national efforts resonate with the success Kentucky is experiencing and will provide further impetus for improvement in the state.

“With abortion rates down and more teens choosing not to have premarital sex , it should be a hard sell to convince citizens that the answer is more condom distribution,” Ostrander stated.  In the meantime, abstinence advocates should take heart.
 
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst