The results are in and Texas tops the charts in births to girls aged 15 - 19. The Anne E. Casey Foundation publishes KIDS COUNT study annually but these results are based on figures from 2004.
State law requires that abstinence be emphasized during sex education classes in schools. However, local jurisdictions are able to plot their own course with delivery method (of the class, not the babies) and amount of information conveyed. The survey results indicate that revisions in the plan are required.
How can sex education programs compete with the images and lifestyles portrayed on MTV, "reality" shows and movies? Perhaps the state could sanction a video along the lines of the one in The Girl Next Door.
The solution to ending unplanned, or premature pregnancy, is for parents to start sex education in the home at an earlier age (think middle school) instead of when their kids are "old enough." Imagine that: parenting in the home instead of schools increasing in loco parentis, substitute parenting. Sadly this approach seems farther from Texas and closer to Utopia.
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Photo: flickr user zoomar.
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